Personal Injury Law

Wrongful Death Suit Claims Taser Caused Drowning

By Michael

The mother of a man who died while evading police officers filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Arkansas, claiming a deputy hit him with a Taser while he was in a pond, knocking him unconscious and causing him to drown.

Martha Neely, mother of 36-year-old Brett Howie, filed the personal injury lawsuit against Jefferson County, Sheriff Gerald Robinson and Deputy Randy Dolphin, who had fired the Taser at Howie during a chase.

Howie was wanted on two felony warrants at the time of his death for missing court dates based on charges placed on him in 2005. Howie was charged with possession of a controlled substance as well as delivery and manufacturing a controlled substance.

On Feb. 19, 2007, Howie was fleeing Jefferson County deputies, including Dolphin, who were trying to arrest him on the two warrants he had out, and chased to an area near a pond outside of Pine Bluff, Ark.

But what happened next is disputed between Neely?s attorney, Austin Porter Jr., and the sheriff?s office.

Both Arkansas State Police investigators who looked into Howie?s drowning and Prosecuting Attorney Stevan Dalrymple put into official record that no Taser darts made contact with Howie?s skin, and decided the Taser could not have contributed to his death, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

However, Porter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Dolphin?s Taser did shock Howie while he was in the pond, based on local police reports and Neely?s own firsthand account of what happened, since she was there when Howie died.

According to the suit, Dolphin ?Tasered Mr. Howie, who in turn became incapacitated due to the electrical shock. As a result of being incapacitated … Brett drowned in the lake.?

Dolphin, who is still working for the sheriff?s office as a sergeant, did not respond to the Democrat-Gazette?s attempts to reach him, and the sheriff?s office also did not offer any comment on the lawsuit.

Arkansas State Police Spokesman Bill Sadler wrote in an email that the state police worked about a 2 month long investigation into the case, and closed it on April 27, 2007.

Within the email, Sadler wrote that Dolphin told detectives he had fired the Taser at Howie, but missed him.

?Howie swam further toward the opposite lake bank, submerged underwater, reappeared on the surface, then submerged a second time,? Sadler wrote in the email.

Deputies were originally called out to the area near the pond for a domestic dispute, and were told Howie was the cause of the disturbance, according to the Democrat-Gazette.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on February 18, 2010 (boomark / email).