Vallejo: City hit with lawsuit in stun-gun death

VALLEJO
City hit with lawsuit in stun-gun death
Victim's mother says police used excessive force
- Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 29, 2005

The mother of a man who died after Vallejo police shocked him numerous times with a Taser has filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the city, accusing officers of using excessive force.

The lawsuit, which seeks $30 million in damages, is the second filed in the death of Andrew Washington Sr. and comes as Taser International, the manufacturer of the weapons, acknowledged this week that the Securities and Exchange Commission had broadened its investigation of the company.

Washington, 21, of Vallejo was needlessly killed on Sept. 16, 2004, after Officer Jeremie Patzer stunned him 17 times with a Taser, according to the new suit, filed Sept. 21 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco by Washington's mother, Lori Robinson.

"The ostensible reason given by police for the repeated Taser shocks was because their victim did not comply with commands to show his hands to arresting officers," Robinson's attorney, Scott Gilpin of Oakland, said Wednesday.

"In truth, he could not comply. He was dying where he lay, his arms folded under him, while 174 seconds (nearly three minutes) of continuous and torturous electric shock were sent coursing through his prone body," Gilpin said. "Andrew Washington never had a chance."

Police and city officials have said that the officers acted appropriately in dealing with a hit-and-run suspect who had ingested drugs and alcohol. On Wednesday, James Fitzgerald, a Walnut Creek attorney representing the city of Vallejo, declined comment, saying he hadn't seen the suit, which names the city, Police Chief Robert Nichelini, Patzer and five other officers.

In March, Patzer tackled and injured Melvin Ainsworth, 77, on the Carquinez Bridge, thinking the man was about to jump over the span. Patzer, 33, apologized to Ainsworth, who had been taking his usual morning stroll.

Vallejo police said Washington was driving a Ford Bronco that hit two parked cars on Hazelwood Street. Washington fled on foot, and police fired a Taser at him as he climbed a fence near Hogan High School, officials said.

Officers caught him in a culvert. Washington began showing undisclosed signs of physical distress and was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

An autopsy by the Solano County coroner ruled Washington's death an accident, caused by "cardiac arrest associated with excitement during (the) police chase and cocaine and alcohol intoxication, occurring shortly after Tasering."

In a separate lawsuit filed in Solano County on Feb. 28 on behalf of Washington's young son, Andrew Jr., Taser International was accused of knowingly marketing a dangerously defective weapon as safe and "nonlethal." The company has maintained that its devices enable officers to safely subdue violent individuals.

In January, the Arizona stun-gun maker said the SEC had begun an informal inquiry over a sales order and the accuracy of company statements touting the safety of the devices. On Tuesday, Taser said the SEC inquiry is now a formal investigation. The commission is also looking into possible stock-price manipulation, and now has subpoena power to obtain documents and testimony.

Since 2001, more than 140 people across the nation have died after being stunned with the device, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, but only one death has been directly attributed to Taser use. Over the past year in Northern California, deaths have occurred in Fremont, Santa Rosa, Pacifica, Sacramento and Salinas.

E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee [at] sfchronicle.com.

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