Thomas Lane, 37

Bridgeport, Connecticut
February 22, 2016

Agencies: Connecticut State Police

Cause of death: Taser


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Last updated: almost 6 years ago

Overview

State authorities are investigating the events that followed a highway collision after a state trooper used a stun gun on an Ansonia man involved in the crash, who later died.

The Milford State’s Attorney’s Office and troopers from the Central District Major Crime Squad of the State Police are digging into the SUV-versus-tractor-trailer crash, which blew one vehicle apart and trapped a motorist inside early Monday.

State police said that driver, 37-year-old Thomas Lane, of Tremont Street in Ansonia, resisted extrication from his smashed Jeep so violently that he broke a firefighter’s hand, and a trooper was forced to use a stun gun on him.

Lane was eventually removed from the sport-utility vehicle and treated on scene, then “transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital for further evaluation, where he later succumbed to his injuries,” according to Trooper Kelly Grant, a spokeswoman for the state police.

Police said Lane suffered a head injury in the crash, but did not indicate specifically what killed him or whether being stunned by the trooper worsened his medical condition. Lane had been wearing his lap and shoulder belts when he crashed; the Jeep’s airbag did not deploy, police said.