Widow files suit Against Fresno & Taser International: Naked Black Man Tasered to Death

• Originally published in the Freso Bee on April 13, 2005 [here]

 Fresno musician died after being subdued; death ruled overdose.

By Jerry Bier / The Fresno Bee

The widow of a man who died last year after police used Tasers to subdue him has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the city and Taser International Inc.

 LaVette Sanders says in the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno that her husband, Michael Lewis Sanders, a Fresno musician, died after officers "began firing Tasers at his naked body even though Fresno Police Department rules and other instructions require that the Tasers not come in contact with human skin."

The complaint also contends that there have been "repeated occasions of a pattern of on-going constitutional violations" that "continue to result in the wrongful injury of citizens, especially ethnic minority citizens, specifically blacks, taken into custody in the city of Fresno."

 Deputy Police Chief Rene Martin said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not discuss specifics, but there are no reports he is aware of that say Tasers shouldn't be used on bare skin.

 As for allegations that officers target more blacks in the use of force, Martin said that is not true and statistics do not support the lawsuit's contention.  "We spend a lot of time trying to make sure we use force appropriately," Martin said.

Sanders, 40, died after the confrontation with officers. An autopsy concluded that the cause of death was from a cocaine overdose.

Three months before his death, Sanders had graduated from California State University, Fresno. He had been a member of the dean's list and had planned to teach music. As a musician, he had performed as a soloist and was a member of bands throughout Fresno playing keyboard and guitars.

Officers responded to the Sanders' home in the 4800 block of East Oslin Avenue in southeast Fresno Aug. 20 and reportedly found him struggling with his wife.

The lawsuit, filed by San Francisco attorney Waukeen Q. McCoy, says officers fired "numerous Taser darts into his body" and "then handcuffed him, placed him face down on a gurney, suffocating him, and placed him into an ambulance."

A Taser shoots an electric charge that overrides the central nervous system and contracts muscles. It is intended to momentarily incapacitate a person without causing permanent injury.

A Taser representative could not be reached by telephone or e-mail Tuesday.

 McCoy says in the complaint there "is significant concern in the medical community regarding the danger of [using] Tasers on excited, intoxicated individuals or those with pre-existing heart conditions."

He said he has been unable to obtain police reports and therefore cannot name the officers involved in the incident. The lawsuit names the city and Police Chief Jerry Dyer, along with Taser International, as defendants.

Dyer said at the time of Sanders' death that officers were forced to jolt him several times with two Tasers, but that Sanders appeared unaffected. During a scuffle with the officers, Sanders allegedly stabbed a sergeant several times with an unknown object, Dyer said.