SULTAN MAN DIES AFTER POLICE FIRED TASER SHOT Second death in one week from Taser take down by police officers September 04, 2010
A Taser gun of the type used by police. CLICK TO ENLARGE
(GOLD BAR, WA) -- A 25-year-old Sultan man is the latest person to die in the Puget Sound area after being shot with a police “Taser” gun, a weapon that was designed to be a non-lethal means of subduing a suspect.
The man died early this morning after he was he was shocked with the often used “stun gun” during a confrontation with Snohomish County sheriff's deputies in Gold Bar, according to Everett police Sergeant Robert Goetz.
The man’s name was not immediately released
Goetz said Snohomish County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the 500 block of First Avenue West in the Gold Bar area around 1:30 am Saturday on a report of a disturbance after 911 operators received two calls concerning a man who the callers said was running up and down the street yelling and causing a loud ruckus.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived they said they were immediately confronted by a combative man who charged at the deputies and fought with them, according to Goetz.
During the fight one of the deputies shot the man with his Taser gun, said Goetz, and after the man was hit the officers discovered he was not breathing. They immediately started CPR and called for an aid car.
When the fire department aid car arrived the EMT’s continued CPR and then took the man to Valley General Hospital in Monroe where he was pronounced dead.
Goetz said the man is “associated with a residence in the area”. He is said to stay at a home in the area over the weekends. Investigators are interviewing witnesses in an effort to determine what may have caused the man to take the actions he did when the deputy arrived.”
The county SMART team (Snohomish Multiple Agency Response Team) is investigating the incident.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiners Office will conduct an autopsy to determine cause of death.
The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave as is standard in such cases.
One of the deputies is a three-year veteran of the force and the other has four years of law enforcement experience. Both are under 30 years of age.
On Tuesday of this week a 27-year-old man died after a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy used a “Taser” weapon on him in Spanaway, Washington.
A Taser is an “electroshock” weapon that uses a small amount of electrical current (but at high voltage) delivered by a fired projectile.
The effect is to disrupt voluntary control of muscles in a person and render the person momentarily stunned so that officers can then handcuff a suspect and diffuse the situation.
In this video shot by an Alaska TV station, a reporter volunteered to be shot with a Taser to experience the weapon's effects:
Tasers were introduced as less-lethal weapons to be used by police to subdue fleeing, belligerent, or potentially dangerous subjects, often when what they consider to be a more lethal weapon would have otherwise been used.
The use of Tasers has become somewhat controversial however following instances of Taser use that have resulted in serious injury and death.
The Medical Examiner’s office has ruled the cause of the Pierce County man’s death as inconclusive.
