The Associated Press
COOKEVILLE, Tenn.- Authorities are investigating the death of a man who stopped breathing after scuffling with officers, including one who gained international notoriety for shooting a family’s dog.
Jason Troy Dockery, 31, fought Sunday morning with officers who responded to a report of a man behaving erratically, according to the Cookeville Police Department. He stopped breathing while being restrained by officers who had tried to subdue him with a Taser.
Police said one officer was Eric Hall, who attracted international attention in 2003 when he shot and killed the dog belonging to a family that he and his partner had pulled over on a highway on suspicion of robbery.
The police cruiser’s dashboard video camera captured the shooting, and the recording was distributed worldwide. An internal police investigation found he didn’t use excessive force.
The family, which had been wrongly implicated in the robbery, received a settlement from the city for $77,500.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into Dockery’s death, spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson said.
Efforts to reach Hall on Monday night were unsuccessful. Calls to a Cookeville listing for E. Hall went unanswered.
Police Chief Bob Terry said his officers didn’t do anything wrong.
“We believe that all the officers involved in this incident acted properly and did nothing that contributed to Mr. Dockery’s death,” Terry said. None of them have been placed on leave.
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