The death of Oak Park Heights corrections officer Joe Parise, who suffered a medical emergency last month shortly after helping a fellow officer under attack, has been ruled a homicide.
Parise, 37, of Forest Lake, died Sept. 24 at Regions Hospital in St. Paul of acute coronary syndrome, with a secondary cause of ischemic heart disease, according to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office.
The four-year veteran had sprinted across the sprawling prison complex to help restrain an inmate who reportedly punched a colleague 15 times in the face. Less than 10 minutes after returning to his station, Parise collapsed.
Chief investigator Lori Hedican said Friday that the agency classified Parise's death as a homicide on Thursday after weighing the autopsy results against evidence from the Department of Corrections.
It was the second on-duty death of a corrections officer in as many months. Joseph Gomm, a 45-year-old officer at Stillwater prison, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in July. Both men were buried with full honors.
Edward Muhammad Johnson, an inmate serving time for homicide, faces two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree assault in connection with Gomm's fatal assault.
The homicide ruling in Parise's case came just hours after another attack at the Oak Park Heights maximum-security prison that left two officers hospitalized.
The incident occurred as officers were transporting an offender from the gym around 8:45 p.m. Thursday night, said DOC spokeswoman Sarah Fitzgerald. At that point, a second prisoner got involved and two officers suffered injuries in the scuffle.
