'Sword-Wielding' Man With Bipolar Disorder Dies After NYPD Officers Taser Him

A man from Queens died after he was tased by officers from the New York Police Department as he allegedly threatened to attack them with a Samurai sword.

According to the police, dispatchers from the 109th Precinct responded to a home on the 150th St. near 20th Road in Whitestone on Sunday (June 21) night after receiving a 911 call reporting about a man armed with a gun.

The officers found 29-year-old George Zapantis in the basement of the house. He was dressed as a gladiator, wearing a helmet, and was holding a Samurai sword when the officers located him. Police said Zapantis defied orders to drop the sword and advanced toward the officers, forcing them to taser the man as an attempt to stop him.

Zapantis suffered an apparent cardiac arrest and was rushed to the New York-Presbyterian Queens, where he was pronounced dead.

Two videos, shot by a neighbor, show four police officers attempting to handcuff Zapantis at the home’s entrance. He does not seem to be armed in the video. An officer is heard shouting “Get down! You’re going to get tasered again if you don’t get down!” That’s when another officer is heard saying “Hit him again!” before they tased Zapantis once more.

George Vomvolakis, the attorney representing Zapantis's family, shared the videos of the incident with the Gothamist website.

"We want to view the body cam footage and any potential videos or witness statements they may have in order to confirm their accusation that Mr. Zapantis was armed and that their use of the Taser...was justified," Vomvolakis told the local media.

He said Zapantis had a history of mental illness and that he suffered from bipolar disorder.

"It also remains to be seen whether or not the police were aware of that at the time that they responded, as well as at the time that they used these Tasers," said Vomvolakis.

"And if they did know, then it clearly was a use of excessive force, and that possibly they could have deescalated the situation by talking to him," he said, adding that repeated uses of taser can lead to death.

Zapantis’s neighbors, 42-year-old Ricky Noble, and his 16-year-old daughter Shakira, said he was not threatening anyone with the sword. According to them, the scene escalated quickly after the police arrived.

“I told the officers he’s got mental health (issues), he takes medicine,” Noble told the New York Daily News. “I was yelling at the officers that he was (mentally ill), and they were still tasing him. Just handcuff him and walk him out.”

“There were moments where George did say that he couldn’t breath to (police), when they were pulling on his shirt,” Shakira said. “And the officers said ‘Don’t play that card, no one’s choking you.'”

The neighbors said he was a "church-going man" who took care of his 33-year-old sister diagnosed with Down syndrome.

Zapantis' mother, Athanasia, said, “I’m crying because I was not here for my son in his last moments, and he died in such a horrible way,” Athanasia said. “He was my left hand, my son. He was everything ... He died for no reason.”

“If my son was wrong ....” she said. “I don’t think he was wrong at all. He had so good a heart. He was kind to everybody.”

Athanasia said the neighbor who informed the police about Zapantis was constantly harassing her son.

“If I see him, I’m going to spit in his face,” she said, adding that the man was clapping when police were handcuffing and tasering her son.

The case was under investigation.