Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007

Attorney disputes account of man’s Taser-related death

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Tom Fedor⁄The Gazette
Ted Williams (right) and Gregory Lattimer, attorneys for the family of Jarrel Gray, listen to Sheriff Chuck Jenkins during a press conference Dec. 6 about the investigation into Gray’s death.
The attorney for the family of Jarrel Gray says his account of the 20-year-old’s death does not match that of the Frederick County Sheriff.

On Tuesday, attorney Ted Williams said he disputes Sheriff Chuck Jenkins’ description of the events on Nov. 18, which the sheriff presented to the public Dec. 6. Most importantly, Williams said, he does not believe that Cpl. Rudy Torres was alone when he used his X26 Taser to subdue Gray, who died a few hours later.

‘‘I can say we are 99 percent certain that [Torres] was not alone ... when that young man was [shocked],” Williams said.

‘‘Either a lot of deputies are going to perjure themselves or they need to tell the truth. It is a damnable lie that Torres was alone.”

Williams said he has ‘‘verifiable proof” of this fact, but was unwilling to provide it, and would not confirm or deny the presence of a video of the incident.

Jenkins (R) has said that if such a recording exists, he welcomes it as evidence to be submitted to the Frederick Police Department, which is investigating the circumstances of Gray’s death.

‘‘I’d love to see it,” Jenkins said at a press conference on Dec. 6 when he revealed more details in into Gray’s death. At that time, Jenkins gave the following account of the incident: Torres, a 13-year veteran of his office, was the first on the scene following four 911 calls about a fight between three men just before 5 a.m. Torres immediately ordered three men, including Gray, to stop fighting. Jenkins said while the other two men complied, Gray ‘‘cursed at the deputy ...and said he didn’t have to show his hands.” Gray then walked away from Torres with his hands in his pants’ pockets.

Gray then turned around toward Torres with his hands still in his pockets. That is when Torres delivered a five-second shot from his X26 Taser, Jenkins said, and for the next 23 seconds continued to give commands for the 20-year-old to show his hands.

The second five-second shock from the Taser was delivered while Gray was on the ground, Jenkins said, with his hands still not visible to the deputy.

The Taser’s probes struck Gray in the left side of the chest and shoulder, according to Jenkins.

In addition to Torres’ lone presence at the scene, Williams also questions how Gray’s hands stayed in his pants’ pockets after the first Taser shock.

‘‘It is stupid to believe that,” he said. ‘‘If you believe what the sheriff told you, that a person’s hands can stay in their pockets ... rather than flail around [during the shock], that defies logic and sense.”

The sheriff said after the second shock, back-up units arrived and Torres requested medical attention for Gray. When medical assistance arrived, Jenkins said, Gray rolled over on his right side and coughed while in a near-fetal position. Jenkins said he ‘‘appeared to be breathing.”

Gray was taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital from the scene, and pronounced dead at about 7:30 a.m. Preliminary toxicology reports show that Gray had no narcotics in his system, but his blood-alcohol level was .18. The Maryland legal limit while driving is .08.

Jenkins said that alcohol ‘‘could probably have an effect on the system and be a direct contributor” to Gray’s death.

Torres and Gray had prior contact, the sheriff said. While Gray’s family has indicated that Gray was deaf in one ear and had partial hearing in another, Jenkins said he was not certain if Torres knew about the impairment. According to court records, Torres arrested Gray on possession of marijuana charges in July 2006, but there was not enough evidence for a conviction.

Williams said Torres and Gray had another interaction in Gray’s Ladd Circle neighborhood that same year when Gray’s mother and grandmother informed the deputy of his hearing disability. ‘‘Torres knew ... that Jarrel Gray was hearing impaired,” Williams said.

At the time of his death, Gray was serving two years of probation for an incident in November 2006 when he became verbally abusive to another Frederick County Sheriff’s deputy and resisted arrest.Gray was sentenced on those charges in January, and 11 days later, was arrested again for resisting arrest, verbally abusing and kicking a third deputy, who activated his Taser. It did not hit Gray.

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