The United States Court of Appeals reviewed a lawsuit against Albuquerque officers who used a TASER™, largely in the pure “drive-stun” mode in their attempt to subdue a subject on a well-being check.  The court found against the officers and noted in their decision the distinction between use of force during a well-being check versus use of force during an arrest. [i]

The court outlined the facts as follows:

On March 21, 2011, Merlinda Perea called 911 and told the operator that her son, Perea, was on “very bad drugs” and that she was afraid of what he might do. Around the same time, a neighbor also called 911, reporting that Perea was pacing in his yard, clutching a Bible, and asking forgiveness of a higher power.  [Officers] Baca and Jaramillo were sent to perform a welfare check. The officers were informed that they were responding to a verbal fight and that no weapons were involved. They were also informed that Perea suffered from mental illness and may have been on drugs.

Upon arrival at the home, the officers were told that Perea recently left on his bicycle, that he was “acting up,” and that Merlinda Perea was afraid for Perea’s welfare. In separate patrol cars, Baca and Jaramillo began to search for Perea in case he was a danger to himself. The officers located Perea pedaling his bicycle. Perea saw the patrol car and began to pedal faster, at which point Jaramillo turned on his emergency lights. According to Baca, Perea did not stop, and instead pedaled through a stop sign without slowing down.

The officers used their patrol cars to force Perea to pedal into a parking lot. Jaramillo left his vehicle to pursue Perea on foot. After a brief chase, Jaramillo pushed Perea off his bicycle. The officers did not tell Perea why they were following him or why he was being seized, and they never asked Perea to halt or stop. After pushing Perea off his bicycle, Jaramillo reached for Perea’s hands in an attempt to detain him. Perea struggled and thrashed while holding a crucifix.

After Perea began to struggle, Baca told Jaramillo to use his taser against Perea. Jaramillo complied and first shot Perea in the chest with his taser on “probe” mode. Probe mode is used to subdue an intended target through electric shocks designed to cause immobility. When the initial shot proved ineffective, Jaramillo put the taser in “stun” or “contact” mode, which is used to gain the target’s compliance through the administration of pain. Jaramillo tasered Perea nine additional times, for a total of ten taserings in less than two minutes. At some point before the taserings stopped, Baca and Jaramillo were able to get Perea on the ground on his stomach, with both officers on top of him, effectively subduing him. After the taserings had concluded, Baca called an ambulance and a field supervisor to the scene as required by the Albuquerque Police Department taser policy.

While waiting for the ambulance, the officers noticed that Perea had stopped breathing and was turning gray. The officers successfully performed CPR, and Perea began to breathe normally. However, when Perea heard the sirens from the approaching ambulance, he began to struggle and started to scream and ask God for forgiveness. Upon arrival, the paramedics attempted to treat and calm Perea, but he stopped breathing again and his pulse stopped. Perea was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead a short time later.

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Either way you are fucked.

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Nosey busy bodies and cops go together so well. Like peas and carrots, throw in a dash of mental illness and you have a party.

Eta: I failed to note it was mom that called and not a neighbor.  Still. Calling cops for help in a mental illness situation is dumb.

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Nosey busy bodies and cops go together so well. Like peas and carrots, throw in a dash of mental illness and you have a party.

Eta: I failed to note it was mom that called and not a neighbor.  Still. Calling cops for help in a mental illness situation is dumb.

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Sounds like a classic case of excited delirium.

Can be really dangerous. Nothing in the OP indicates bad juju except for the excessive drive stuns. Sometimes there's no contact or minimal contact when attempting to drive stun, the tasers will still internally record being used, but the suspect ain't getting anything.

Officers rendered aid, called for rescue and a supervisor. They were dealt a shit sandwhich of mental illness and drugs, idk how people expected this to go.

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But we half ass treat mental illness and turn them loose on the public, then get cops to bat clean up where health care failed.  

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Nosey busy bodies and cops go together so well. Like peas and carrots, throw in a dash of mental illness and you have a party.

Eta: I failed to note it was mom that called and not a neighbor.  Still. Calling cops for help in a mental illness situation is dumb.

The officers did not tell Perea why they were following him or why he was being seized, and they never asked Perea to halt or stop

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told the operator that her son, Perea, was on “very bad drugs”......officers were told that Perea recently left on his bicycle....The officers located Perea pedaling his bicycle. Perea saw the patrol car and began to pedal faster, at which point Jaramillo turned on his emergency lights. According to Baca, Perea did not stop, and instead pedaled through a stop sign without slowing down...

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But we half ass treat mental illness and turn them loose on the public, then get cops to bat clean up where health care failed.  

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Nosey busy bodies and cops go together so well. Like peas and carrots, throw in a dash of mental illness and you have a party.

Eta: I failed to note it was mom that called and not a neighbor.  Still. Calling cops for help in a mental illness situation is dumb.

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I'm all about legalizing drugs and having open treatment centers and putting mentally handicapped people in a home all on the taxpayers dime using the money we are saving from putting them in the criminal justice system. That will be a lot cheaper than prison, courts, cops, and the inevitable lawsuit payouts from situations where cops kill a non-criminal mentally unsafe person.

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Nosey busy bodies and cops go together so well. Like peas and carrots, throw in a dash of mental illness and you have a party.

Eta: I failed to note it was mom that called and not a neighbor.  Still. Calling cops for help in a mental illness situation is dumb.

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I hate check the welfare calls.   It almost always ends up as a "what the hell am I supposed to do now?" type with these people.