Man dies after stun gun used in arrest

Rory McKenzie (provided photo)

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By BakersfieldNow.com Staff

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A man died Thursday morning after being arrested by Kern County Sheriff's deputies.

Latoya McKenzie, 20, said she flagged down patrol deputies just after midnight claiming her husband had assaulted her. She said her husband, 25-year-old Rory McKenzie, had broken out a car window with a baseball bat while she was sitting in the car.

Deputies went to an apartment on the 900 block of Feliz Drive in east Bakersfield and used a Taser and sheriff's dog when Rory McKenzie resisted arrest, according to a sheriff's office news release. Deputies noticed he had stopped breathing and took him to Kern Medical Center, where he died.

Latoya McKenzie said she wasn't home when her husband was arrested, but she said her three children were there. She criticized deputies for their handling of the situation.

"There's about six, seven police officers and just him," Latoya McKenzie said, "and a canine dog, but they felt so threatened that they had to Taser him with two rows, or whatever."

The incident is under investigation, but Sr. Deputy Michael Whorf said deputies are allowed to use one higher level of force that a suspect is using in order to subdue to suspect.
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