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Martinsville Police Department
Virginia State Police are investigating the death of a 17-year-old Martinsville boy who died Thursday after a city police officer used a Taser on him.
Media General News Service
Published: January 9, 2009
MARTINSVILLE — Virginia State Police are investigating the death of a 17-year-old Martinsville boy who died Thursday after a city police officer used a Taser on him.
Martinsville Police Chief Mike Rogers said officer R.L. Wray, now on paid administrative leave, accosted the boy in a home on Rives Road and used his stun gun when the boy “moved rapidly” toward him in an offensive manner.
“The officer was well within the guidelines of our policy when he used the Taser,” Rogers said.
Last June, the U.S. Department of Justice tentatively completed a study that found no conclusive medical evidence that Tasers cause injury or death, despite many publicized cases of people dying after being hit by the stun guns. In many cases, the victims had pre-existing medical conditions.
Police would not release the name of the boy who died Thursday in Martinsville, but another teenager who was in the home at the time identified him as Derick Jones of Martinsville.
The teenager, Justin Gregory, 15, has been charged with disorderly conduct.
Rogers said Wray went to Rives Road after police received a 911 report at 9:25 of a young man “using the bathroom” in the street. A second 911 caller complained of two or more young men in the street “yelling or fighting.” When Wray arrived, he saw a young male run into the house at 307 Rives Road. Wray followed and found the front door busted, and blood on the inside wall.
He found the two teenagers inside. The one he had seen running was upstairs, so Wray called for him to come down, and after hearing “striking or pounding” noises in the kitchen, he called for the teenager there to come out, Rogers said.
It was then that the 17-year-old moved aggressively toward the police officer, and the teen “was also making some not very kind” comments to Wray, Rogers said.
Gregory said he came downstairs to find his friend on the floor. “The cop used excessive force,” Gregory said Friday. “I told him he didn’t need to Taser him. Derick was just drunk.”
Gregory said both of them had been drinking that night.
Rogers said the police officer tried to resuscitate the teenager as soon as he realized he was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital of Martinsville and Henry County.
When Gregory’s mother, Jennifer Crigger, found out what was going on, she told police.
“I just told them you better thank God in Heaven it wasn’t my son, because it could’ve easily been,” Crigger said.
When Crigger thought about why police were called to the area in the first place, she said, “It wasn’t that serious. He’s 17, and his life is cut short over a disturbing the peace call.”
Rogers said the state police investigation could take one to two weeks. State Police Sgt. Bob Carpentieri declined to comment on the investigation.
• Rex Bowman is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
• WSLS 10 reporter Candice Nelson contributed to this report.
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Reader Reactions
I would like to express my sympathy to the family of the young man who died. My prayers are with you. I also would like to comment on the other mother saying that they were “just drinking” and seemed to feel that this is fine for underaged kids. Doesn’t she realize this is against the law, and that whoever purchased the alcohol for them could face charges? I think this mentality is why so many teens are ending up in trouble because of parents who think this type of behavior is perfectly normal. This mom needs to wake up and smell the roses before her son ends up in BIG TROUBLE.
I agree with sick and tired! People need to wake up and smell the roses! Police are always getting a bad rap for doing their jobs.
I commend the officer for doing his job and feel that it showed he was being humane more so by choosing the taser over the gun. Even though it ended poorly for the boy it still showed the officer showed more value to life by choosing the taser. He could’ve chosen the gun first. I am sure it plays hard on the officer’s mind that the boy died. He is human and has feelings and probably has a family as well….and he is probably playing it in his mind that it could be his kid so forth and so on…especially if his kid was the same age. Don’t think that police are whackos running loose with a permit to kill. They are trained professionals and public servants who are sworn in to protect and serve the public. They put their lives at risk everytime they go out on a call. And if you don’t think it is hard on them emotionally to know they have killed someone in the line of duty think again.
My prayers go to the families and to the family who lost their son. Will the teens in Martinsville or any teen who hears of this learn anything from this incident? Probably not. When you are in your teens you think you are invensible. You are young and want to live it up…Will the parents learn anything from this? Maybe the ones involved but it won’t change anything in the town of Martinsville, life will go on as usual and by next year the incident will be a bad memory and to those who don’t know the family will be forgotten. Sad as it is the community will make remarks, feelings will run high and hurtful to some and then it will be forgotten by the public. However, the family will remember the remarks and the officers will remember them too…sometimes we think words won’t hurt…think again…before you speak out and condemn an officer etc words linger and they do hurt.
Alcohol kills.
If you are going to drink, You take your chances. He gambled and lost.
Being drunk does not mean that everyone around you needs to handle your behavior differently.
Drinking/drugging is a decision one makes. If bad things happen to you because of your decision to get drunk,it’s nobody else’s fault.
If he hadn’t been drunk, he likely wouldn’t have behaved the way he did towards the cop, and the whole tasering thing would never had to happen.
It gets so old to hear how it’s not someone’s fault for this-and-that because they were drunk.
Sorry for the family, but alcohol kills.
I understand both points of view, but everyone needs to look at it fairly. The officer was doing his job and doing what he was trained to do. If someone, regardless of age, is coming towards you aggressively they are trained to use necessary force to subdue the attacker. I don’t think the officer was supposed to leave his weapon and taser on his hip and let someone attack him. Maybe if he had done that a drunk person ( teen or not ) grabs his weapon and shoots him. You have to look at it every angle. If the teen hadn’t been drunk and causing a disturbance then police would have never been called in the first place. It’s completely unfortunate that this young man’s life was cut short. However, the officer is not responsible. Say the officer never responded and the teen goes and hurts someone. People want to damn the police if they do their jobs and damn them if they don’t. Sometimes police do use excessive force but I don’t believe this is the case here. We want officer’s to protect us and do their jobs but then we criticize them if they do. How was the officer to know this was going to happen? The article itself says that the study concludes the taser is in no way linked to injury or death. Don’t be so quick to judge officer’s. Maybe someday you will need one to save your life by using this force and then decide whether or not a taser is that bad.
Whatever caused the officer to respond the way he did, he used what is widely considered to be non-lethal force. While we all may feel sympathy for the family, this case is so bizaare we should wait until all the facts are known before judging the actions of the teen or the officer. Seems that’s the only fair thing to do.
your right it doesnt matter if the victim was any age, this is really tragic and sad. but its true, his life was cut short over something really senseless, and i think some kind of justice should definltey be served for him.
I am so tired of people trying to downgrade teens just because some of them do stupid things.People say that teens will hurt an adult faster than another adult would but thats not true some teens let peer pressure get to them and when it gets to them they go into this little trans but, when something goes bad they will snap back to reality. Lady or Gentalmen that wrote that comment,you need to put yourself in that families position and then say what you have to say. If it was your child no matter what you still would be the same way as the other people. Think about it!!!!
First of all, my sympathy goes out to the young man’s family.In todays society, it is very hard for law enforcement and people don’t understand the danger that they’re in. They would like to go to work and come home safely just like everyone else. When this officer saw the busted door and blood on the wall he really didn’t know what he was going to find on the other side so that can start the adrenaline pumping. If you saw someone coming at you and saying negative comments at the same time, what would you do? You can’t judge this officer unless you been in the same situation. It doesn’t matter if the victim was 13, 17, or 30, you never know if someone has been drinking alcohol, smoking, taking, or shooting up drugs. Whether you’re an officer or civilian, you have to use a reasonable amount of force to protect yourself. Would they rather he used a gun? For the mom who said the officer better be glad it wasn’t her son, what would she have done to the officer? Maybe she should have known what her 15 year old son was doing. This is what’s wrong with the world today, some parents have no respect for law enforcement and neither do their children and when they do something wrong it’s always the other persons fault. I have worked in both prisons and juvenile detention facilities and if you think teenagers can’t do you any harm, then you are living in lala land. For all of you parents who think my child didn’t do this or would never that, you’re in for a rude awakening. Please stay in touch with your children, know who their friends are, know where they are, and most of all, know what they are doing.
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