Video: Pima County Jail corrections officers used Taser multiple times on man until he died
The Tucson Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation into the death of a man at the Pima County Adult Detention Center. Wade Welch, 37, died on Aug. 16, a day after he was booked into the facility.
According to a release from the Pima Regional Critical Incident Team — a consortium or southern Arizona law enforcement agencies — the death occurred after corrections officers attempted to moved Welch from one housing unit to another.
"While moving him, he refused to enter his assigned cell," the release states. "Correction Officers attempted to restrain Welch physically."
Heavily edited body camera footage released from the jail shows officers taking Welch to the ground, handcuffing him and placing a spit hood over his head while repeatedly using a Taser on him.
Throughout the incident, Welch can be heard screaming for help, and saying, "I can't breathe." Welch tells corrections officers he has a heart condition and asks to be taken to the hospital. He shouts, "You're killing me!" as the officers use a stun gun on him again.
At least 10 officers are seen piling on Welch and surrounding him during the video. As the offers stand Welch up, he can be heard gasping for air.
The officers take Welch down a flight of stairs to a lower level of the jail, where they force him into a restraint chair.
The video provided by law enforcement then shows Welch screaming in pain as the officers use a stun gun on Welch again, while he was in the restraint chair. The video shows officers using a Taser in "drive-stun" mode, shoving it into his side while telling him to "relax" and to "breath."
Welch then appears to go limp and lose consciousness.
Corrections officers can be heard in the video reacting with expletives, shaking Welch's body, and begging him to "stay awake, man."
The officers then seem to panic and call for a medic. One officer directs the others to "get him out of the chair." Once they lay Welch on the ground and take off the spit hood, officers say "he's good, he's breathing" but Welch remains motionless.
An officer is then heard accusing Welch of faking his condition. "He's faking his a-- off," an officer says while Welch lied completely still on the ground.
"He's breathing, he's got a pulse, and he's reactive," an officer is heard saying, despite no signs of Welch's chest moving.
The video then fades to black, and a narrator states that "approximately four minutes after Mr. Welch became unresponsive, Corrections officers and on-site nursing staff attempted life-saving measures.
The video then resumes once more and shows an officer performing chest compressions.
The Arizona Republic has requested all body camera video related to the response to Welch's death.
According to the release, the Tucson Police Department has been assigned primary responsibility for the criminal investigation of the in-custody death.
"The Pima County Sheriff's Department Internal Affairs will conduct a separate but parallel administrative investigation to examine the actions of their personnel," the release said.
Have a news tip on Arizona jails Reach the reporter at jjenkins@arizonarepublic.com or at 812-243-5582. Follow him on Twitter @JimmyJenkins.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Video: Pima County Jail officers used Taser on man until he died
