A hulking upstate New York weightlifter who went on a wild rampage at a gym on Monday had a heart attack and died after cops Tasered him several times during the violent frenzy. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Colonie police chief Steven Heider told the Albany Times Union that officers were forced to use stun guns on bodybuilder Chad Brothers, 32, after he trashed a Gold’s Gym and attacked a female police officer and another gym-goer.
An autopsy was planned for Tuesday, and cops have asked that Brothers, of Troy, be tested for steroids, the Times Union reported.
Witnesses said the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Brothers was already agitated when he arrived at the Latham gym at around 5:45 a.m., grunting loudly and mumbling to himself during his workout.
Cops arrived after he allegedly punched a man running on a treadmill and then went on a one-man riot, toppling 700-pound weight machines, destroying office equipment and heaving dumbbells around the room, the Times Union said.
Brothers threw some boxes at a female officer who confronted him, and the cop responded by jolting him with a Taser, police said.
But when the officer tried to cuff him, Brothers leapt to his feet again — with the cop clinging to his back — drawing more Taser-wielding officers into the fray, police said.
“This was a whirlwind of a battle in a confined area,” Heider said.
Cops estimated that Brothers was shocked four or five times and hit with a baton before the officers and other gym-goers finally subdued him.
He went into cardiac arrest shortly thereafter and was rushed to Albany Medical Center, where he died at around 7:15 a.m., cops said.
Heider told the Times Union that he doesn’t know what triggered the incident, but that Brothers may have been delirious with anger during the spree.
Local and state police were reviewing the cops’ actions, but Heider said he believed they acted appropriately.
Investigators were also planning to search Brother s house.
