Man died after police used conducted energy weapon near housing units

A man died after police used a conducted energy weapon during an incident near Rinnekodit housing units, Yle reported. The events took place in a yard area close to the units, not inside any individual unit or directly within their grounds, Rinnekodit service director Taru Åkerfelt said.

Rinnekodit staff were not involved in the situation in which police used the weapon, Åkerfelt said.

Rinnekodit cannot confirm whether the man was one of its clients because information about individual clients is confidential.

According to Åkerfelt, calling the police for assistance is rare at the housing units in Lakisto, where Rinnekodit operates several units.

Police said on Tuesday that they had used a conducted energy weapon during a police operation in the early hours of Friday, August 14. The person was behaving aggressively towards people at the scene, police said.

Staff had already called the police on Thursday because of the same person’s aggressive behaviour. The man’s violent behaviour continued in the early hours of Friday.

Police said the person was injured during the incident and taken to hospital by emergency medical services. He later died in hospital.

Tapani Mäkinen, the state prosecutor leading the investigation and head of the Police Crime Investigation Unit, told Yle earlier on Wednesday that a decision on whether to launch a preliminary investigation would be made in the coming days.

According to information obtained by Yle, the victim was a man in his fifties with an intellectual disability.