Man dies 2 days after Metro police use Tasers on him

Man dies 2 days after Metro police use Tasers on him

JEANNINE F. HUNTER / Tennessean.com | Sept 25 2005

A young Nashville man whom police tried to subdue with Tasers died yesterday, prompting Metro police to launch two investigations into the circumstances surrounding his death.

Patrick Aaron Lee, 21, died yesterday afternoon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was taken to the hospital after a confrontation with officers outside Mercy Lounge, a live music venue off Eighth Avenue South, shortly after 11:30 p.m. Thursday.



The cause of death has not yet been determined, and an autopsy is planned. The use of Taser stun guns has become controversial nationwide as citizens question whether police are using the weapons irresponsibly. Metro police used Tasers 82 times from November to May, said Don Aaron, police spokesman, and "no suspect or officer has required treatment away from the scene."

Lee's death yesterday shocked and outraged his friends and family, who believe Lee was struck with Tasers multiple times by as many as 11 police officers and that he was also beaten.

Lee's older brother, Christopher Lee, 23, doesn't understand why his brother died. He was not with his brother at the club that night.

"On Oct. 28 he was going to school to be an audio engineer. He was a very talented woodworker and was looking forward to reaching his goals. He was very thoughtful and he just didn't deserve what happened."

Metro police say that while there were more than three officers at the scene that night, Lee's family is mistaken about the chain of events. Here's the police account of what happened:

Lee had been kicked out of Mercy Lounge twice Thursday night before police were called. Mercy Lounge employees told police Lee was "acting strangely inside and kept on trying to get onto the stage of the lounge," Aaron said last night in a press conference.

Officer Christopher Brooks said when he arrived, Lee told him his name was "Blue" and approached the officer. Brooks told the young man to "keep his distance," according to a press release. Brooks said Lee was acting aggressively, removed his shirt and ran 40-50 yards. Brooks used pepper spray and ordered him to the ground. He said Lee then disrobed and ran naked through the parking lot.

Brooks called for backup and the first officer to respond was Officer Jonathan Mays, who is Taser-certified. Mays ordered Lee to the ground, but he refused. Officer Jamie Scruggs, another Taser-certified officer, also responded to the scene and used his Taser on Lee.

"He was sweaty at this time and that made it difficult for the officers to control him," Aaron said. "Lee was hit by Taser probes four times and he was Tased multiple times." The total number of Taser shocks was eight, Aaron said.

The homicide unit is investigating the circumstances surrounding Lee's death and will report its findings to Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson. The Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability will determine whether the officers involved followed protocol.

Aaron said it is customary to launch two investigations when someone dies after a police incident.

"Once he was in custody, an ambulance was immediately called because of his bizarre behavior, his nudity and his sweating."

Aaron said he did not know if Lee was unconscious before the ambulance arrived; today, the department will interview the ambulance crew, he said.

An autopsy will be conducted, Aaron said, adding that it is unclear what role the Tasers played in Lee's death.

"Any death is tragic, and our condolences are extended to Mr. Lee and his family."

Tasers are considered a nonlethal use of force. In Metro, about 45 Tasers are used by patrol officers; SWAT members also use the devices, which issue a brief, immobilizing electric shock.

"He was Tased multiple times. Understand that when the probes go out and attach to the body, you can pull the trigger more than once, resulting in more than one Tase per probe discharge," Aaron said.

Police said Lee told them he was acting that way because he had taken LSD or PCP. Although they knew he had "experimented" with drugs, Lee's family disputes the initial police findings.

"I just got the report back from the hospital and they told me all they found was a small amount of Valium and cannabis, or marijuana," Lee's father, Earl Bud Lee, said an hour after his son's death. Earl Bud Lee is a local songwriter who co-wrote Garth Brooks' 1991 megahit Friends in Low Places.

"All I remember is Patrick hugging me and telling me he loved me," Lee said. "Next thing I know â?¦ police officers showed up at my door and let me know he was in the hospital."

That is just unbeliveable to say the least I mean why do they have to resort to that kind of violence when quite clearly there was no need for it!There is no way that this should of happen.....i'm in shock but i spose i am not surprised because it's just typical the way they (coppers) handle there situations.Keep us posted and lets us know what the actual cause of death was even though I don't believe that they will tell the truth anyway... but I would just like to know. :) :confused:

damn... they just dont taze people enough anymore.....

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Originally Posted by Miss Green

That is just unbeliveable to say the least I mean why do they have to resort to that kind of violence when quite clearly there was no need for it!There is no way that this should of happen.....i'm in shock but i spose i am not surprised because it's just typical the way they (coppers) handle there situations.Keep us posted and lets us know what the actual cause of death was even though I don't believe that they will tell the truth anyway... but I would just like to know. :) :confused:

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do a search in these forums under my name with the keyword 'taser'...it's just teaching us that the police can engage the population with excessive force, and it's normal.

"Any death is tragic, and our condolences are extended to Mr. Lee and his family."
No shit, Aaron.

but the taser was hailed by liberal groups as a great alternative to lethal force.now thats to bad and mean?


in highschool, at a party my freshman year a bunch of us got drunk as fuck and used a taser on each other and a bunch of people at the party.

it hurt like a bitch dont get me wrong,but thats about it.

i think the police should be allowed to taser more people.like the ones who stand still on escalators like they are a ride as disney land.they are great targets.

i can only imagine what hamsterdam said...but i'll change the headline for him and the other neo-cons...

Man LIBERATED 2 days after Metro police use Tasers on him...that's better.

Man who died in custody had multiple Taser injuries

Austin police say 9 officers were involved in arrest; 2 shocked suspect

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By Katie Humphrey and Claire Osborn

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

The man who died Monday after a scuffle with Austin police officers was identified Tuesday as 33-year-old Michael Clark.

Clark, who was black, was a married father of a 3-year-old boy. He was the second person this year to die after Austin officers used force.

Since 1998, all but one of the 14 people who died while or after Austin police officers used force on them were minorities.

"Enough is enough," Michael Clark's mother, Mary Clark, said of use of force by police officers, especially against minorities. "I want this stopped right now."

Clark, who had a history of criminal convictions, died after police fired a Taser at least twice to attempt to subdue him and arrest him on charges of public intoxication.

Clark's death occurred as officers responded to a fight between a man, later identified as Clark, and an unidentified woman Monday afternoon in the 6400 block of East William Cannon Drive near , police officials said.

Clark struggled, officials said, as police were attempting to arrest him. Clark bit Detective Robin Denton on the hand and injured Sgt. Robert Pewitt's shoulder, officials said.

Eventually, nine officers, including Denton and Pewitt, were involved in taking Clark into custody. Officers subdued him with pepper spray, and officers Douglas Drake and Blaine Eiben administered Taser shocks. Clark went into "medical distress" after being taken into custody and died at South Austin Hospital at 3:55 p.m.

The cause of Clark's death was undetermined Tuesday, pending toxicology results, said Dr. Roberto Bayardo, the Travis County medical examiner.

Clark had a few Taser gun injuries, which look like small pricks from a two-tined fork, and had been sprayed in the face with pepper spray, Bayardo said. Clark also had a few minor scrapes.

Bayardo said he could not comment on how many Taser injuries Clark had or where they were because the autopsy was done by Deputy Medical Examiner Elizabeth Peacock, who was not available for comment Tuesday.

The two Austin police officers who used their Tasers, Drake and Eiben, were placed on restrictive duty, which is standard procedure when a death occurs, said Laura Albrecht, a department spokeswoman. Police records show no disciplinary actions against either officer.

According to the department's policy, officers are allowed to use Tasers to control a dangerous or violent person when deadly force doesn't appear to be necessary, if attempts to subdue someone by other tactics haven't worked or if it is unsafe for officers to approach the person.

Only one officer is allowed to use a Taser on a person unless it is obvious that it did not work, according to the policy. Officers also must warn a person that they are going to use a Taser, unless the warning would jeopardize the officers.

Albrecht said it was too early in the investigation to determine how many times the weapons were fired against Clark and whether they were fired at close range or from a distance. There was video taken of the incident but it was not being released Tuesday, Albrecht said. She declined to comment further.

After using a Taser, officers are to notify their supervisors immediately, gather the used cartridges and electrical probes to be used as evidence, and download the electronic firing data from the Taser. The firing data are then to be attached to a use-of-force form for review by supervisors, according to the department's policy.

The Central Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the use of Tasers by the department in a Tuesday afternoon protest by a handful of people at police headquarters.

Austin Dullnig, an ACLU spokesman, called for a moratorium on use of the devices and a more uniform discipline matrix for the department.

"Not four months ago, Daniel Rocha was shot in the back," Dullnig said. "If five officers cannot deal with a suspect with anything other than a lethal weapon, policy needs to change. If the police chief and the city manager don't do anything, then it's up to City Council. If the council doesn't do anything, then it's up to the people to vote them out of office."

Officer Julie Schroeder has said she shot Rocha because she thought the 18-year-old had taken her Taser gun during a struggle and was about to use it on her or a sergeant who had come to her aid.

The last person to die after Austin police used a Taser to subdue him was Abel Ortega Perez. Perez, 36, died after he was arrested June 16, 2004. However, the Travis County medical examiner's office found the cause of death to be a cocaine overdose.

Clark had four felony convictions, according to Travis County court records. In 1990, he was sentenced to two years in jail for possession of cocaine, to four years for delivery of a controlled substance and to 10 years for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. In 2002, he was sentenced to 20 months in state jail for possession of cocaine.

He also had a misdemeanor conviction from 2002 for possession of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a drug-free zone.

The latest charge against Clark involved a misdemeanor charge of driving without a license in May.

Relatives said Clark was using crutches because of a leg injury he sustained Sunday and wouldn't have become violent with police. His wife, Monica Clark, said she didn't know about the events leading up to her husband's death.

The family was also frustrated by the lack of information they were receiving about the incident, said Glenda Guiton, Michael Clark's cousin. She said police have been changing the story of what happened, telling the family that there was also another man, not just a woman, involved in the fight prior to Clark's arrest.

But the family's biggest question is why police went beyond pepper spray and used the Taser more than once.

The use of Tasers has been widely debated among civil rights groups because their safety has not been firmly established. More than 70 people have died from Tasers in the United States since 2001, Amnesty International says.

Gathered on the front porch of the Clark family home on East 21st Street on Tuesday, relatives remembered Clark as a fun-loving guy who liked to play with his son, Michael Jr., and pick people up in giant bear hugs.

"No matter what the problem was, if you came over here, Michael was going to have you smiling when you leave," said cousin Larry Foley.

"If you want to uphold the law, one man doesn't have the right to take another man's life," Monica Clark said.

[email protected]

Additional material by staff writer Joshunda Sanders.

well it was either that, shoot him, or risk gettin the shit kicked out of the cops.... Id taze his ass too. And so would you if you had a taser, you neo-lib!

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Originally Posted by pisshead

i can only imagine what hamsterdam said...but i'll change the headline for him and the other neo-cons...

Man LIBERATED 2 days after Metro police use Tasers on him...that's better.

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The cop issue tazer is only 50,000 volts, keeping in mind that you can purchase on off e-bay rated at 900,000 volts, theirs is pretty mild.

I can only imagine what the Alex Jones cocksuckers will say! :D

The hell with those damn tazors, just blow the person's brains out the top of their skulls, or have a tank run them over if possible. Excessive force is good, because it's part of our "freedoms". Most people need to have that bashed into their heads with those mettalic retractable batons, or those heavy duty mag-lights. I wouldn't mind the police walking around with either spiked or bladed club-like weapons, so, fuck it. Does that apiel to the neocons? It probably does.

i agree. that sounds like freedom plus!!! my dream is a world of total surveillance where you can't turn your head without seeing a camera, talk of putting microchips in people, and being taxed to do everything...and the police beating the shit out of those unpermitted protesters, who didn't obtain their proper authorization from their local 'officials' to practice the 1st amendment...send those fuckers to prison!

freedom is slavery i guess...give me some more please...

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Originally Posted by pisshead

and the police beating the shit out of those unpermitted protesters

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The police haul her off with a SMILE ON HER FACE and A.J.s lil' dick monkey is talking police brutality? And you bitch about lieing politicians? Fuckin' hypocrit!!!

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Originally Posted by pisshead

i agree. that sounds like freedom plus!!! my dream is a world of total surveillance where you can't turn your head without seeing a camera, talk of putting microchips in people, and being taxed to do everything...and the police beating the shit out of those unpermitted protesters, who didn't obtain their proper authorization from their local 'officials' to practice the 1st amendment...send those fuckers to prison!

freedom is slavery i guess...give me some more please...

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The police should think about cutting the protestor's legs off, then send them to jail; better yet, make them live in such a manner, that they will have to be pushed around on a little cart for life. I say, the more brutal it is, the better things are.

i thought i wasnt a neo-con?

whatever?

if your not a sheep who follows pisshead, your a neo-con. Because face it, freedom does NOT involve the freedom to make your own opinion about matters and disagree with pisshead. Duh.

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/co...3/cr071003.htm

there's a link to ron paul's speech, so you can learn what a neo-con is.