Askari Roberts
Birth date:
December 18, 1976
Death date:
March 17, 2015
Age at Death:
38
About
Little is publicly available about Askari Roberts, of Rome, Georgia. We know he had a 14 year old son, Jajuan Hunter. From his social media we can see he was single, and went to Coosa High School. He was a man of faith.
A Floyd County Georgia police officer was called to the home of Ella and Jackie Roberts; she called police because her son, Askari, was choking her 64 year old husband (Askari's father). Earlier in the day, the elder Roberts called police to say a hit had been ordered on their son, Askari. Upon arrival, the first officer found the two men struggling on the floor. The officer called for backup, and, with the help of the elder Roberts', the officer tried to handcuff Askari to keep him from hurting others. During the struggle, Askari tried to grab the officer's taser, was tased more than once, and then became unresponsive. The record shows an officer called for an ambulance within 9 minutes of arriving to the home. The officers attempted to perform CPR and the use of an AED until paramedics arrived. Mr. Roberts was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead at 12:36 a.m.
Was justice served?
Unclear. While it is good that deadly force was not used on Mr. Roberts, his death is being added to a growing list of individuals that die after being tased. Mr. Roberts was alleged to have used drugs the day before he died, and was showing signs of paranoia as he thought a gang was coming to kill him. Unclear if the police taser killed him or contributed along with strong controlled substances putting a strain on him. Due to the circumstances of his death, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called to conduct an investigation.