$10-Million Arrest-Death Suit Filed : Suspected PCP User Died After Being Subdued by Officers

The family of a suspected PCP user who died after being subdued by a dozen police officers armed with stun guns filed a $10-million lawsuit Tuesday, claiming that the Los Angeles Police Department is “the most violence-prone police force in the United States.”

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the family of Stewart Vigil of Lomita claims that Vigil was shot with “a number” of electrically charged darts while he was handcuffed near the entrance to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where officers had taken him for examination.

Vigil, 29, was taken into custody without incident at dawn Friday when officers found him wandering in the middle of a street.

Police Cmdr. William Booth said Vigil began “acting bizarrely” when they arrived at the emergency room entrance and he became combative, slipping out of his handcuffs and wrestling with the two arresting officers.

At one point, Vigil wrenched the door of the police car from its frame and temporarily took control of one of the officer’s batons before 12 additional officers arrived at the scene to help, Booth said.

Booth said three electric taser guns were shot at the same time, but had no effect. Eventually, he said, officers employed a “swarm technique,” piling on to Vigil until they brought him to the ground.

“It’s just bodies piling on, is what it amounts to,” he said. “It’s subduing someone who’s exhibiting extreme strength by sheer weight of numbers.”

Booth said Vigil suffered a head injury as a result of the altercation and died while he was being treated in the emergency room.

The department’s Internal Affairs Division was assigned to investigate the case after some witnesses at the scene alleged that some of the officers had used “unnecessary” physical force after Vigil had already been subdued, Booth added.

A coroner’s office spokesman said no cause of death had been determined pending the outcome of toxicological tests, which have not yet been received.

In their lawsuit, Vigil’s parents, Harold and Barbara Vigil of Long Beach; his estranged wife, Lauri Vigil of Long Beach, and two children allege civil rights violations based on what the suit claims is the Los Angeles Police Department’s failure to properly train and supervise its officers and investigate complaints against them.