Aug 8, 2006 9:00 pm US/Mountain
Family Wants Police Investigated In Son's Death
by Paul Day
LAFAYETTE, Colo. (CBS4) ―
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Jack and Monique Ryan comfort each other at Denver International Airport. Jack had just returned home from an out-of-town business meeting.
The parents of a man who died after police officers used a TASER gun were seeking an attorney to help investigate their son's death.
Ryan Wilson, 22, died Friday after allegedly running from Lafayette police who shot him with a TASER gun.
Ryan's father, Jack Wilson, believes his son was dead because police used the stun gun inappropriately.
"There's no excuse for this," Jack said. "This shouldn't have happened. It should not have happened."
Lafayette police said Ryan was the suspect in a drug bust last Friday and led them on a brief foot pursuit. When officers caught up with him, there was a confrontation and the TASER gun was fired at Ryan.
He went into convulsions shortly after and police said they tried to help with CPR, but Ryan stopped breathing and later died at a hospital.
"This is the effects of a stun gun used, in what I feel, inappropriately," Jack said.
Police said they found a folding knife on the suspect but the father claimed his son was unarmed.
"I don't know the details," Jack said. "From what I can see, I think we've got a wrongful death situation, possibly more than that."
Police said Ryan has been in trouble before. His rap sheet shows arrests for felony theft, misdemeanor assault and other offenses, but friends and family said he was a friendly, sensitive young man.
"I think he is not what the police department is trying to make him look like he was," said Monique Wilson, Ryan's father.
TASER guns are supposed to be a non-lethal weapon, but there have been previous incidents where suspects have died. In those incidents, there's mostly always been an underlying medical condition to explain the death.
Ryan's parents insist their son was perfectly healthy.
A recent autopsy came up inconclusive so his cause of death remains a mystery. In the meantime, further tests were being ordered.
The Lafayette officer involved in the TASER shooting remains on paid leave while the Critical Incident Team of Boulder County investigates.
(© MMVI CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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