EAST HARTFORD — A prosecutor says a Connecticut police officer was justified when he shocked a man with a stun gun for 20 seconds shortly before the man died of a heart problem and blunt injury to his head.
Hartford State’s Attorney Gail Hardy announced her findings Wednesday in the case of Jose Maldonado, who died in April 2014 less than an hour after being beaten and shocked by officers at the East Hartford police department.
Hardy says the 22-year-old Maldonado was fighting officers. She says the actions of the officer who fired the stun gun, Jason Kaplan, were reasonable and appropriate.
Maldonado’s family disagrees and has a pending wrongful death lawsuit against police.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut called Hardy’s decision a miscarriage of justice.
