SWISSVALE, Pa. -- A group of people gathered early Wednesday evening at Edgewood Towne Center and marched to the Swissvale Police Department in protest of a Monroeville man's death.
Allegheny County homicide detectives said early indications are that Swissvale police were justified in using a Taser to subdue Andre Thomas, 37, who died later at a hospital.
The FBI launched a preliminary investigation Wednesday and went door to door talking to neighbors on Hawthorne Avenue, where the incident took place late Monday night. They are looking for anyone who saw what happened when Thomas died.
Thomas' cause of death is undetermined, pending results of toxicology tests that the county medical examiner said won't be available for eight to 21 weeks.
County police, who are investigating the use of the Taser by Swissvale police, said it appears that the officers acted within reason.
The Swissvale officers said they were answering a call about Thomas, who was said to be yelling, pounding on doors and acting irrationally. An officer used a Taser on the man and handcuffed him on the ground.
A neighbor said she called 911 when she saw Thomas acting erratically that night not because she was afraid of him but because she wanted someone to help him.
"For him to end up dead, I mean we are just traumatized," said one woman at Wednesday's Swissvale Borough Council Meeting. "This is awful, and I just wanted to say I feel awful. How did that go wrong?"
Some neighbors said that while the Taser may have been acceptable, they saw the officers act with excessive force after the weapon had been used.
"You had two officers that really brutally stomped him out," neighbor Rose Adams said. "One had his hand balled up tight. He roared back and he punched him with all his might. He turned around, he grabbed his wrist and started shaking his hand. The guy's body jumped off the ground. The next thing I seen, the guy was regurgitating. A few seconds later, the last breath I believe he took was his leg shaking, and then there was no more movement."
Michelle Burton Brown told the Swissvale Borough she wants the officers involved in the investigation off the streets. "We demand that the officers involved in the death of Andre Thomas be relieved of duty until a complete investigation is conducted," said Brown.
When angry neighbors asked borough officials if the officers involved have been temporarily suspended, or if they are still on active duty they got no answer.
Swissvale police have not commented on the case.
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