Dayton police say Taser not used during struggle with Antonio Lewis, who died

The initial draft of the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office preliminary autopsy of Antonio Lewis, 62, pointed to blunt-force trauma from a crash the man was involved in before he interacted with police, a positive test for cocaine at the hospital where he received care, and cardiac arrest.

The draft report stated cardiac arrest occurred after police used a Taser on Lewis.

“A taser was not deployed by a Dayton Police Officer in this incident,” said Dayton police information specialist James Rider.

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office confirmed that no taser prong marks were found on the man during an examination.

Michael Wright, an attorney representing Lewis’ family, could not be reached for comment.

Dayton police were dispatched early in the morning of June 7 to a report of a crash and found an unoccupied SUV that was smoking near Gillespie Park at the DeSoto Bass public housing complex.

The vehicle’s airbags deployed in the crash, and the SUV sustained damage to the front and sides after driving through two metal fences, according to police.

Officers found the driver, Lewis, nearby with an injury to his arm and ripped pants. He told officers that he needed help.

Body camera footage viewed by the Dayton Daily News showed Lewis become agitated as officers were waiting for medics to arrive following the crash. The two officers on scene tried to get him to sit and to calm him. At one point he leaned back against their cruiser and balled his right hand into a fist, the video shows.

In the footage, the officers tried to handcuff Lewis, and he resisted. Police said that during the struggle, he grabbed an officer’s Taser and ripped it from his duty vest.

Once they had Lewis on the ground in handcuffs, lying on his stomach, officers noticed that he lost consciousness.

Lewis briefly regained consciousness after the officers turned him over as they were trained, Dayton police Chief Kamran Afzal said at a press conference earlier this month.

Lewis was declared brain dead on June 9, according to the preliminary autopsy.