Inquest jury: Taser played role in death

Jen Lawson

Monday, June 28, 2004 | 9:15 a.m.

A Clark County coroner's inquest jury ruled Friday that jolts from a Metro Police officer's Taser stun gun played a role in the February death of a 26-year-old man who, after allegedly taking PCP, struggled with officers.

However, the jury determined that Officer Reggie Rader's actions were excusable and that he, along with the victim, William Lomax, and four housing authority security guards -- Brian Cornell, David Wireman, James Hines and Joseph Herrera -- all contributed to Lomax's death. The jury also blamed Lomax's drug use and forced restraint.

The incident took place Feb. 20 at the Emerald Breeze apartment complex in the 900 block of West Monroe Avenue.

The apartment security guards spotted Lomax in the parking lot and thought he appeared to be overdosing on drugs. He was lifting up his shirt, sweating, clenching his fists and walking in circles, they testified. They called for an ambulance.

Rader warned Lomax he would use his Taser gun if he didn't stop being combative. He chose the Taser over pepper spray because pepper spray can cause adverse reactions in people who are under the influence of drugs, he said.

Robert Pearson, a Las Vegas Fire and Rescue paramedic who was called to the scene, testified that "the Taser didn't seem to have any effect. It made him angry."

Lomax continued kicking and thrashing even while on his stomach, witnesses testified.

Rader zapped Lomax seven times over the course of nine minutes and 55 seconds, with each zap lasting for two to eight seconds each, said Officer Tom Miller, a Metro training officer who examined the readings on Rader's Taser. After each one, Lomax continued kicking and thrashing, even while on his stomach, Rader said.

Officers managed to handcuff him and medics put him face down on a stretcher. Pearson noticed Lomax had stopped breathing and revived him in the ambulance on the way to Valley Hospital.

Lomax died the next day. Dr. Ronald Knoblock, medical examiner for the coroner's office, determined he died as a result of cardiac arrest during restraint. The use of the Taser, which is considered a restraint device, contributed to his death, he said.

The Taser causes skeletal muscle contractions, and the fact that the five foot, eight inch, 233-pound Lomax was on his stomach and continuing to fight resulted in cardiac arrest, Knoblock said.

Lomax was also in the early stages of pneumonia, which Knoblock also listed as a cause of death, along with PCP intoxication, although the amount of the drug in his system did not appear to be lethal.

"This is a man who is overweight, on his face, on the ground and the weight put pressure on his diaphragm," Knoblock said. "His metabolism was up because of the PCP."

"I can't say the Taser in itself caused his death," Knoblock continued. "If you took the Taser away I couldn't say he wouldn't have died."

Metro Police began using Tasers last September. This is the first time a Taser has been cited as contributing to a death.