At 6:15 a.m., an hour after the police first spotted him, Israel Hernandez-Llach, a former Miami Beach High School student and a Colombian immigrant, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The teenager was in medical distress after being shocked by the Taser and paramedics were called. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/us/seeking-answers-after-youths-death-in-police-stop.html?hpw   On Thursday, Mr. Hernandez-Llach’s parents held a news conference and called for an independent investigation. The family’s lawyers pointed out that had Mr. Hernandez-Llach been arrested he most likely would have been charged with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor that seldom ends in jail time.
“Those guilty of this must be brought to justice,” said his father, Israel Hernandez Bandera, who was a former Avianca pilot in Colombia, holding back tears as he spoke. “Not even animals deserve that kind of treatment.”
A friend of Mr. Hernandez-Llach’s, Thiago Souza, 19, who served as the lookout on Tuesday, said he saw the police officers giving each other high-fives after deploying the Taser.
“Art is nothing to be killed for,” said Offir Hernandez, 21, the teenager’s sister.

At Miami Beach High School, he won awards for his painting and recently had two sculptures accepted in a temporary exhibit at the Miami Art Museum.

Jacqueline Llach, Mr. Hernandez-Llach’s mother, described her son as frail; friends said he was skinny and about 5 feet 10 inches.
“The police could have done what they needed to do without killing him,” she said in her apartment, where friends had gathered to console the family.

An estimated 500 people have died after being shocked by Tasers since 2001, according to data compiled last year by Amnesty International.
The Miami Beach Police Department has faced scrutiny in recent years after a string of shootings and misconduct involving its officers. During Memorial Day weekend in 2011, eight Miami Beach police officers fired more than 100 bullets at an intoxicated motorist who was driving recklessly. Four Hialeah police officers also were involved.
The motorist was killed and four bystanders were wounded. More than two years later, the case is far from resolved.