Police bean bags shooting may have caused man's death

<p>Law enforcement authorities are trying to determine whether a man's death was caused by being shot with police bean bags.</p><p>Lester Zachary was pronounced dead at a hospital Wednesday morning, two days after he was shot at his home, said Muscogee County Coroner James Dunnavant.</p><p>Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren said police are trying to determine whether Zachary died as a direct result of the bean bag shooting.</p><p>A bean bag bullet is used by police as a non-lethal alternative to shooting someone with a gun, Boren said. The silver dollar-sized bean bag is compressed in a shell casing and loaded into a specialized 12-gauge shotgun. It is designed to create an impact strong enough to make suspects fall to the ground so officers can handcuff them.</p><p>"We have no indication at this time what the cause of death is," Boren said. "Our investigation is continuing at this point."</p><p>Police went to Zachary's house early Monday morning after Zachary called the Veterans Affairs Hospital hot line. He told a nurse he was dreaming of killing children and himself and that he had a gun. The nurse called police, Boren said.</p><p>When officers went to the home, Zachary told them he would kill them too. Boren said Zachary refused to talk with them, but he eventually came out to his porch. That's when a supervisor, who was at the scene, authorized an officer to shoot Zachary in the chest using a bean bag gun from about 25 feet away.</p><p>Boren said it is standard procedure to shoot the suspect in the chest if the officer is farther than 25 feet.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x286630c)</p>