11/10/2006 - National Legal News

A wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit has been filed by the family of Jaime Teran Coronel, a man who died in Jan. 2006 after police stunned him with a Taser.

The Taser incident took place on Jan. 24 in Castroville, approximately 38 miles south of San Jose. Coronel, 27, was found by police on the roof of a home. According to deputies, he was yelling incoherently and asking the deputies to shoot him. The deputies tried to subdue him using a Taser but were unsuccessful. Eventually, Coronel was restrained and taken away by paramedics. At that point, according to reports, his heart stopped, and efforts to revive him failed.

Deputies involved in Coronel’s death were cleared of wrongdoing when a coroner’s report listed methamphetamine as the primary cause of death.

Civil rights activists used Coronel’s death as another example of why law enforcement needs to stop using Tasers and develop new procedures for dealing with suspects who are mentally ill or under the influence.

The lawsuit, which names Monterey County, the county’s Sheriff’s Office, and Taser International as defendants, is the third grievance involving fatal Taser incidents currently before the U.S. District Court in San Jose. Other pending lawsuits in the court include a 2005 Taser confrontation involving Salinas police and a 2004 incident involving Seaside police.

Taser International tried to get the case dismissed, but its request was denied.