Deputy accountable for nearly 13 percent of Taser deployments

Each of Torres’ deployments, with the exception of the one involving Gray that is still under investigation, was deemed ‘‘necessary and appropriate,” according to Jenkins. He said it is ‘‘unfair” to look at the numbers without accounting for who is using the Taser.

‘‘I don’t think it is fair to judge [Torres] on the number of times deployed,” Jenkins said. ‘‘... You have to look at it in each situation. Torres is a good street officer who works in parts of the county where he handles a lot of calls for service.”

Jenkins said, as a patrol operations shift supervisor, Torres ‘‘can respond to any part of the county in any given situation he is needed.”

Torres has been on administrative leave since Nov. 18 when Gray, 20, of Frederick died following two shocks from the deputy’s Taser. Torres was responding to several 911 calls reporting a fight on Gresham Court East in Frederick early that morning.

The Sheriff’s Office records, obtained through the state’s Public Information Act, also state that Torres received Taser training in May 2004 and was re-certified in April 2005, April 2006 and on March 14, 2007.

Cpl. Jennifer Bailey, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, said that the 130 Tasers the department uses are issued to deputies in various units; the training division keeps no ongoing count by unit.

She said of those 130 Tasers, 90 are issued to deputies in the patrol operations division. That unit includes community and patrol deputies out on the street, traffic officers, and those in the K9 unit.

Jenkins said those units are ‘‘absolutely” more likely to use a Taser as ‘‘they are on the streets all the time.”

Bailey said ‘‘any deputy is eligible” to carry a Taser as long as he or she has completed training on the device.

Jenkins said on Tuesday that a final determination of Gray’s cause of death has yet to be determined by the Office of the Medical Examiner in Baltimore.

Jenkins called the two-month timeframe ‘‘not outside the norm” to get final results from the medical examiner’s office, given the workload from around the state.

On Nov. 18, Gray’s body was transported to the medical examiner’s office after he was pronounced dead at Frederick Memorial Hospital at about 7:30 a.m.

Two hours earlier, Torres, the first deputy on the scene of the fight between three men, deployed a pair of five-second shocks to Gray, after the young man refused the deputy’s orders, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Two other men complied with Torres’ orders to get on the ground and show their hands.

The Sheriff’s Office was able to determine through preliminary toxicology tests that Gray’s blood-alcohol level (0.18) was twice the state limit.

Jenkins confirmed that two investigations are hinging on the final autopsy results: One by the Frederick Police Department into Gray’s death and an internal investigation into Torres’ use of the Taser.

Ted Williams, attorney for Gray’s family, said his own investigation disproves the sheriff’s notion that Torres was the lone deputy on the scene at the time the Taser was deployed.

Williams said he is awaiting a final determination in Gray’s death before taking any action and he has asked Jenkins to preserve all evidence from the morning of Nov. 18, including Gray’s clothing and other items.

‘‘We are in limbo here,” Williams said. ‘‘... I’m troubled that a final disposition [regarding the autopsy] has not been reached yet.”