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A Montgomery County (web|news) man died in a Virginia holding cell just over two hours after a county deputy used a taser on him. Virginia authorities are now investigating what happened in New Kent County as a Silver Spring family mourns the loss of a son.
Yvelt Occean's family says he was a 31-year-old substitute teacher who never got into trouble and who dreamed of coaching basketball to keep other young people out of trouble.
Around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Virginia State Police say Occean was walking along the I-64 south of Richmond when he resisted arrest. He was pepper sprayed, later tasered, and later that evening, he was pronounced dead.
"My son was a very nice man," said Willie Occean. He can't believe that he's talking of his son in the past tense after Yvelt died in police custody Saturday night, 145 miles from home, under circumstances that the family says, just don't seem to fit.
"My son was a nice guy, very quiet, never had a problem with nobody."
Occean says his son was a Bowie State graduate and substitute teacher with Montgomery County who went to a weekend coaching seminar. Virginia State Police describe a belligerent Occean on Saturday. They say he was walking along I-64 traffic when a trooper tried to get him out of traffic. When he refused, he was pepper sprayed and arrested. Minutes later, police say a county deputy arrived to help put Occean in the car. When he resisted, he was tasered and at 10 p.m. that night, he collapsed in his cell and died.
Taser International says more than 11,000 law enforcement agencies across the country use the devices which it calls safe. Amnesty International says more than 300 people have died after being tasered in the past seven years.
"If my son is dead by a police officer, I hope they have some kind of justice for us."
It could take days before the medical examiner determines a cause of death of Yvelt Occean. The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation is looking into what happened.
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