35-Year-Old Suspect Dies After Police Subdue Him With Taser

A 35-year-old man died at County-USC Medical Center about three hours after Los Angeles police used electronic Taser guns to subdue him, investigators reported Wednesday.

It was the fourth death of someone struck with a Taser gun dart fired by Los Angeles police in the last two years.

In the three previous cases, the deaths were attributed to heart failure. In one of those three, the coroner’s office said, the Taser’s high-voltage shock may have contributed to the man’s death.

In the case reported on Wednesday, the cause of death of the man, whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives, was not immediately determined.

James DeSimone, president of the firm that manufactures Taser guns, said he was “quite sure” that none of the deaths was caused by the devices.

“They’re designed so that won’t happen,” he said.

Still Applicable

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, in a statement released last April and said to be “still 100% applicable,” noted that the Taser had been employed by his department more than 1,000 times over a 4 1/2-year period without a single death attributed directly to its use.