Yonkers school aide dies after he’s tasered by police at Best Buy; family says he didn’t deserve it

GREENBURGH, NY — The heartbroken family of a 21-year-old Yonkers man who died after he was tasered by police at a Best Buy to prepared to say goodbye Monday night.

They held a wake at a Yonkers funeral home before Jonathan Maldonado's Friday morning funeral.

Maldonado's mother spoke to the press for the first time Monday since her son died in Greenburgh Police custody Wednesday night.

"My boy was a good boy. He wasn't perfect, but he was mine," Nancy Khader-Maldonado said outside the Sinatra Memorial Home.

Greenburgh police said they responded to a larceny call last Wednesday evening at the Best Buy in Hartsdale.

What happened, the family's lawyers said, is still a mystery.

According to Greenburgh police, when officers arrived, Best Buy employees had already chased Maldonado from the store and were struggling with him. When police tried to take over, they used a taser.

"One Greenburgh police officer, as was described to us, grabbed him, lifted him off up his feet and slammed him to the ground like a wrestling move," attorney Debra Cohen said.

Police also said the young man swallowed an unknown substance before the struggle.

"It doesn't surprise me that the department that may be responsible for his death is trying to smear the victim,' attorney Randolph McLaughlin said.

The family said they are waiting for the autopsy results and the video from the patrol car dash cam and officer body cameras. Lawyers said there is also other surveillance video.

The New York Attorney General's office has taken control of the investigation. According to spokesperson Amy Spitalnick, "We're committed to conducting an independent, comprehensive, and fair investigation."

Greenburgh Police said Maldonado went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. He died at the hospital.