Facts

Gregory Saulsbury Jr. was behaving strangely, prompting his family to call 911. Paramedics could not enter the house because Saulsbury Jr. and his father, Saulsbury Sr., were assaulting each other. The father and son were still involved in a violent altercation when police entered, but Saulsbury Sr. told them to leave because he had already pinned his son to the ground. Saulsbury Jr. used the distraction to break free and take a flashlight from a sergeant, beating him with it. Saulsbury Sr. confronted a second officer while a third applied a taser directly to Saulsbury Jr. He also tasered another officer by accident. After checking to make sure it worked, he tasered Saulsbury Jr. three more times while the second officer tasered Saulsbury Sr. twice and another officer once, by accident while the officers were handcuffing Saulsbury Jr., he grabbed an officer's genitals. The officer rolled him sideways and Saulsbury Jr.'s body went limp. The officer trying to resuscitate him vomited when Saulsbury Jr. vomited into his mouth. Paramedics brought him to the hospital, where he died a few hours later. The family sued the officers and the city of Pacifica for wrongful death, claiming the excessive force used to detain Saulsbury Jr. violated his civil rights.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiffs contended the officers wrongly charged Saulsbury Jr., who should have been classified as a potential 5150 based on the family's call to the paramedics. There was no need to excessively taser Saulsbury Jr., then restrain him by sitting on him. The plaintiffs pointed to two coroner's reports that cite multiple applications of the taser as contributing to the decedent's asphyxia.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
The defendants contended they reacted with reasonable force to a potential 5150, one they believed to be under the influence of narcotics. They tasered Saulsbury Jr. six times because his reaction indicated the officers missed. He died of asphyxia caused by cocaine-induced delirium, not application of the taser. There were 11 taser discharges only, six contacted Saulsbury Jr., two taser discharges contacted the decedent’s father Saulsbury Sr., and three taser discharges accidentally hit officers.

Damages

The plaintiffs sought unspecified damages for decedent's son's loss of society. The defendants argued decedent was estranged from his children and his loss did not cause the family's emotional distress.

Result

The parties settled for $395,000 pursuant to an agreement that denies defendants' liability.