Alleged pedophile A. Paul Carlock, the subject of an Illinois Times article last
week, died Friday at St. John’s Hospital after a struggle with
Sangamon County jailers.
Tony Sacco, chief deputy in the
Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, says that at 7:30 a.m. officers
attempted to transport Carlock to the hospital because he had been behaving
erratically. Carlock resisted, Sacco says, and a struggle ensued.
Jailers first tried to put
Carlock in a restraint chair, he says, and then wrestled him to the ground.
Sacco says that when Carlock continued to fight an officer applied a
“drive-stun” to the back of his left leg with a Taser.
The officers became concerned
when Carlock paled and his heart rate weakened, Sacco says. They called for
an ambulance, he says, and emergency personnel inserted an IV and
administered chest compressions. Carlock was transferred to St.
John’s Hospital, where he died at 9:28 a.m.
According to the coroner’s
report, released Monday, Carlock’s death was the result of natural
causes. The report states that Carlock, 57, suffered from preexisting,
severe heart disease, which caused blockage of the arteries. Toxicology
results are pending.
Last week’s story examined
Carlock’s extensive employment history, including his work as a
minister in three different Nazarene churches [Amanda Robert,
“Klutzo’s résumé,” Nov. 15].
Taser guns have been implicated
in a number of deaths, and Amnesty International has called on
law-enforcement officials to curb their use [see Silja J.A. Talvi,
“Stunning revelations,” Dec. 7].
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Nov 15-21, 2007.
