Jury Sides With Police in Jail Death of Teenager

A federal jury on Friday cleared nine Westminster police officers of using excessive force and failing to get medical help in the city jail for a teenager who overdosed on cocaine and later died.

The panel deliberated two days before rejecting an $11-million lawsuit against the officers and the city by the family of Tuan Tang, who died Oct. 10, 1998.

Seven officers sitting in court in Santa Ana on Friday did not react as the verdict was read but celebrated afterward outside the courtroom with their lawyer, Pete Ferguson.

“Obviously I’m very ecstatic,” Ferguson said. “The jury verdict has completely exonerated these police officers.”

Lawyers for Tang’s family had argued that the officers used too much force when they restrained the 19-year-old after he had taken cocaine. They alleged Tang suffered a series of seizures for more than an hour before officers called for medical help.

Ferguson argued that the officers showed considerable restraint subduing Tang, who had fought with police when they arrested him and at the jail. Ferguson also said that an autopsy concluded Tang died from a cocaine overdose, not from any injuries he might have suffered while fighting.

Tang’s father, Tom, said the family will probably appeal.

“[We are] extremely pained and very sad,” he said.