CINCINNATI — The University of Cincinnati said Monday that state authorities had been asked to investigate the death of a teenager after he was struck by a university police officer’s stun gun outside a dormitory.
The university said in a statement it has asked the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for an independent investigation into the death of 18-year-old Everette Howard.
University police have said they were responding to a dormitory after a call about an assault in progress when Howard approached them outside, The Cincinnati Enquirer (http://bit.ly/rpnB2Y) reported. Howard, appearing agitated and angry and with his fists balled, approached officers and refused their orders to back off, they said. Howard was subdued with the stun gun and couldn’t be revived after going into cardiac arrest, multiple media outlets reported.
The police report was not immediately available for release Monday, authorities said.
Howard, of the Cincinnati area, was not a UC student. He was attending summer classes offered on campus by a national program that prepares high school students for college, university spokesman Greg Hand told The Associated Press.
Hamilton County coroner Amant Bhati told the Enquirer that Howard also was shocked by a stun gun last year and was rushed to a hospital but was released shortly afterward. Bhati did not share additional details of that incident.
The coroner’s office performed an autopsy but was awaiting toxicology results, coroner’s spokesman Terry Daly said Monday. Those results aren’t expected for a few weeks, he said.
The university said Monday that the initial review by police suggests “all departmental policies and procedures were followed appropriately.”
