CLEVELAND (AP) - A man who was hit twice with a Taser after escaping from handcuffs and fighting with police has collapsed and died at a hospital, authorities said Wednesday.
Terrance Moxley, 29, died Tuesday after the altercation outside a corrections-based halfway house in Mansfield, 65 miles north of Columbus.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is looking into his death and will turn over its findings to a prosecutor.
According to authorities, an employee at the halfway house run by Volunteers of America called Mansfield police shortly after 3:30 p.m. to report that Moxley was being combative. Police and emergency responders found Moxley violently banging a door.
Moxley calmed down enough that police were able to handcuff him and medical personnel examined him. But Moxley then became agitated and had to be carried outside to be taken to a hospital because he refused to walk, authorities said. Moxley began struggling with officers, tried to bite one of them and refused to get inside a cruiser, authorities said. An officer then shocked Moxley twice with a Taser, which fires electric prongs, police said.
“It appears that at some point, Mr. Moxley broke free from the handcuffs and officers wrestled Mr. Moxley to regain control of him,” police said in a statement.
It’s unclear how Moxley freed himself or whether his hands were cuffed in front of or behind him. Moxley then went into “medical distress,” police said, and was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Moxley was sent to the halfway house in January after being sentenced to a year in prison in September for selling heroin. He received credit for 122 days served in the Richland County Jail and was scheduled to serve five years of probation for a domestic violence conviction.
A statement issued Wednesday by the Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio said the organization is cooperating with the investigation.
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