Court Orders TASER International, Inc. to Face Trial in Brain Injury Case
Judge J. Jeffrey Almquist of the Santa Cruz County Superior Court today denied TASER
International, Inc.'s attempt to end a lawsuit arising from an incident that rendered a
Watsonville, California, man permanently brain damaged following three shocks to the man's
chest from one of TASER's electric control devices ("ECDs"). Trial has been set in the case for
August 2, 2010.
Santa Cruz, California (PRWEB) March 20, 2010 -- Judge J. Jeffrey Almquist of the Santa Cruz County Superior
Court today denied TASER International, Inc.'s attempt to end a lawsuit arising from an incident that rendered a
Watsonville, California, man permanently brain damaged following three shocks to the man's chest from one of
TASER's electric control devices ("ECDs"). Trial has been set in the case for August 2, 2010.
On October 7, 2006, at approximately 4:15 p.m., plaintiff Steven Butler, a 48-year-old man with a history of
mental illness, boarded a Santa Cruz Metro bus in Watsonville, California, while under the influence of alcohol.
The driver told Butler to get off the bus, and he refused. The police were called. A Watsonville officer shot
Butler in the chest with his TASER Model X26 ECD, and discharged it three times, subjecting Butler to 18
seconds of electrical current.
After the third discharge, Butler was limp and unresponsive. Paramedics responded quickly, determined that he
was in cardiac arrest, and resuscitated his heartbeat. As a consequence of his heart stopping for as long as 18
minutes, however, Butler suffered severe brain damage and is now permanently disabled.
In his lawsuit, Butler v. TASER, International, Inc., Santa Cruz Superior Court Case No. CV 161436, Butler
alleges that the electrical current from the TASER ECD captured his heart causing him to experience an abnormal
heart rhythm known as ventricular fibrillation ("VF"), a highly disorganized heart rhythm which results in
unconsciousness within 10 to 20 seconds, and deat