Oak Harbor Man's Friends Blame His Death on Taser
WTOL-TV
Tue August 14, 2007
Area: Toledo
FREMONT, Ohio - Craig Burdine, who died Saturday morning after a run-in with the Fremont police, had a history with the Sandusky sheriff's office. He'd been charged with attempted breaking and entering and assault on a police officer.
Still, his friends are surprised by the circumstances around Burdine's death. Burdine's friend Renee Johnson says she is, "Totally shocked, it's unbelievable that that could happen." She says Burdine, of Oak Harbor, was a good guy, not a troublemaker.
"I know he had some life issues, and he was going through some personal problems of his own, but drugs I knew nothing about," Johnson says.
Early Saturday morning, Fremont police responded to a call in the 1200 block of Sycamore, where witnesses say Burdine was acting violently -- like he was under the influence, they say.
He was then transferred to the Sandusky County Sheriff's Office.
"He kicked a couple of my deputies. He bit one of my deputies. He tried to break one of their fingers," says Sheriff David Gangwer, who adds that his deputies were forced to use a taser on Burdine -- twice in his leg, which seemed to have no effect on him.
"It took about four or five of my deputies on him. He's 6 ft., 225 pounds, and very strong. No question he was on some kind of drugs," Gangwer says.
The sheriff says a preliminary investigation shows the drugs in Burdine's system include methanphetamine, marijuana and alcohol.
Shortly after being tased, Burdine began vomiting. As standard policy mandates, EMS was on the way to take him to Fremont Memorial Hospital. In the ambulance, Burdine went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead a short time later.
Burdine's friends blame his death on the taser. The sheriff disagrees, saying there is no way the taser caused Burdine's death.
"I don't think it has a thing to do with it at all, and I would question anyone saying that he died of a taser," Gangwer says.
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