Watch CBS News

Police: Man Dies In Custody, Taser Used During Arrest

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (WJZ) -- Police in Western Maryland are pledging to investigate a man's death during an arrest. He died after being tased by officers, who say he had broken into a home with four young girls inside.

Rick Ritter has the dramatic account from the victims.

Victims say the man kicked down their door until he was able to bust inside. Neighbors say the suspect was acting out of control, leaving police with no choice but to tase him.

Frightened for their lives, a mother and her four young daughters met face to face with a stranger inside their home.

"He was kicking on the door when my youngest heard him," said Laura Mafrin, mother.

The family is still shaking.

"He eventually got the door busted open, and he was up the steps," said Mafrin.

The desperate calls for help came in around 10:30 p.m. Thursday along North Prospect Street.

Police say one daughter was screaming in the background after 31-year-old Darrell Brown forced his way inside before one of the girls chased him back out.

"She came running down, and she's the one that kept pushing him until she got him out the door," said Mafrin.

When police arrived on scene, they found the suspect outside the home, acting aggressively. They say he wouldn't comply with officers, so they were forced to use a stun gun.

"He fell to the ground. He was still moving," said Hope Ebersole, neighbor.

Brown was then cuffed and taken away in an ambulance, but later developed an unknown medical emergency and died.

"He was conscious and he was still argumentative with the police, even when he was being loaded in the ambulance," said Chief Mark Holtzman, Hagerstown Police Department.

Tasers are supposed to be one step below lethal force, but can kill at times.

Witnesses tell WJZ they saw the man tasered just once.

"They tried to talk him down. He wasn't listening," said Colleen Debres, neighbor.

With cases of police brutality ripping through headlines, neighbors call this arrest a sense of relief.

"There was no excessive force. They did what they were trained to do properly," said Debres.

Hagerstown police have turned the investigation over to the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators are working to determine how many times the stun gun was used on the suspect.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.