'Exorcist' Stun-Gunned After Choking Girl
July 30, 2007
A man who started choking his granddaughter while attempting an exorcism has died after US police subdued him with stun guns. The three-year-old girl and her mother were in a room with 49-year-old Ronald Marquez at a house in Phoenix, Arizona, when a relative called police. The relative said the grandfather was trying to perform an exorcism.
Attending officers said they entered the property after hearing screams. They found a bed had been pushed up against a bedroom door. After forcing their way into the room, the officers struggled with Marquez before subduing him with stun guns. The girl was freed and passed through the half-obstructed door to a relative.
Marquez was then placed in handcuffs and initially appeared normal, but then stopped breathing. He could not be revived and died at a hospital. Sergeant Joel Tranter said of the reported exorcism: "The purpose was to release demons from this very young child."
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Coincidentally I was watching a documentary fronted by Anthony Head last night that was all about exorcisms. One part featured a consultant psychiatrist who couldn't actually deny the idea of possession as such, instead describing it as a 'spirit disturbance' or something.
I'm gonna have to look into this more.
