Man Dies After Police Shoot Him With Taser

A man who was reportedly darting in and out of traffic and pounding his fists on the pavement on Venice Boulevard died Monday after being shot twice by police with Taser electric darts.

The man, about 25 years old, carried no identification, police said.

Lt. William D. Hall, supervisor of the Los Angeles Police Department’s officer-involved shotting unit, said the incident occurred just before 4 a.m. on Venice Boulevard west of Crenshaw Boulevard.

Informed by a motorist that a man was jumping in front of vehicles and acting in a bizarre fashion, two officers from the Wilshire Division went to the scene and tried to move the man out of the street, police said.

The man “appeared to be under the influence of a drug or narcotic,” a police statement said. Unable to restrain the suspect, the officers called back to their station for the Taser device, which shoots electrically charged darts on fish lines and is designed to stun a person until police can make an arrest.

While waiting for the Taser weapon, the two officers, Steven Johnson, 37, and Steven Garcia, 35, reported that the man began pounding his forehead into the pavement.

Police said that after Johnson fired the first Taser dart into the man, he pulled it free as if it had no effect. Johnson then fired a second dart and the man appeared to calm down and was handcuffed.

Paramedics took the man to Kaiser Foundation Hospital, where he died at 5 a.m., police said. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death, Hall said.

The Taser weapon, which the LAPD has used since 1980, has been “a valuable tool” in subduing suspects when other methods of force are deemed inappropriate, Hall said.

“Every situation has to be handled differently,” he said. He added that the two officers decided to use the Taser “based on the way (the man) was acting and his lack of response to commands.”