The Sangamon County coroner has issued a revised death certificate with a new cause of death for a Springfield man who died after clashing with police back in 2010; Police were called after Patrick Burns went to a neighbor’s home as Burns was having a mental health crisis.
Sangamon County deputies ultimately tasered Burns 21 times; he then was restrained face-down.
His cause of death was initially listed as “excited delirium,” a condition that medical examiners now say is not an adequate explanation for someone’s death.
WAND-TV reports Coroner Jim Allmon now lists the cause of death as “homicide” caused by oxygen deprivation from the face-down restraint.