Officers say man who died from tasing grabbed for their guns

CHARLOTTE, N.C.— Stanly County, N.C., Sheriff’s deputies tased a man more than two dozen times before he died—and after he made a distress call to 911, according to a lawsuit recently filed by the victim’s family.

But a lawyer for the deputies says that 39-year-old Marlon Bryan Lewis fought officers and repeatedly grabbed for their holstered guns that night in December 2016, even after they fired their Tasers.

“I believe (the deputies) showed commendable restraint,” said Scott MacLatchie, the attorney for the sheriff’s deputies. “When someone tries to remove your gun from your holster, you are authorized to use deadly force. And they did not elect to do that here.”

The pathologist who conducted Lewis’ autopsy said she did not believe the electrical shocks killed him. Instead, the pathologist wrote, it was her opinion that Lewis died from cocaine toxicity.

But the lawsuit—filed this month against the Stanly County Sheriff, two of his deputies and the company that manufactures the Taser device—asserts that Lewis died “as a direct and proximate result” of being tased 26 times in less than five minutes.

The lawsuit contends that the deputies violated sheriff’s office policy by tasing Lewis that many times. It also maintains that Timothy Hill, a sheriff’s deputy who allegedly tased Lewis 23 times, was not supposed to be using a Taser because his certification had expired a year earlier.

Hill, now retired from the sheriff’s office, could not be reached for comment. Stanly County Sheriff George Burris and Andrew Furr, the other deputy named in the suit, referred an Observer reporter to the county’s attorney.

A spokesman for Axon Enterprise, Inc., the Arizonabased company that manufactures Taser devices, said the firm doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

“But we do know the Taser is the most effective intermediate use of force with the least risk of injury or death,” said Stephen Tuttle, the spokesman.

Fight ends in death Lewis, a father of two boys, worked for a tree service in Monroe, according to his obituary. He graduated from Salisbury High School and later attended Johnson C. Smith University.

His encounter with law enforcement began shortly after 3 a.m. on Dec. 15, 1016, after he called 911 to report that he was in distress, according to the lawsuit. It happened in Badin, a small Stanly County town about 55 miles east of Charlotte.

When law enforcement officers arrived, Lewis began acting erratically, stating “someone is going to kill me,” according to a medical examiner’s report. Then Lewis got into a fight with law enforcement officers, who tased him, the report states. According to the lawsuit, Lewis was unarmed.

MacLatchie, the attorney for the deputies, said his investigation found that when a Badin police officer arrived, Lewis jumped on the hood of his patrol car, fought with him and tried to grab his gun. When the two sheriff’s deputies later arrived, Lewis also struggled with them and tried to grab their holstered handguns as well, MacLatchie said. At one point, Lewis grabbed the grip of one of the officer’s guns and refused to let go, the attorney said.

Lewis, who stood 6 feet tall and weighed 228 pounds, was exhibiting “an abnormally high amount of strength” and seemed impervious to pain, MacLatchie said.

There were no police dash cameras or body cameras to record the struggle, MacLatchie said. But a bystander did shoot grainy cellphone video after the officers finally had Lewis restrained on the ground, he said.

That video shows that Lewis had “purposeful movement for several minutes” after he was tased, according to the autopsy report. He had been placed “prone and handcuffed,” the autopsy states, but “became unresponsive several minutes after law enforcement agents ceased physical contact with him.”

Officers tried to revive Lewis with CPR as he lay on the street, but they did not succeed.

Unsafe for the human heart? Lewis suffered from an enlarged heart, according to the autopsy report. The lawsuit maintains that Lewis’ heart condition made him more susceptible to death by repeated electrical shocks.

The lawsuit also contends that Axon knew that the Taser models used on Lewis produce charges that are “significantly more powerful than the level that is safe for human cardiac function.”

One of the Taser models that was used to shock Lewis does not automatically cut off after five seconds, contrary to the company’s representations, the lawsuit asserts. In Lewis’ case, one of the electrical shocks lasted nine seconds, according to Taser logs filed with the lawsuit.

The logs also show that the two Taser devices used that night were fired a total of 26 times. That amounted to excessive force, the lawsuit maintains, and violated the Constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

The sheriff’s deputies weren’t adequately trained in the proper use of force, the suit contends.

The family is seeking damages of at least $250,000.