Second Taser Death in Two Days
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We've been told that tasers are a useful tool for law enforcement to subdue agitated people.
But in the last two days in Jacksonville, tasering has resulted in two deaths.
In the latest case, a man got into a wreck in the Springfield area Tuesday afternoon. The driver then got out of his vehicle and began fighting with another man.
The sheriff's office now says the man, Conrad Purvis Lowman, 35, had been drinking and using cocaine and marijuana that day. They called his condition excited delirium, that causes hallucinations and aggressive behavior which could have been a factor leading to his death.
Officers tasered Lowman twice but he continued fighting.
Other officers who arrived at the scene could not get the man subdued.
"He kept fighting 'em," said R. J. Montigny, who witnessed the fight. "The guy Tased him a couple times -- it didn't even faze him. They finally got one handcuff on him and kept trying to roll and kept fighting with them."
After checking the man's vital signs he was taken to Shands where he later died. An investigation will look at how many times the man was tasered but witnesses say it was at least three.
In the second death, a 21-year-old was pulled over in the Mayport area Sunday night because his radio was too loud. But Christian Allen and his passenger ran. An officer caught up with Allen and tasered him before putting him in the back of a patrol car.
Reports are the officer used the taser gun at least three times. Allen had a heart attack in the back of the vehicle and died at the hospital a short while later. Toxicology tests are being conducted on Allen.
Cardiologists have long warned that 50,000 volts from a taser interrupts heart rhythms and can cause sudden death.
For more information on this subject, please see our section on Wrongful Death.