connection.go | 7 +++++++
 torrent.go    | 5 +++++

diff --git a/connection.go b/connection.go
index 3165e46ffa30daf874bc51c1e15f6a711b6942cb..46083d56d3794b6aa2d55a641a69a72951d2f238 100644
--- a/connection.go
+++ b/connection.go
@@ -348,6 +348,7 @@ // The function takes a message to be sent, and returns true if more messages
 // are okay.
 type messageWriter func(pp.Message) bool
 
+// Proxies the messageWriter's response.
 func (cn *connection) request(r request, mw messageWriter) bool {
 	if cn.requests == nil {
 		cn.requests = make(map[request]struct{}, cn.nominalMaxRequests())
@@ -359,6 +360,9 @@ 	if !cn.PeerHasPiece(r.Index.Int()) {
 		panic("requesting piece peer doesn't have")
 	}
 	cn.requests[r] = struct{}{}
+	if _, ok := cn.t.conns[cn]; !ok {
+		panic("requesting but not in active conns")
+	}
 	cn.t.pendingRequests[r]++
 	return mw(pp.Message{
 		Type:   pp.Request,
@@ -421,6 +425,9 @@ 	defer cn.mu().Unlock()
 	defer cn.Close()
 	defer keepAliveTimer.Stop()
 	for {
+		if cn.closed.IsSet() {
+			return
+		}
 		buf.Write(cn.postedBuffer.Bytes())
 		cn.postedBuffer.Reset()
 		if buf.Len() == 0 {
diff --git a/torrent.go b/torrent.go
index 6a332e0e2920fc5ae04c2e651748a393ce2030b1..5bf85913dc3b6bb4c30f2b6793a6325dd58b8faf 100644
--- a/torrent.go
+++ b/torrent.go
@@ -1171,6 +1171,11 @@ }
 
 // Returns true if connection is removed from torrent.Conns.
 func (t *Torrent) deleteConnection(c *connection) (ret bool) {
+	if !c.closed.IsSet() {
+		panic("connection is not closed")
+		// There are behaviours prevented by the closed state that will fail
+		// if the connection has been deleted.
+	}
 	_, ret = t.conns[c]
 	delete(t.conns, c)
 	c.deleteAllRequests()