Family demands answers after Haverhill man’s death following ‘struggle’ with police

A man is dead and his family demanding answers after a “struggle” with police outside a Haverhill fish seafood restaurant. Video of the Friday event shared to social media shows at least four police officers holding down a man later identified by family and associates as 43-year-old Francis Gigliotti. As police tried to restrain him, Gigliotti lost consciousness and was eventually taken to a local hospital by EMS, according to Essex DA Paul Tucker’s office. “During this encounter, the male party became unresponsive, and first responders attempted lifesaving aid. EMS arrived moments later and transported the male party to a local hospital where he was later pronounced deceased,” the DA’s office said in a statement Saturday. In one video clip shared to social media, an onlooker can be heard warning police to go easy on Gigliotti, because of “issues.” The incident is under investigation, according to the DA’s office. Officers were first called to investigate a man “behaving erratically” in the area of White Street just before 6:30 Friday evening, according to Tucker. The initial caller reported that Gigliotti fell while leaving a building before running down the middle of the street. The caller said Gigliotti hit his head on a car and continued down the street. According to the DA’s office, surveillance video shows Gigliotti “weaving in and out of traffic, nearly being struck several times by passing motorists.” When officers arrived, they found him “behaving in a belligerent manner.” Medical personnel were summoned to “assess his well-being,” but investigators say he fled on foot and attempted to enter Bradford Seafood at 124 Winter Street nearby. “Officers attempted to restrain the individual for safety purposes and for the safety of the surrounding public. The officers and male party ended up on the ground outside Bradford Seafood in a struggle,” the DA’s office said. It was during that struggle that Gigliotti became unresponsive. Haverhill Mayor Melinda Barrett offered her condolences to Gigliotti’s family and said she is “closely monitoring the circumstances around his tragic death” and would keep them informed. “The District Attorney’s office is investigating. I promise complete transparency to our community and ask that everyone remain patient and calm as this investigation ensues and more information is made available,” Mayor Barrett said in social media posts. Gigliotti’s niece, Leti Torres, told the Herald that the family planned a peaceful protest at the Haverhill Police Department on Sunday in his honor. In social media posts, she called on locals to “stand up” with her family. “Help us be his voice,” she wrote. According to a post made to the company’s social media pages, Gigliotti was half of a newly formed company called “Teddy Bear Roofing.” His business partner expressed his “unimaginable pain and heartbreak” in sharing the news of his colleague’s death. “Yesterday, Francis’s life was tragically taken from us in an act of senseless and brutal force at the hands of Haverhill Police. He was pinned to the ground by eight officers while screaming that he couldn’t breathe. He begged for help. And they didn’t listen,” the post read, in part. According to his business partner, Gigliotti was “kind, hardworking, loyal, and full of life.” “He had so much ahead of him, and he didn’t deserve this. None of this is okay,” they wrote. A memorial has formed on the sidewalk outside Bradford Seafood in Haverhill where a man died Friday night after a struggle with police. (Todd Prussman / Boston Haverhill)