BOSTON, Nov. 30, 2015—Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley has concluded his investigation into the sudden death of Dominic Graffeo after Chelsea Police officers used Tasers to subdue him in the rooming house where he had barricaded himself last year.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the cause of Graffeo’s June 26, 2014, death to be “sudden death in a person with acute cocaine, ethanol, and oxycodone intoxication following an altercation with police involving the use of electronic control devices and physical restraints.”

Conley found that the officers attempted at length to communicate with Graffeo prior to using force, requested that medical personnel come to the scene before officers entered his room, and used department-issued Tasers during the struggle that followed.

“Based on a thorough review of the facts and circumstances surrounding the police response and Mr. Graffeo’s death, I conclude that there is no evidence that would warrant criminal charges against the involved officers, who acted reasonably and lawfully,” he wrote in a final report released to Graffeo’s family along with the complete investigative file today.

The investigation, led by Assistant District Attorney Mark Zanini, revealed that the manager of Graffeo’s rooming house called police to 165 Hawthorne Street at about 8:00 because Graffeo was “going crazy” and “smashing everything in [his] room.” Responding officers attempted to communicate with Graffeo through the door to no avail but were able to see inside the second-story room from a ladder.

Officers observed Graffeo to be extremely agitated, sweating profusely, and bleeding. He had barricaded his door with furniture and other items. The officers were able to breach the door with firefighters’ help and enter the room, at which point Graffeo began throwing items at them.

When Graffeo ignored their orders to stop, an officer deployed a Taser. Graffeo blocked one of the prongs and the Taser had no effect. A second officer deployed a Taser, but Graffeo continued to struggle and assault the officers as they attempted to handcuff him. The first officer used a Taser again, and the officers were able to gain control of his hands.

Officers began clearing a path through the debris covering the floor and blocking the entrance into the room. At about this time, they observed Graffeo to be in distress, removed his handcuffs, and performed chest compressions. They notified the on-scene medical personnel, who performed CPR and administered Narcan before rushing him to Whidden Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“The officers made efforts to talk with Mr. Graffeo, to calm him, and to gain peaceful entry,” Conley wrote in his report. “They arranged to have medical personnel on scene.  These decisions and actions reflect a conscientious and considered response …. Upon entering the room, the police tried to control the agitated and combative Mr. Graffeo using proportionate compliance techniques. There is no evidence to suggest that the police acted maliciously.  Likewise, they did not engage in ‘conduct involving a grave risk of harm to another that a person undertakes with indifference to or disregard of the consequences of such conduct.’”

Conley’s office investigated the incident under Ch. 38, Sect. 4, of the Massachusetts General Laws, which establishes that, in “cases of unnatural or suspicious death,” including police-involved deaths, “the district attorney or his law enforcement representative shall direct and control the investigation of the death and shall coordinate the investigation with the office of the chief medical examiner and the police department within whose jurisdiction the death occurred.” Though not required by law, Conley additionally made his entire investigative file available to the Graffeo family and the media for further review – a practice he instituted more than a decade ago.

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