Chicago police say officers on bike patrol saw the man, identified as 39-year-old Homer Taylor, behaving erratically and drinking from an open bottle. He was reportedly just released from prision approximately one week ago.
When officers tried to talk to him, they say the man ran away. After a foot chase, the officers tried to take him into custody, but they say he became combative and apparently wielded a sharp-edged object at officers. That's when police tasered him.
"So, I looked out the back window, and I saw the boy. They were just shooting him with that thing, that taser, or whatever. He was just going crazy. And I hurried up and pulled my head back…I didn't want them to notice me," said area resident Shanika Smith.
The man was prounced dead at Loretto Hospital.
The Chicago Police Department says Taylor had taken some sort of narcotics.
An Independent Police Review Authority spokesperson says the incident is under investigation.
