Police Brutality Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed after Taser Use
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Los Angeles County and Taser International by the family of a man who died in 2007 after an arrest by the County Sherriff’s office, where he was shocked more than 10 times with a Taser.
Also commonly referred to as stun guns, Tasers are weapons that deliver a 50,000-volt shock using an Electro-Muscular Disruption technology, designed to incapacitate neuromuscular function.
Many police and law enforcement agencies throughout the United States have begun carrying these weapons as a means to subdue people who pose a threat without use of a firearm.
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Learn MoreAccording to the Los Angeles Times, the Taser lawsuit was filed by the wife of Cesar Silva, who died in November 2007. The complaint alleges that sheriff’s deputies used far more force than was necessary to detain the un-armed Silva, and that Taser failed to adequately warn of the weapon’s potential for being lethal.
Silva died following an arrest on a disturbance call in South Los Angeles involving at least five deputies. The wrongful death police brutality lawsuit indicates that deputies beat Silva with a flashlight and shocked him more than 10 times with a Taser. Silva was not carrying any weapons at the time of the arrest.
The autopsy performed by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office listed the cause of death as “agitated delirium.” The condition, which is also referred to as “excited delirium,” is regularly cited as a cause of death for individuals apprehended by police who are acting in an irrational and hyperactive manner and subsequently die in custody. It is a controversial designation, as it is commonly used following deaths from Tasering.
The widespread overuse of Tasers has generated a lot of criticism from civil rights groups, as more than 320 Taser deaths have been associated with the use of the stun guns since 2001.
Taser International has been a party to more than 70 wrongful death lawsuits involving the use of their weapon, but they have been remarkably successful defending themselves in court. In nearly every case where they have been named as a defendant, Taser lawyers have successfully gotten the company dismissed from the litigation.
Most recently, Taser International, Inc. was dismissed from a lawsuit pending in the a U.S. District Court in Georgia, where the Court ruled that the plaintiffs could not prove that the company’s device caused the Plaintiff’s death.
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DianeJanuary 14, 2009 at 2:19 pm
On July 4,2008 my son was tased 9 times for no good reason by a police officer in New Matamoras Ohio. We hav 17 witnesses of this wrongful conflictions and police misconduct and the courts wants to charge my son for assulting an officer because when being tased by a police office while being put in a car by another his musles jerked and made his leg kick and officer. He was in handcuffs and offi[Show More]On July 4,2008 my son was tased 9 times for no good reason by a police officer in New Matamoras Ohio. We hav 17 witnesses of this wrongful conflictions and police misconduct and the courts wants to charge my son for assulting an officer because when being tased by a police office while being put in a car by another his musles jerked and made his leg kick and officer. He was in handcuffs and officer was placing him in the car for public intox when the other officer reaches in and curse words of dislike and tased him (this is while handcuffs were already on my son and there were no aggresive behavior that would harm him, the police or the citizens. What if this was your son or daughter? Police are over reacting and getting revenge on the citizens they dont like and getting by with it because usually the victim doesnt have the money to get a lawyer. People are dying all across the contry from being tased 1 plus times and dying from it. Im lucky my sons still alive, in the mean time the police compaint board neglects to return my calls and when i walk in theres never no one to speek with me so i had to type up my complaint and mail it in. Heh thats funny they dont wanna talk with me and there trying to hurry and plea bargan my son on somethin he has 17 witness and is not guilty and they want him to take the wrap so there police officer can get off the hook. Not right and not fair even if my son has a past history of getting in trouble they have no right to discriminate him by looking back at his past assume he's guilty when he's not. Police misuse of tasers and brutility is getting out of hand and with innocent victums. When will be free from cruel unusual punishment from the police force, what is our rights and where is our government, judge and etc, when needed to make right choices and punish wrong arrest? not our innocent citizens.