Police Probe Death of Man in Shooting by Stun Gun

San Diego police said Friday they are conducting a criminal investigation into the death of a man who was shot by an officer with a 50,000-volt Taser gun, and an attorney representing the victim’s family said that he may have been shot five times, not three as police reported, with the electronic weapon.

According to the police version of the incident, officers were called to a residence in Encanto on Nov. 2 by a woman who reported that Mario Gastelum, 24, was under her house, acting strangely. The officers arrived at 12:36 a.m. and found Gastelum under the house, dressed in his underwear, police said.

A police spokesman said that Gastelum, who has a history of drug use, became combative and refused to come out from under the house. A decision was made to use the Taser gun and Gastelum was shot with it twice--at 50,000 volts each time--and taken into custody, police reported.

Lapsed Into a Coma

Gastelum was handcuffed and transported in a patrol car to Physicians & Surgeons Hospital. At the hospital, Gastelum became violent and officers shot him again with the 50,000-volt weapon, police said.

After he was wheeled into the emergency room, Gastelum suffered a heart attack, lapsed into a coma and died two days later.

On Friday, Antonio Valladolid, an attorney hired by Gastelum’s family, said that hospital records quoted officers as telling doctors that Gastelum was shot as many as five times with the Taser gun. According to Valladolid, a witness at the scene of the arrest reported that officers were laughing and joking when they first used the Taser gun.

Valladolid, Gastelum’s father, Paul, and Roberto Martinez, head of the Coalition for Law and Justice, met with reporters at the Chicano Federation offices. Paul Gastelum, who acknowledged that his son had an arrest record, charged that police “assassinated” his son.

Valladolid stopped short of attributing Gastelum’s death to the Taser gun. However, he faulted police for what he said was repeated use of the weapon on Gastelum.

‘Excessive Use’

“It was excessive use by any standard . . . . The use of the Taser seems completely uncalled for,” Valladolid said.

Senior police officials Friday declined to respond directly to the attorney’s allegations. Instead, Deputy Chief Bob Burgreen issued a statement through the department’s public affairs office saying that the incident is under “criminal investigation” by the department.

“The matter is under an internal criminal investigation. When this investigation is completed, it will be forwarded to the district attorney. The officer involved has been assigned to station duties,” pending the probe, said Sgt. Anne O’Dell, who read Burgreen’s statement.

The investigation is being conducted by homicide detectives and police internal affairs investigators, O’Dell added.

Declined to Name Officer

She declined to name the officer under investigation.

If the district attorney determines that the officer is innocent of any wrongdoing, the department will conduct an administrative inquiry, O’Dell said.

Meanwhile, police said they are awaiting the results of an autopsy performed on Gastelum. Deputy Coroner Max Murphy said that the coroner’s office is awaiting the results of toxicological and tissue tests before releasing the cause of death. Murphy refused to discuss the autopsy.

After Gastelum’s arrest, police theorized that he was under the influence of PCP. But Valladolid said that a blood test performed at the hospital showed that Gastelum had been using cocaine but revealed no traces of other drugs. Valladolid admitted that Gastelum “had a history of drug use,” but he and Gastelum’s father denied that Gastelum ever used PCP.

Family Hires Pathologist

The family has hired Hormez Guard, an independent pathologist who resigned three years ago from the county coroner’s office after several disagreements with Coroner David Stark, to do a second autopsy. Valladolid would not discuss the autopsy done by Guard except to say that it revealed two punctures in the chest area where the electronic darts entered the body.

A Taser gun is designed to subdue violent suspects with an electrical charge powerful enough to make the body limp. The Taser is loaded with cartridges that contain two darts. The gun can be reloaded and fired repeatedly. There are no restrictions on the number of times a person can be shot with the electronic gun, or where on the body the darts can be fired, with the exception of the head.

Under departmental regulations, Taser guns can be used only by Special Weapons and Tactics officers and patrol sergeants.

San Diego police officers are trained to aim the Taser gun in the upper torso, “so it can be effective,” O’Dell said.