Three Dedham police officers who tasered a man three times and pepper-sprayed him were justified in their use of force and bear no criminal liability in his death, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said Friday.

36-year-old Samuel Pattillo was having a psychotic attack He stabbed his mother and sister in the same home on Dec. 6, 2023, seriously injuring both women, according to the final report into the investigation into his death and officers’ use of force.

Shortly after the stabbings, Pattillo was confronted by three police officers, which led to a violent struggle in which Pattillo attacked the officers and demanded to be shot, the report said.

Morrissey wrote that Pattillo was hit three times with a stun gun and recovered after five seconds each time. The report also stated that he was sprayed with pepper gas once and beaten several times by the police officers who tried to detain him.

For the next 30 seconds, Pattillo remained silent to the point where police began checking his pulse and began life-saving efforts, including CPR. He was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess-Needham, where he was pronounced dead, the report said.

The state medical examiner observed numerous scratches, abrasions and three locations where Pattillo had been struck with a stun gun, but none of the injuries were serious enough to cause his death, the report said. In the report, Dr. Maria Del Mar Capo-Martinez ruled that Pattillo’s arteries were partially blocked, causing fatal cardiac arrest.

Morrissey ruled that officers faced an “imminent threat” from Pattillo.

“I find that they are not criminally responsible for attempting to subdue and detain Mr. Pattillo after he violently attacked his mother and sister, attempted to flee the scene, and emerged as an additional threat to police and the community.” Morrissey wrote in the report. “In the circumstances in which Mr. Pattillo stabbed family members and violently assaulted responding Dedham Police officers, an imminent danger and potential threat of death existed to the officers and the public, and the officers’ actions were reasonably necessary.”

According to Morrissey, Pattillo had a chronic mental illness and had stopped taking his medication in the days before December 6. His sister had come from out of state to help him and had taken him to a medical appointment earlier that day.

During Pattillo’s Allegedly, while the mother and sister were in the kitchen, he suddenly grabbed a large kitchen knife and started stabbing his sister. He attacked his mother when she intervened. Pattillo left home and encountered pros like Michael Pucci, Ryan McCarthy and Brian Cullinane while at Country Club Lane.

The report concluded that data on the stun guns showed that they were not fully effective because they were fired from long distances and hit parts of Pattillo’s body, reducing their power.

“I found that the officers’ actions showed that they were not only concerned for themselves, each other, and the public, but also for Mr. Pattillo; “His actions were reasonable under the circumstances,” Morrissey wrote.

John R. Ellement can be reached at [email protected]. follow him @JREbosglobe.