Family, friends mourn man who died after Boston arrest

By Maddie Hanna, Globe Correspondent

SIMSBURY, Conn. -- David Woodman was remembered at a funeral service today as a passionate and opinionated young man with a fierce belief in helping others.

"David's style was unconventional, but his love for people was unquestioned," said Rev. Dan Selbo, a pastor in San Jose, Calif., where Woodman grew up. "If someone needed his last dollar, he'd give it. He told his parents it drove him crazy to sit in church .... He was a doer."

About 200 friends and family members filled the pews and spilled into a second room of Shepherd of the Hills Evangelical Lutheran Church to remember Woodman. Woodman's family now lives in nearby Southwick, Mass.

The 22-year-old, a former Emmanuel College student who was living in Brookline, died June 29, 11 days after he was arrested during the Celtics NBA championship celebration.

Woodman stopped breathing while he was in police custody. Police and Suffolk County prosecutors are looking into the arrest; the FBI will review the case afterwards.

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