Tamaqua Police have been cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with the death of a man who died after a stun gun was used on him on Aug. 8. Tamaqua Borough Council was informed the case is considered as closed during Tuesday night's regular meeting.

The announcement was made by Tamaqua Chief of Police Rick Weaver, who received word on the case from Schuylkill County District Attorney Christine Holman.The case began when police were dispatched to the area of 30 Center St., at 4 a.m., for a man who was reportedly running wild and acting aggressively.Officers found Jose Paulino Jr., 38, yelling obscenities and causing a scene. Paulino refused to calm down and cooperate, acting menacingly toward the officers, according to the report.An officer then used a Taser on Paulino. When Paulino kept advancing on the officer, a second Taser shot was used to take him to the ground.Paulino was conscious when he was placed in an ambulance for transport to St. Luke's Hospital-Miners Campus in Coaldale, but went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. Life saving efforts failed.The Pennsylvania State Police Major Case unit was called in to handle the investigation.An autopsy, conducted at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest by forensic pathologist Dr. Barbara Bollinger turned out to be inconclusive as to a cause of death, leading Schuylkill County Coroner Dr. David Moylan to wait for toxicology results before ruling on the death.State trooper Edward Lizewski of the Frackville Barracks turned over the results of the investigation to Holman.After reviewing all the evidence, Holman issued the following statement concerning Paulino's death:"I have had the opportunity to review, in its entirety, the incident reports, and it is my opinion that this death investigation should be closed as there was no inappropriate act or actions utilized by the Tamaqua Police Department when they responded to the incident."It is apparent that the Tamaqua Police Department exhausted every other reasonable means of apprehension before resorting to the use of Tasers to apprehend Jose Paulino Jr., and their use of Tasers was well within protocol. Furthermore, it was revealed that Jose Paulino Jr. had ingested synthetic marijuana, which may have been the sole cause of his heart failure. Nonetheless, the matter is deemed closed."Weaver declined further comment, allowing the district attorney's words to conclude the matter.