COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – The training of three police officers involved in a call that led to the death of Calvon Reid, 39, in Coconut Creek has been called into question.
Sources close to the police department said the Taser-training certification for all three officers had expired -- something that not only calls further into question their actions, but also could hinder the department's defense of the officers in court should a lawsuit be filed in the case.
But that information was not confirmed by Chief Michael Mann or the police department, which never notified the public of Reid's death. The department has also refused to release any information about what occurred, citing an ongoing investigation.
"We just have some questions that need to be answered in this case," said Jasmen Rogers of the civil rights group Dream Defenders. "The police are here to protect and serve us. They are in our communities that we pay taxes in. Of course we should know what's going, especially if one of our own citizens is tasered to death."
Reid mysteriously turned up bleeding from various injuries behind the gated walls of the large Wynmoor retirement community in the early morning hours of Feb. 23, according to his father Calvin Reid, who lives in South Carolina.
He said police informed him that an elderly couple called to get Reid medical attention, but he refused to be treated. When police arrived, he resisted them, Reid's father said, and was stunned by the Taser at least three times by the three officers before he went into cardiac arrest and later died at Northwest Medical Center.
"Three or four officers on one man who has not committed a crime that we know of that is refusing medical attention -- why does he need to be tasered?" asked Rogers.
Police have not named the officers involved, but sources told Local 10 News that the ranking officer on the call was department veteran Sgt. David Freeman. Police have not confirmed Freeman was at the scene.
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