Man Dies After Police Use Taser to Subdue Him

An Inland Empire man shot twice with a Taser stun gun by police lost consciousness and later died at a hospital Tuesday, Brea police said.

Officers first encountered the man, whose identity was withheld because his family had not been notified, about 8 a.m. Witnesses reported he was running around the intersection of Yorba Linda Boulevard and New River Road in Yorba Linda, said Sgt. Jack Conklin of the Brea Police Department, which patrols Yorba Linda.

The man went back and forth between a supermarket and a gas station, complaining he was hot and thirsty, police reported. At one point he allegedly broke into an ice machine, rubbed his face with ice and threw some at passing cars, police said.

The man ignored police orders to lie on the ground, Conklin said, and officers shot him with the stun gun, which delivers an electric shock. He fell to the ground, Conklin said, but resisted arrest.

Officers shot him a second time and handcuffed him. About a minute later, Conklin said, an officer noticed he had stopped breathing.

Orange County Fire Authority paramedics treated him at the scene and took him to Placentia-Linda Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The incident is being investigated by the Orange County district attorney’s office.