Adam Trammell, 22

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
May 25, 2017

Agencies: Greenfield Police Department Wisconsin | West Milwaukee Police Department Wisconsin

Cause of death: Taser

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Overview

The family of the West Milwaukee man who died shortly after being Tased by police is looking for answers. Police were called to an apartment building at 54th and Greenfield early Thursday, May 25th for a report of a person acting erratically.

Trammell's father says his youngest child suffered from serious mental health problems but had been on the right track recently. He had his own place for the first time and had just gotten a job at Little Caesars.

Thursday, Trammell's father believes his son's paranoia got the best of him. West Milwaukee police were responding to a report of a man inside an apartment building near 54th and Greenfield, naked, speaking incoherently and flooding his unit. When officers confronted the man, he became combative and was Tased.

Body camera footage captured the last moments of Trammell’s life, according to his parents and lawyers. They were allowed to watch the video in the district attorney’s office in December, seven months after his death.

In it, Trammell was in the shower, drinking water from a plastic jug, when the police burst through the bathroom door, according to his father, Larry Trammell.

“The only reason why people should get Tased is that they’re doing something. He wasn’t,” Larry Trammell said in an interview. “I just seen him drinking water. He’s off balance, Tased, hit, then they Tase him again. They kept saying, ‘Don’t move.’ Tase. Tase. Tase.”

“It was horrible. My son was screaming. He was tortured. Crucified.”

While he was being taken into custody, he stopped breathing and later died at a nearby hospital.

"To me, there were so many police," said Larry Trammel. "They couldn't do anything else but to shock him?"

 

Legal Action

According to the medical report, the Taser use was a significant condition leading up to the May death of Trammell. Police Chief Dennis L. Nasci confirmed in February 2018 that the Milwaukee County district attorney was reviewing possible criminal charges in connection with the officers’ actions, .