WOONSOCKET – A 41-year-old man died after the Woonsocket Police hit him with two shots from a Taser gun.
The state police said in a statement this afternoon that the Woonsocket Police were trying "to subdue" Timothy Picard and that he was in the department's booking area in handcuffs when he was shot with a Taser twice in short succession.
The state police, which are investigating the case, said Picard's wife called the police at 3:16 a.m. yesterday because of a fight between her husband and 19-year-old son at their 44 Hillside Ave. home, according to
State Police Maj. Steven G. O'Donnell.
The police were dispatched at 3:18 and arrive at the home at 3:22 a.m.
A violent struggle ensued between two police officers inside and outside the house, during which the police used pepper spray on Picard.
The chemical spray was "not effective," according to the state police. Two additional Woonsocket officers responded to the scene, and Picard was eventually handcuffed and taken into custody at his house at 3:28.
He arrived at the Woonosocket Police station at 3:44, where the state police said Picard again became "uncooperative and combative" with officers in the booking area. It was during this second struggle that Sgt. Christopher Brooks fired a handheld Taser gun twice at Picard.
"Shortly thereafter, Picard became unresponsive, and Woonsocket Rescue was called to the scene," according to the state police.
The police called for the rescue at 3:52 a.m.
Picard was transported by ambulance to Landmark Medical Center Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:45 a.m.
Results from an autopsy and a toxicology test should be complete tomorrow, O’Donnell said.
Woonsocket Police Chief Michael L.A. Houle said he believes department protocol was followed. Chief Houle refused to release the arrest report for Picard, saying the attorney general's office advised the police not to release it.
"The case hasn't concluded. We haven't even filed to our insurance carrier," Houle said as reason for why he could not release the report.
Local departments typically call the attorney general’s office when they have an “in-custody death,” O’Donnell said.
Picard is the first cousin of state Rep. Roger A. Picard, D-Woonsocket, who confirmed the family relationship, but declined to speak any further.
Two others have died in the custody of the Woonsocket Police since 2003.
In January, 39-year-old Troy T. Charette, of 86 Burnside Ave. in Woonsocket, died of a cocaine-induced irregular heartbeat, according to the state medical examiner's office. The police had found him lying on Social Street clutching his stomach and chest, screaming "my heart, my heart" in pain. He was taken to Landmark Medical Center, where he died soon afterward.
In the September 2003, Janet Barr, 46, of Woonsocket, was being held on drug charges when she reportedly choked on a concealed object she tried to swallow. The attorney general's office said she choked during a "brief but violent confrontation" with Woonsocket officers. She lapsed into a coma, was taken to Landmark Medical Center and died after five days.
The medical examiner concluded in October 2004 that Barr died of "cardio respiratory collapse due to acute cocaine intoxication." The attorney general's office cleared the department of any wrongdoing in Barr's death.
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