Local News in Brief : Dead Man’s Kin Sue Police

Relatives of a South Los Angeles man who died after police shot him with an electric dart gun filed suit for $10 million in federal court Tuesday, alleging that he was “murdered.”

The suit names Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, the city of Los Angeles and a group of unidentified police officers in the death of William McCall Jr., 39, outside his residence on Jan. 13.

Some 25 officers handcuffed McCall, “then shot him with Taser darts, choked him, stomped him, beat him and thereby murdered him,” the suit alleges.

At the time of the incident, Lt. William Hall, who investigates police-involved deaths, said that McCall, a truck driver, appeared to be “under the influence of some type of narcotics” when police arrived at 4:30 a.m.

McCall cried “Shoot me! Shoot me!” and then charged as police fired two Taser darts, Hall said. Although he was struck twice, Hall said, the shocks had no visible effect on McCall, and police struggled with him for several minutes before cuffing his hands and feet.

McCall suddenly stopped breathing after he had been put in the back seat of a patrol car, Hall said.