Man dies after cops use Taser on him

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.

A 47-year-old man died Monday night shortly after a Metro Police officer used a Taser on him during a struggle in a condominium near U.S. 95 and Flamingo Road.

About 10:30 p.m. a 64-year-old man called 911 reporting that his roommate was "acting unusual, tearing the house apart, punching the walls and seemed to be talking to an unknown person not there," Sgt. Rocky Alby of the department's homicide section said.

When officers arrived at the home in the 3900 block of Edgemoor Way, the younger man was sitting on his bed talking incoherently.

Officers "tried to reason with him," but the man allegedly punched one of the officers in the chin and kicked the officer in the chest and legs, Alby said.

The two officers used their expandable batons and a Taser gun in an attempt to take the man into custody but he continued to resist, Alby said.

"He was not complying," Alby said. "He had to be forcibly handcuffed."

It's not clear if the man, whose name has not yet been released, was shocked with the Taser after he was cuffed, Alby said.

A computer chip in the Taser involved in Monday's incident will show how many times it was used. The weapon was being examined this morning.

The officers saw the man was having trouble breathing, so they began CPR and called emergency medical personnel, Alby said. The man was taken to Desert Springs Hospital where he died.

Carla Alston, Metro Police spokeswoman, said this "is an in-custody death, not a Taser death, and it's important to make that distinction. An autopsy will determine how this man died."

The autopsy is scheduled for today. The man appeared to be under the influence of PCP, Alby said, but toxicology test will have to determine whether that was the case.

He said the actions of the officers appear to fall within Metro's use-of-force policy.

The department began using Tasers in April 2003 as an alternative to lethal force.

Since then, one man, 26-year-old William Lomax, died nearly 20 hours after an officer used a Taser on him, and two officers are being investigated for allegedly using Tasers improperly on at least once person.

Monday night's case marks "yet another Taser-related incident where someone ended up dead," Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada said. "It underscores the need for the department to examine its policies and practices regarding the use of those very powerful weapons."

A coroner's inquest jury cleared the officer involved in Lomax's death in February, but the jurors determined that the Taser contributed to the death based on testimony from a medical examiner.

Two weeks ago Sheriff Bill Young said he was rethinking a department policy allowing officers to use Tasers on people who are in handcuffs in light of Lomax's death.

A spokesman for the Arizona-based Taser International said the company isn't entirely convinced that Lomax's death is Taser-related. The shock delivered by a Taser is not strong enough to interrupt cardiac activity, the company has said.

The officers implicated in the case involving alleged improper use of Tasers, Jeremy Krough and James Vargas, were placed on administrative leave when the probe began earlier this year, but Vargas resigned from the department last month after Metro officials recommended that he be fired.

Krough, Vargas and two other current or former officers assigned to the department's Southwest Area Command are accused of lying about excessive force incidents, engaging in unbecoming conduct, falsifying reports and disobedience. The officers' sergeant, lieutenant and captain are accused of neglect of duty.

Part of the investigation involves allegations that the four officers had T-shirts made that read "BDRT," which Metro officials said had dual meanings -- "Big Dogs Run Together" and "Baby's Daddy Removal Team."

Some of the officers who made the shirts were involved in the attempt to arrest Orlando Barlow, a babysitter who allegedly used a gun to threaten the mother of a group of children in his care.

Barlow was on his knees surrendering and was about to be handcuffed by other officers when former Metro Officer Brian Hartman shot and killed him. Hartman resigned from the police department in May.02