An Elk Grove man died early Monday in a confrontation with Sacramento County sheriff's deputies after officers used pepper spray and shot the man twice with 50,000-volt Taser stun guns. Sheriff's officials said Ricardo Zaragoza struggled with four deputies who wanted to take him in for a mental health examination after his family called officials saying he was acting erratically. Sheriff's officials and family members said officers shot him twice in the chest with Taser guns. Family members, however, said officers used excessive force to control him.Arnulfo Zaragoza Jr. said his brother, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at age 20 while he was a student at the University of California, Davis, had been taking his medicine but had not eaten for five days. Zaragoza's "inconsistent and incoherent statements" led the responding officers to decide that he needed a mental health evaluation, Davis said. Zaragoza Jr, said officers discussed taking Zaragoza to a mental hospital with Zaragoza and his parents in the living room. Zaragoza left the room to enter his bedroom, saying, "I am not a criminal." Officers followed, one using his foot to block Zaragoza from closing the bedroom door, Zaragoza Jr. said. That officer sprayed pepper spray and called for backup. Ricardo Zaragoza had been pepper sprayed, shot twice with Taser guns and handcuffed when at least two other officers came in at "100 miles per hour," Zaragoza Jr. said. He said one officer used his knee to hold his brother's neck to the ground, even as his father exclaimed that his son had stopped breathing. Zaragoza Jr. said his father requested that officers administer CPR, but officers said paramedics would do so. Paramedics arrived quickly, but Zaragoza's hands fell limp when the medic ordered deputies to remove the cuffs. Zaragoza Jr. said another brother went to see Ricardo's body at the hospital and said his face was bloody and his face, jaw, arms and stomach were bruised. "Something looks very bad," Zaragoza Jr. said. "Something went very wrong here." [more]
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