MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut state trooper responding to a domestic violence report last month used her stun gun on a man continuously for over a minute, body-camera and dashboard-camera video released by the police shows. The man’s death four days later is under investigation.
Ryan Marzi, 38, of Hebron, Connecticut, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Aug. 28, according to an obituary posted by his family.
Four days earlier, Marzi had tussled with state troopers responding to a report of a domestic assault in Canterbury.
The victim reported that Marzi had prevented the victim from leaving the home and damaged the victim’s cellphone, police said.
Police video that Hearst Connecticut Media was first to report on shows Troopers Desmond Stimson and Jessie Rainville confronting Marzi outside a garage just before 10 p.m. on Aug. 24.
Stimson arrived first and struggled with Marzi. The video shows Rainville arriving as Stimson is lying on the ground and telling Marzi, “you broke my leg, you broke my leg, dude.” Rainville orders Marzi to get on the ground.
Marzi turns toward Rainville and she fires the stun gun at him, the video shows. He falls to the ground and says, “OK, OK.”
The sound of the stun gun can be heard on the video for just over a minute, even as Marzi tells Rainville that he is unable to comply with her order to turn over on his stomach and put his hands behind his back. “I can’t, I can’t, I swear,” Marzi says.
Rainville finally turns the stun gun off after Stimson tells her, “enough with that,” according to the video footage.
Marzi was taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation, state police said in a news release. After his discharge, he was arrested on charges including assault in the third degree and interfering with an officer and released on $7,500 bond. He died at his family’s home four days later.
The medical examiner’s office said Tuesday that Marzi’s cause of death is still being investigated.
The state police are conducting an internal investigation into the death. “The investigation is active and ongoing and this is all of the information available for release at this time,” the department said.
A request for comment on the troopers’ encounter with Marzi was sent to the Connecticut State Police Union.
