Man stunned by officer’s Taser dies

Dan Kulin and Jen Lawson

Monday, Feb. 23, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

It may take weeks for pathologists to determine why a 26-year-old North Las Vegas man died Saturday after being shocked several times with a Metro Police Taser gun.

An autopsy was performed Sunday on William Lomax, but the cause of death probably won't be determined for six to eight weeks while toxicology tests are being completed, a Clark County coroner's office spokeswoman said.

Lomax may have been on drugs during the struggle, police said.

"I caution people not to draw any conclusions because we don't know what caused this man's death," Metro Lt. Tom Monahan said. "The only one who is qualified to do that is the medical examiner, and he has said it's still to be determined."

Lomax, who allegedly was combative with paramedics, was shocked by Officer Reggie Rader's Taser four or five times while paramedics put him into an ambulance around 6 p.m. Friday outside an apartment complex near the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Washington Avenue.

Tasers send 50,000 volts of electricity through the body, immobilizing the person who receives the shock. The Tasers Metro uses have a range of 21 feet and fire darts attached to electrical wires that deliver the charge.

Monahan said Metro's policy on Taser use does not say how often a Taser should or can be used on someone.

Lomax's run-in with authorities occurred about 5:50 p.m. Friday. Security officers at the Emerald Breeze apartments in the 900 block of West Monroe Avenue came upon Lomax, whom they knew, and the officers said they thought he appeared ill.

They asked him if he needed an ambulance, and Lomax said he did, according to police. The security officers then determined Lomax was under the influence of drugs, police said.

Illegal drugs were found in Lomax's possession, Monahan said. But Monahan refused to say exactly what they were because no criminal charges were filed.

Rader, a Metro officer for six years, arrived at the complex on an unrelated matter, offered his help to the security guards and waited with them for paramedics.

Lomax allegedly began to fight with the security officers as the paramedics evaluated him, and then Rader shot the man with his Taser.

The Taser was used again another three or four times to control Lomax, including once when handcuffs were being removed so the man could be put into soft restraints on an ambulance stretcher, police said.

Paramedics noticed Lomax was in distress inside the ambulance and when they arrived at Valley Hospital Lomax was in "grave condition," police said.

Lomax died there Saturday afternoon, Monahan said.

Because the exact cause of Lomax's death has not been determined, it is not considered an officer-involved death and Rader has not been placed on leave, police said.

Steve Tuttle, spokesman for the Arizona-based Taser International, called this case "a standard in-custody death in which force has been used."

He said there have been 40 cases in which suspects have died after being stunned with a Taser, but Taser technology has never been listed as a cause of death in any of them.

Typically when suspects die in custody after being shot with a Taser gun, the cause of death is an overdose of drugs, particularly cocaine.

"The person may have worked themselves into a frenzy, they're out of control and exhibiting violent and bizarre behavior," Tuttle said, which leads officers to use their Taser guns to subdue the person.

Lomax died almost a day after being zapped, which "is a pretty good incidator" that his death wasn't Taser-related.

"Electricity does not linger in the body," he said.

With an increasing number of law enforcement agencies using Taser guns -- currently 2,776 departments have equipped their officers with them -- Tuttle said he expects to see more in-custody deaths occurring after the application fo the weapon, but "we expect to be cleared in these cases."