Man Dies After L.A. Police Hit Him With Taser Darts

A 39-year-old truck driver died Wednesday after Los Angeles police fired an electric dart gun to subdue the man outside his South Los Angeles residence, authorities said.

The man, who died at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, was identified as William McCall. The coroner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

McCall’s death is one of at least half a dozen under somewhat similar circumstances in Southern California since May, 1986, in incidents in which officers used Tasers, supposedly non-lethal devices designed to incapacitate someone with a 50,000-watt wallop.

It was later determined that several of those who died had been acutely intoxicated with cocaine, morphine or the hallucinogenic drug PCP when they were shocked and then struggled with officers.

Lt. William Hall, who investigates police-involved deaths, said that when two sergeants and three officers arrived in the 100 block of West 53rd Street at around 4:30 a.m., McCall appeared to be “under the influence of some type of narcotics.”

They had been summoned by a neighbor who reported that McCall had assaulted him and might be under the influence of PCP.

‘Shoot Me! Shoot Me!’

According to Hall, McCall cried, “Shoot me! Shoot me!” when the officers approached and then charged when Sgt. Gary Hines, 41, a 16-year veteran, fired two Taser darts, striking McCall without effect.

It took several minutes of struggle before the officers were able to cuff McCall’s hands and feet and put him in the back seat of a patrol car, Hall said. And then, he said, McCall suddenly stopped breathing.

While waiting for a Fire Department ambulance, the officers administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Hall said. Paramedics determined that McCall had suffered “full cardiac arrest.”

Three of the arresting officers, Sgt. Hines, John Lewis, 39, and Darryl Butler, 26, were injured in the struggle. Hines was struck in the face. Lewis and Butler were treated at White Memorial Hospital for sprained fingers.

Others who have died in Taser-related cases in Los Angeles within about the last 18 months include Robert Zapata, 37, in May, 1986; Robert Herbert Bobier, 31, in July, 1986, and Stewart Vigil, 29, in December, 1987.

Anthony M. Williams III, 35, of Upland, died in Pomona in July, 1986; Miguel Contreras, 27, of Norwalk, died in Beverly Hills in June, 1987, and Mario Gastelum, 24, died in San Diego in November, 1987.