North Chicago Police were responding to a domestic disturbance in November when police contend Darrin Hanna resisted arrest. Officers shot with a stun gun. He died days later.
The coroner now says the multiple stuns, plus physical trauma at the hands of the officers contributed to Hanna's death along with pre-existing conditions, including drug use and hypertension.
"He might have been punched and hit with a baton, but Tasering, all cause different types or levels of trauma," said Artis Yancey, Lake County coroner.
Hanna's mother, Gloria Carr, has waited for her son's death certificate for nearly four months. "I want justice," she said Wednesday.
Carr says the coroner's findings concur with her long held belief that the actions of police officer's contributed - or perhaps even - caused her son's death.
"There's nobody above the law," said Carr. "Nobody has the right to play God with another person's life."
In the months since Hanna's death, his family has regularly protested at City Council meetings. Almost weekly, new allegations of abuse - some including police station video - surfaced. The police chief has resigned, but the officers involved remain on the force.
"It's tearing our town up," said Ald. Valerie DeVost, 3rd Ward, North Chicago. "We have no more trust or loyalty in the police system."
"It's not over," said LaMont Hanna, Darrin Hanna's cousin, who wants charges filed against the officers.
"I'm fighting for my son, but I'm also fighting for other mothers in this area so they don't have to go through what I'm going through," said Carr.
The fate of the North Chicago police officers involved in Hanna's death now lays in the hands of the state's attorney's office, which will decide if charges will be filed next week.
