Man shot by stun guns dies in Sacto Cty.

Man shot by stun guns dies
Deputies were subduing the Elk Grove resident, who was acting erratically.
By Ed Fletcher and Christina Jewett -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, November 9, 2004

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.

The four officers who struggled to control Zaragoza were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

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.

The death could be ruled a homicide, but as of late Monday it was still labeled as "undetermined," coroner's officials said.

"It's extremely tragic, and it's going to be difficult for the officers and the family," said sheriff spokesman R.L. Davis, who would not disclose the names of the officers involved.

Davis said this is the first instance under their jurisdiction where a suspect died after a Taser stun gun was used.

With the coroner's report still pending, officials can't say what role, if any, the use of the department-issued M26 Taser had in Zaragoza's death.

Several hundred Tasers are being carried by the about 500 sheriff's deputies who patrol Sacramento County, Davis said. The department started issuing the stun guns in 2001, as a non-lethal way to subdue suspects.

The parents of Zaragoza, 40, called sheriff's deputies to their Stanwell Way home at 12:20 a.m. to report his erratic behavior, which included tearing boards off the fence.

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., who spoke on his parents' behalf, 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, coughing in the police radio.

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.

Zaragoza Jr. 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.

According to officials, Zaragoza became "combative and began physically fighting with officers."

"They utilized a Taser, and they utilized pepper spray to try to get him to a point where they could take him in," said Davis, describing the escalating altercation.

Davis said he could not say why the officers were unable to control the 5-foot-9, 222-pound Zaragoza.

After being handcuffed, according to the preliminary coroner's report, Zaragoza collapsed forward and struck his head on concrete as he was being taken out of the house. But he continued to struggle before becoming motionless.

Davis couldn't say whether Zaragoza struck his head, but said that within minutes Zaragoza was taken to Methodist Hospital while paramedics tried to revive him. He was pronounced dead shortly before 1 a.m.

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."

Family members said Zaragoza was a lovable man who lived vicariously through his six siblings, doting on his nieces and nephews and collecting their drawings and photos in albums as gifts to them.

"I am so proud of my son. He was a really nice, good son," his mother, Alicia Zaragoza, said.

There have been more than 70 Taser deaths since 1999, Jackson (Amnesty International) said. But that number would be higher, if medical examiners weren't so quick to attribute the death to a heart attack, drug overdose or improper restraint, Jackson said.

The family of a mentally ill Southhampton, N.Y., man, who died in police custody in February after being stunned several times with a Taser, is suing local officials and the company.

Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, said multiple studies have proved the company's weapons are safe and that Tasers are saving lives every day.

About the writer:

* The Bee's Ed Fletcher can be reached at (916) 321-1269 or efletcher [at] sacbee.com.