Man shot with stun gun by Rohnert Park officer dies

A man died Friday after a Rohnert Park public safety officer fired his Taser at him, authorities said.

Two officers were responding to reports of a man acting strangely at the Budget Inn on Redwood Drive at 3:16 p.m., when they came across a man in his 40s who appeared to be in an altered state, said Rohnert Park police Sgt. Jeff Justice.

The man was babbling incoherently about being poisoned by chemicals. The officers discovered that he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, but when they went to take him into custody, “he became combative and resisted their attempts to arrest him,” Justice said.

One of the officers fired his stun gun at the man, and both the officers took him to the ground as he continued to struggle, Justice said. Once the man was on the ground, he became unresponsive.

Officers began administering CPR and called for an ambulance, but the man died at the scene.

The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety has requested an investigation into the incident by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, which will work with the district attorney’s office to look into any possible criminal wrongdoing, as well as any breach of department protocol that would result in disciplinary action.

The department declined to release the names of the officers or the man who died.

Many have opposed the use of stun guns by law enforcement, saying that while they are considered less-lethal weapons, they still have the potential to kill and officers have the potential to abuse them — to use the weapons to force compliance rather than to stop a threat.

Studies have found that the devices could cause cardiac arrest, and at least 675 people died nationwide from 2001 to 2015 after being shocked with stun guns during arrests or while in jail, according to Amnesty International.

Despite the opposition, many law enforcement agencies across the country equip their officers with stun guns. The San Francisco Police Department remains one of the few agencies that does not use stun guns, but a Department of Justice report published last year recommended that the Police Commission “consider” the tool as an option. Chief Bill Scott has stated several times that he supports that recommendation.