Aurora man dies while in police custody

An Aurora man who died Monday night while in police custody had a history of being on the wrong side of the law, according to court records.

Jersey K. Green, 37, of the 700 block of Fourth Avenue, was pronounced dead at Rush-Copley Medical Center after police had struck him in the upper thigh and side with a Taser gun.

Police said they were called to the 700 block of Fourth Avenue just before 10 p.m. Monday for a report of a man acting wildly and jumping on parked vehicles.

They said they found Green on top of a parked SUV, but he fled and then jumped on the hood of a marked squad car that had arrived as backup for the first officer on the scene.

The officer exited the squad and Green moved toward him, police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said Tuesday. The first officer believed the man was going to attack and struck Green in his upper thigh and side with his Taser gun, Ferrelli said.

Three officers struggled with Green and took him into custody.

Ferrelli said an ambulance immediately was called because a Taser was used.

Tasers insert two small prongs in the body. Protocol is to treat Taser wounds the same as punctures from any other object, such as a pencil point or knife, said Greg Jackman, a certified paramedic and emergency medical services support specialist with the Aurora Fire Department. In those cases, paramedics take the injured person to the hospital without removing the object, Jackman said.

Ferrelli said paramedics arrived and began treating Green at 10:04 p.m., but the man became combative and had to be restrained.

While in the ambulance, Ferrelli said Green spit out a bag containing a substance that appeared consistent with crack cocaine. Aurora Fire Chief Hal Carlson said Green experienced seizures and had a white powdery substance around his lips.

Green lost consciousness about 10:24 p.m. and stopped breathing while still in the ambulance, Ferrelli said.

He said paramedics immediately began CPR and transported him to Rush-Copley Medical Center. He was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

The Kane County coroner’s office is scheduled to conduct an autopsy Wednesday.

Green was convicted of criminal sexual assault in 2003, according to DuPage County court records. He is listed on the Illinois Child Sex Offender database, which says the victim was 16 and Green was 28 at the time of the assault by force.

DuPage County records also show Green was named in November in a lawsuit seeking to garnish his wages for $19,772 he owed in child support to a woman in Missouri.

In Kane County, Green had convictions dating to 1992 for battery, reckless driving, drug possession, resisting police and obstructing justice, according to court records.

Attempts to reach Green’s mother, Martha Green of Aurora, were unsuccessful Tuesday. She posted a message on her Facebook page early Tuesday morning asking for prayers after “Aurora Police killed my son Jersey Koesell Green.”

The three officers involved have been reassigned to administrative duties until an internal investigation, being conducted by the Investigative Deadly Force Team, is complete. The team handles all cases resulting in death after a use of force, and it’s standard protocol to put officers involved in such cases on administrative duty during the investigation, Ferrelli said.