Taser attack kills Brazilian student

A 21 year old student from Brazil is dead and his wealthy, powerful family back home want to know why. So far, all we know is that police were called after the student, Roberto Laudisio allegedly caused a disturbance at a convenience store early on Sunday morning. Police said he matched the description of a man who stole a packet of biscuits.


From the grainy cctv footage released so far, we don’t see a man aggressively confronting police, we see a man running, pursued by several police. At least three officers fired their tasers at the unarmed student and he was also capsicum sprayed. He stopped breathing soon after and could not be revived.


Police suggested he could have had a pre-existing health condition that was aggravated by taser jolts or capsicum spray but his uncle Joao Eduardo Laudisio, who helped raise Roberto after his parents died of cancer, said he was perfectly healthy because he had him medically checked out before he left for Australia. He also said he had no reason to steal anything because he had money “for everything he wants.”



Roberto came to Sydney to learn English and experience our way of life and his friends back home intend to protest outside the Australian consulate in Sao Paulo and dump biscuits at the consulate gates.


It’s been confirmed that the family is “extremely wealthy and well connected” and will not let the matter rest. Roberto was living with his sister who lives in Sydney, Ana Luisa Laudisio and works for an international financial and legal consultancy firm DC Strategy. She is married to an Australian who holds a prominent position in the banking industry.


The family released a statement yesterday: "We are still coming to terms with the sudden and unexpected loss of our beloved Roberto following his tragic death on Sunday morning . . . He was a young man who was much loved by family and his many friends, both in Australia and Brazil, and had a promising future ahead of him. We will all miss him immensely."



A police officer’s job seems to get more dangerous with every passing year. They are shot, punched, kicked, stabbed, spat at, sworn at and treated with contempt and need all the help they can get. But this is not the first time that tasers have had dire consequences for alleged offenders. And this case is not going away until police reveal what really happened.