Death by Taser, Or, "Don't Tase Me, Bro'!" in Chicago

A Chicago man identified by police as 24-year-old Roberto Gonzalez was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital on March 20^, following arrest by Chicago police, who subdued the victim using both a chemical spray and a TASER gun. Gonzalez--- (whose family says he was 37)---died about 8:15 p.m. on Thursday, March 20t, following the altercation with Chicago police.

Gonzalez was standing outside the Loma Linda Bar at 2658 S. Trumbull Avenue with his cousin, Cesar Garza, 28, who confirmed to police that the pair had been drinking and that Roberto "might have" taken drugs.

Gonzalez, it should be noted, has a rap sheet going back ten years which includes at least a dozen arrests for battery, armed robbery, possession of drugs, reckless conduct and violating a protective order.

Two plainclothes police officers who had been circling the block outside the Loma Linda approached the two cousins and told them to move on. Garza left, but Gonzalez did not. Garza was picked up a few blocks away by police officers after he left the scene as requested. It was from the back of the police vehicle that Garza watched as police struck Gonzalez for ten minutes, used a chemical spray on him, and tasered him twice.

Said Garza, the dead man's cousin, "They shouldn't have done this. He (Gonzalez) was on the floor, wiggling away from police. How could he fight back?"

Another witness, who declined to be identified, said police asked Gonzalez to take his right hand out of his pocket, after which officers attempted to arrest him. The unidentified witness saw police strike Gonzalez and, as Gonzalez resisted arrest, the witness heard officers say, "Stop, or we'll tase you."

The rallying cry, "Don't tase me Bro!" became famous worldwide after a University of Florida student in Gainesville, Florida, tried to ask then-Presidential nominee John Kerry a series of questions, culminating in one that dealt with his membership in the Skull and Bones Society, of which George W. Bush was also reputedly a member.