An Ohio woman has filed a lawsuit against two police officers, claiming that they caused the wrongful death of her son. Police officers stopped the 40-year-old man on New Year's Eve for a minor traffic violation, after which they claim he became uncooperative and ran from them.
More officers eventually arrived in order to help subdue the man, shocking him with a stun gun when he allegedly continued to resist arrest. The man died of a heart attack shortly after the officers used the device.
The man's mother claims that her son complied with the police when he was pulled over and that the police used excessive force in using the stun gun. As evidence, her attorney cited a coroner's report that said the man's body had 11 marks on it from stun guns.
The woman's attorney says that such marks are inconsistent with the effects of a single stun gun, accusing the officers of using several more charges than were needed to subdue the man. He says that in order to subdue a person, the Taser company recommends two short jolts to the body. He contends that the police report regarding the arrest failed to represent how much force was used in the arrest.
The woman says that she tried to resolve the issue through the city, but was forced to file a lawsuit after officials failed to appropriately respond with arrest records. In addition to those named in the lawsuit, two other officers were involved in the incident, but the woman was not reportedly able to discover their names.
The night after the incident, officers from the same police department came under fire for allegedly using excessive force on another man who reportedly drove the wrong way on a street and crashed his vehicle. The officers have been accused of holding the man down and severely beating him before his arrest.
Source: Cleveland.com, "Mother of son who died after being subdued by Cleveland police files wrongful death lawsuit," Pat Galbincea, 7 July 2011