Man Dies 3 Days After Calling Police for Help

'Mr. Boyd was in need of medical attention, and the police responded with violence'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 24, 2016 2:44 PM CDT
Man Dies After Being Punched by Police He Called
Tawon Boyd, 21, in the hospital after he was punched and held to the ground by Baltimore County police officers after a confrontation outside his home on Sunday. He died Wednesday.   (Prinice Thomas via AP)

A 21-year-old Baltimore County man died in the hospital three days after being repeatedly punched by officers responding to his 911 call, the Guardian reports. According to the Baltimore Sun, Tawon Boyd called 911 early last Sunday. He told officers his girlfriend, Deona Styron, had "got him intoxicated and is secretly recording him." Boyd's grandmother, Linda Burch, says Boyd "was acting...like he was on something." Police noted he seemed "confused and paranoid," and it was clear he "needed to be taken to the hospital." But Boyd started trying to get into police cars and resisted attempts to restrain him, resulting in minor injuries to three officers. Based on the police report, it doesn't appear Boyd was trying to hurt the officers.

He was holding onto one of the officer's shirts when the officer punched him twice in the face. At that point, the family's lawyer, Latoya Francis-Williams, says Boyd was "literally attacked" by officers. She says they got on top of him and "really started wailing." “I kept telling them stop before they hurt him,” Burch tells the Sun. “They told me to go across the street before they lock me up.” WBAL reports a medic gave Boyd haloperidol, an antipsychotic drug, to calm him down. An autopsy is now looking into whether the drug played a role in Boyd's death Wednesday from heart and kidney failure. Boyd's family is accusing the police of using too much force. “Mr. Boyd was in need of medical attention, and the police responded with violence,” Francis-Williams tells the Sun. (More police brutality stories.)

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