Wrongful Death Attorneys

Attorneys working with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Thursday on behalf of a Las Vegas man whose son died last year after police used a stun gun to subdue him.

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed against the Metropolitan Police Department and Taser International, the Arizona company that manufactured the stun gun.
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“This is a serious and paramount issue that we have here in Las Vegas and in the country as a whole,” attorney Brent Bryson said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit.

Bryson is one of the attorneys representing Sanford Tucker, the plaintiff in the case. Tucker’s lawsuit claims his 47-year-old son, Keith, “had been beaten into submission and then handcuffed” before officers shocked him at least four times with a stun gun on Aug. 2, 2004.

According to the lawsuit, Keith Tucker stopped breathing during his encounter with police and was taken to Desert Springs Hospital, where he died. The Clark County coroner’s office lists the cause of death as “cardiac arrest during restraint procedures.”

After a coroner’s inquest in October 2004, six of seven jurors found the officers’ actions “excusable.” The seventh juror refused to sign the verdict form.

Keith Tucker’s death is one of three in Southern Nevada that have been linked to the use of Taser devices and the first in the state to result in litigation.

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said he hopes the Tucker lawsuit will prompt Las Vegas police to develop a coherent policy regarding the use of Taser devices.

“They’ve got officers who are using these weapons as compliance tools, and that is completely inappropriate,” Peck said.

Camille Garrett, a coordinator for Amnesty International in Las Vegas, said the organization has documented more than 129 Taser-related deaths since 2001. Amnesty International is calling for suspension of the use of Taser devices pending an independent inquiry into their use and effects.

Although ACLU representatives have stopped short of endorsing such a suspension, Peck said Las Vegas police need a policy that allows for the use of Taser devices only when needed to protect officers or the public “or as an alternative to deadly force.”

“Metro doesn’t really have a policy,” Peck said. “They’re all over the map.”

Representatives of the Metropolitan Police Department issued a statement Thursday indicating that Taser devices continue “to be a viable option when it comes to use-of-force issues” that its officers face.

“Metro has, and will continue to evaluate our Use of Force Policy as it relates to the technology and utilization of Taser as a use-of-force option,” according to the statement.

In August, Deputy Chief Mike Ault said the department recently had implemented new policies aimed at reducing potential injuries from Taser devices.

“We have found out that the original policy we provided (officers) wasn’t the best policy to give our officers direction,” Ault said at the time. “We don’t say Taser is nonlethal. We say it has a low-lethality potential.”

Taser International continues to refer to the devices on its Web site as “nonlethal,” calling them “among the safest and most effective use-of-force choices available.”

According to the Web site, the U.S. Department of Defense has classified the devices as “nonlethal weapons.” More than 7,000 police departments in the United States and abroad have purchased Taser devices, according to the Web site, and hundreds have purchased the devices for every patrol officer.

Steve Tuttle, vice president of communications for Taser International, issued a statement Thursday that called the company’s devices “a more humane and safer alternative” than batons, chemical sprays and firearms.

“We continue to believe in the life-saving value of Taser technology and support continued research regarding the safety of Taser technology,” Tuttle said in the statement.

Keith Tucker was on cocaine and prescription drugs when his roommate called police to the Edgemoor Way home they shared with Sanford Tucker, who was in Hawaii at the time.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 2:47 am and is filed under Wrongful Death, Wrongful Death Attorney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.