             2009 |
Man paralyzed in Taser incident sues L.A. County Sheriff's Department 12:36 PM, February 17, 2009 LA Times A man left paralyzed below the chest after he fell from the top bunk of a jail bed at the Lakewood sheriff's station when a deputy used a stun gun on him sued the department today for violating his civil rights. Blake Dupree filed the federal lawsuit for battery, assault and negligence against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, several deputies and two sheriff’s supervisors for the incident, much of which was captured on videotape. The two supervisors are the subject of an internal misconduct investigation for authorizing the use of a stun gun because Dupree refused to come out of his cell and submit to electronic fingerprinting. According to the lawsuit, Dupree was standing from four to seven feet above the concrete jail floor on a bunk with his hands raised in a defensive posture Feb. 27, 2007, when he was stunned with a Taser gun, which delivers a 50,000-volt shock. The suit alleges Dupree fell and, instead of giving him medical treatment, sheriff’s supervisors ordered him to stand up and deputies carried him to the fingerprint area and dumped him on the floor. “Defendants’ actions rendered Plaintiff paraplegic. Plaintiff has no use of his mid to lower torso or legs, and limited use of his arms,” wrote Dupree's attorney, Justin Sanders. "Deputies knew Dupree’s muscles would be incapacitated by the electro-muscular disruption of the Taser rendering him unable to break his fall." Sheriff Lee Baca told The Times last year that "common sense" should have dictated that using the Taser on Dupree was inappropriate while he was on the bunk and likely to fall as a result of being shocked. The suit was filed after settlement negotiations broke down with the 22-year-old Dupree in Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey. After the incident, the Sheriff’s Department launched an investigation to determine whether use of the Taser violated department policy, Sanders said. Department rules prohibit using the device on "persons in danger of falling or becoming entangled in machinery or heavy equipment which could result in death or serious bodily injury." Despite the prohibition, the policy allows for supervisors to decide whether use of a Taser is warranted on a case-by-case basis. Lt. James Tatreau Jr., who authorized the use of the device on Dupree, was reassigned to administrative duties along with an unnamed sergeant. Tatreau, a former driver and bodyguard for Baca, had previously organized a game called "Operation Any Booking," in which deputies competed to see how many people they could arrest. Dupree had been arrested after he allegedly took his mother’s car without her permission. At the jail, he acted erratically and refused to cooperate, deputies said. According to Sheriff’s Department reports obtained by The Times, Dupree was given a verbal warning by Tatreau, who had conferred with the sergeant on the scene, and a deputy was ordered to fire the equivalent of a warning shot by activating the Taser, allowing Dupree to hear its buzz. After the warnings, Dupree stood on the bunk and began to move toward the edge, in the direction of the deputies, according to sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore. It was then that a deputy shot Dupree with the Taser, causing him to fall to the floor. -- Richard Winton |