Mom Says She Told Police 'Don't Kill My Son.'

The mother of Daniel Mingo said she tried to warn police that her son was afraid of them. One day after 25 year old Daniel Mingo was taken off of life support, Cynthia Mingo talked to News 5 about her son and the incident with Mobile Police that is now the subject of a lawsuit against the city and police department.

"What can I say, he was a sweet child--he loved everybody." Cynthia Mingo said.

Police said Daniel Mingo was stopped for a traffic violation at the intersection of Boltons Branch and Halls Mill Roads. They said he ran from them, was chased on foot and was found hiding in a shed on private property. Police said he was tased once in order to be handcuffed. A friend in the car with Mingo phoned his Mother as the incident was taking place.

"I said to her let me speak to the officer on the scene, I said put him on the phone now. I said to the officer I need you to know that my son is a mental health patient. He's been very paranoid lately and he's going to be afraid of you guys." said Cynthia MIngo. She said her son had been treated at Mobile Mental Health for some time.

"I said tell me you ain't going to kill him. He said, we ain't going to kill him. That's what he promised me, that he wouldn't hurt my son." she said.

Cynthia Mingo said she also called police dispatch who also talked to the officer at the scene, but she said, all of a sudden they stopped talking to her and said an officer would contact her.

"The next call that I got was from a homicide detective that was on the scene. And he was asking me questions concerning the state of his (Daniel Mingo's) heart. If he had had any heart problems. And that led me to believe that something was seriously wrong with him." she said.

Medical records seen by the Mingo's attorney show that Daniel did suffer cardiac arrest, and that he suffered brain swelling and was essentially brain dead when he was admitted to the emergency room. In a lawsuit, attorney Chase Dearman claims Mingo was tased multiple times.

In a short written statement, the city said they believe officers acted properly with minimum force in response to Mr. Mingo's behavior. The statement goes on to say that an investigation will continue to deterine what role if any, the ingestion of drugs played in the death of Daniel Mingo.

"I hear that all over, that essentially he must have been on drugs or they saw him put something in his mouth but I can tell you that I have seen the medical records and I can confirm that a drug test was performed on daniel within two hours of him being admitted to the ER." said Dearman. The attorney says that drug test showed no sign of any substances in Daniel Mingo's system except for a trace amount of marijuana.