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Man dies at hospital hours after police use Taser on him in south St. Louis

Crisis intervention and EMS workers called in help from police after a 31-year-old man reportedly became violent with them. He died after police used a Taser on him.

ST. LOUIS — A 31-year-old man died early Friday morning, hours after police used a Taser on him while trying to take him into custody in south St. Louis.

According to an incident report from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, EMS workers urgently requested help from officers at a home in the 3700 block of Minnesota Avenue at about 8:45 Thursday night. EMS and crisis intervention workers tried to help Andrew Harrington, 31, in the area when he became violent toward them.

When four officers arrived, they found Harrington laying in the stairway leading to the basement of the home. Officers said they ordered him to come out of the stairway and walk toward them, they discovered Harrington was nude and appeared disoriented.

They said Harrington tried to run away but tripped and fell into a fence. When two of the officers tried to put him in handcuffs, he got away, but tripped again. 

That's when another officer, a 27-year-old woman with four years of service on the police force, pulled out her department-issued Taser and shot Harrington in the back with it, the incident report said.

While the first two officers tried to put the 31-year-old in handcuffs again, the female officer pushed her Taser into Harrington's shoulder and stunned him again.

The other two officers were able to put the man in handcuffs, but he lost consciousness and became unresponsive.

A fourth officer began CPR until EMS workers could take over.  Harrington was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead at 1:48 Friday morning.

The department's force investigation unit is handling the ongoing investigation.

The two officers who put the man in handcuffs were a 27-year-old man with two years of service on the police force and a 36-year-old man with four years of service. The officer who administered CPR was a 32-year-old man with three years of service on the force. A fifth officer was listed in the incident report, but it did not say how he was involved. He is a 26-year-old man with four years of service on the police force.

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