Man dies after police shoot him with a stun gun

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

OCEANSIDE

A man who police said was acting erratically, throwing rocks and other items at police and his Oceanside neighbors died Wednesday after he was shot with a stun gun on a college campus across the street from his neighborhood, authorities said.

Police received a 911 call shortly after 3:15 a.m. from residents reporting a disturbance on Strawberry Place near Daisy Place, police said.

Residents told police that a man who lived in the area “kind of went crazy in the neighborhood” and began throwing rocks at houses, said police spokesman Tom Bussey.

“He broke one window of a residence and then entered the house and ran through the house and back out again,” Bussey said. “He also attacked an individual in the neighborhood with a piece of metal.”

The person hit by the metal piece suffered a significant injury to his shoulder, Bussey said. The assailant then ran west onto the campus of nearby Miracosta College.

Officers responding to the call found him on the college grounds. The man threw items at officers, including a windshield wiper he had pulled off a vehicle, which officers initially thought was an ax, Bussey said.

“One officer Tased that individual and he went down,” he said. “They rolled him over and his breathing was shallow.”

Officers performed CPR on the man until paramedics arrived. They tried to revive him but the man, believed to be in his late 40s, died before he could be taken to a hospital.

The man who died has not been identified. It was not known if he was under the influence of drugs when police contacted him.

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com