Black Man Dies In Police Custody After Being Shot With Taser - Police Stopped the Wrong Man

Two DeLand police officers are off the job after a man they were trying to arrest died in custody. Willie Michael Towns died shortly after he was shot with a taser during a struggle with the officers. The ironic part of this story is, Towns wasn't even the man the police were looking for. DeLand police were looking for a burglary suspect named Mike. They saw Towns and he fit the description, but he was not the man they were looking for. Police approached him on Woodland Boulevard to ask him some questions. For some reason, he took off. Police didn't even bother with pursuit. But then Towns was spotted on the roof of a building. Police say they had no choice but to chase him then. The suspect jumped from the roof to a metal awning. He was going to try to jump to the ground, but decided to break a window and go inside the building, according to the police report. Two officers tackled Towns who, they say, tried repeatedly to jump out the second floor window. They also tasered him three times, with apparently no effect. Towns later admitted doing cocaine that day. Officers finally subdued Towns, strapped him to a board and put him in an ambulance where, the report says, he began fighting with paramedics, then suddenly stopped. Towns was dead. Once again, police are left wondering why this happened. The autopsy report will be out Tuesday. [more]