Jose Alfred Martinez

How they died

Less-than-lethal force

Jose Martinez died about five hours after police tasered him. Officers responded to a call from a liquor store clerk reporting a panhandler disturbing customers. The clerk said Martinez wasn't the man she reported, and that she told officers that he was "Caucasian, slim, with blue eyes, with dirty-brown hair, about 25, around 5'8" and wearing a Hawaiian shirt." Martinez was 53, Hispanic, with brown eyes and was heavyset and taller than 6 feet, relatives said. An official autopsy stated Martinez died of "existing heart disease" but that the Taser was a "contributing cause."

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Jose Alfred Martinez, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources