A 54-year-old man who died on Feb. 10 after city police fired a stun gun at him turned out to be a former bond trader and ex-con who may have been connected with the death of a mentally disabled man, the Chicago Tribune reported. Ronald Hasse, of Cedar Lake, Ind., was accused of burying Michael Denvit at Hasse’s parents’ home in 2001 after Denvit died at Hasse’s own home.
Police said that on Feb. 10 Hasse refused to leave the hallway on the 26th floor of an apartment building on the 300 block of West Wellington in Chicago. He had supposedly been invited up to the apartment of two men who were later questioned by police but had not been charged.
According to Area 3 Police Commander Michael S. Chasen, Hasse began threatening the officers, saying ‘If you come near me, I will give you HIV.’ After an officer handcuffed one of Hasse’s wrists, he started swinging the cuffs at the police. Chasen then added that, after three warnings, a sergeant fired a Taser stun gun at Hasse. Paramedics took him to the ground floor and rushed him to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:58 p.m. Police spokesman Pat Camden told Windy City Times that the official cause of death was still pending as of Feb. 14.
This incident was the third in a week involving a stun gun. Earlier in the week, a 14-year-old ward of the state went into cardiac arrest after police shot him with stun gun. Also, on Feb. 11 police used a stun gun on a 29-year-old man who allegedly attacked them.