A newspaper pressman and a married father of five in Southern California died after he was tased several times by police earlier this week.

According to the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office, 36-year-old Dante Parker was stopped and questioned by police about an attempted home burglary while he was riding a bicycle in Victorville Tuesday afternoon. The person who reported the break-in reported the suspect rode away on a bike.

However, police say that Parker became combative with police when they tried to take him into custody. The sheriff's office also said that Parker appeared "to possibly be under the influence of an unknown substance," according to the New York Daily News.

In order to detain him, a female deputy, who claims that her arms were bruised during the struggle, used a Taser on Parker "multiple times." She also called for backup.

However, when the cops noticed that Parker was breathing heavy and sweating when he was in the back of the police car, they called for an ambulance. Parker later died at a hospital.

Parker's family and colleagues say that Parker was a hardworking family man and that the police's account of the incident is hard to believe.

"That whole story is totally wrong; That's just not Dante," said Richard Loredo, a former Daily Press pressman who worked with Parker. "Dante's not a burglar. ... You can see how well his kids were raised; he was a good dad. For the police department to portray him like that is unfair."

"[Parker] was big, like a defensive end in football," his cousin Ge'shun Harris told the Victorville Press. "I understand that he was big and intimidating, but whoever called the police was wrong, because I don't believe he was doing such a thing."

Parker's coworker, Al Frattura, described the Victorville Daily Press pressman as "a big teddy bear," who works as a Press publisher. "He worked in our production department for 12 years...he was part of our family," he told the Daily News.

"He's a family man, he loves music. ... It's just so unfortunate."

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