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Dec 9, 2008 11:12 pm US/Central
Man Who Died After Being Tased Had Been Radio DJ
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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The man's cause of death will be released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.
CBS
A man who died after being tased by Minneapolis Police early Monday morning had once worked as a disc jockey for KMOJ radio.
Police said Quincy Smith had been threatening his girlfriend with a rifle just after 12:45 a.m. along Knox Avenue North.
"When officers got to the area they found the male outside," said Sgt. William Palmer, a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department. "They attempted to arrest him. He struggled and at some point during that struggle a taser was used to subdue him."
Smith later died at Hennepin County Medical Center.
At KMOJ, veteran DJ Walter "Q Bear" Banks Jr. is in shock over the death of his longtime friend, who was known as "Q The Blacksmith" on the air.
"To me (Smith) was one of those youngsters who was about community," Banks said. "He was about helping kids. He was about doing the right thing."
Smith had worked for two years at the station. He had also been a star on the North High football team.
"We would like to send the spirit of love and peace to the family and friends of the man 'Q the Blacksmith', one of our own," Banks said.
Banks said he wants answers about what happened to his friend.
"It especially hurts when it's someone that you know and care about," Banks said. "He was almost like a son."
Police on Tuesday insisted that tasers are safe.
"There have been hundreds of thousand of uses of tasers," Palmer said. "I have been tased just about every officer in the city of Minneapolis has been tased."
The veteran officer admits that it is extremely painful.
"It feels like sticking your finger in a light socket you can't get out of," Palmer said.
Minneapolis Police statistics show use of tasers injures suspects about 6 percent of the time, and no officers have been hurt using tasers. Other kinds of force have injured suspects nearly half the time and officers 11 percent of the time. Payouts for police misconduct lawsuits involving tasers are also millions of dollars less.
Friends said Smith was overweight. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has not ruled yet on the cause of death or whether Smith's weight contributed to his death.
The five officers involved have been put on paid administrative leave.
Smith did not appear to have been in any trouble with police in the past.
The Minneapolis Police Internal Affairs Department and the homicide unit are both conducting investigations into the incident.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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