Latino Man dies a week after being shot with Taser by Ventura County Police

At Least 180 people have died after being subdued by a stun gun 
A Simi Valley man died Wednesday evening more than a week after he was stunned with a Taser in a confrontation with police after he allegedly refused to get out of his vehicle.

Raymundo Guerrero Garcia, 33, was pronounced dead at 7:42 p.m. at Simi Valley Hospital.

Garcia was taken to the hospital in critical condition after he drove his vehicle through a fence during a chase with Simi Valley police.

The Ventura County Medical Examiner's-Coroner's Office performed an autopsy on Garcia on Thursday. Coroner officials, however, did not release a cause of death, saying more tests, including toxicology and microscopy tests were needed, said Michael Tellez, a deputy medical examiner.

Tellez said Garcia was pronounced brain dead about 11 a.m. Monday. He had been kept on life support until Wednesday evening, said Jeremy Brewer, a hospital spokesman.

Dave Livingston, a Simi Valley police sergeant, said some residents south of Sequoia Avenue and Corto Street called police on the night of May 15, telling them that someone was driving erratically through the neighborhood.

"We received reports that the driver was attempting to run down pedestrians," Livingston said.

When police arrived, the driver's vehicle collided with a police car, Livingston said.

Police ordered the driver to stop, using overhead lights and sirens as they pursued the vehicle, Livingston said.

Police said Garcia refused to stop and instead drove through a fence along the 800 block of Chelsea Court and into a yard.

They also said Garcia became combative and aggressively resisted efforts by officers to get him out of the vehicle.

Police then stunned Garcia with a Taser, Livingston said.

As they were handcuffing Garcia, police said they noticed he was in "medical distress."

"We went from trying to place someone in custody to having to perform CPR on them," Livingston said.

Livingston said Garcia was placed taken to Simi Valley Hospital where he was placed on life support.

He added the Police Department would investigate the circumstances surrounding Garcia's death just as it would look into anyone who dies after a confrontation with the department's police officers.

These investigations "are handled very similarly to an officer-involved shooting," Livingston said.

Garcia's death is the first instance in which someone has died after being stunned with a Taser during a confrontation with the department's police officers, Livingston said. The department first started using Tasers on Aug. 5, he said.

"It was a new, nonlethal weapon, and we felt it was a good tool for our officers to have," Livingston said.

Hundreds of Ventura County police officers are being armed with Taser guns. Police officials say the guns save lives even as the weapons have come under increased criticism.

More than 180 people since 1986 have died after being subdued by a stun gun, nearly all of them since 2000, the Associated Press reported in 2006. [MORE]