Man tasered by Hercules police after crashing his car during seizure files lawsuit
Police in the East Bay are facing a new lawsuit for an incident where officers tasered a man who had just had a seizure and crashed his vehicle because he wasn't obeying officers' orders to get out of his car.
The suit alleges Hercules police used excessive force and claims their body cam footage provides proof.
The young man's lawyer says he has epilepsy and had a seizure while he was driving, ending up crashing his car into a ravine. That was the call Hercules police were responding to when the incident happened last April.
The man in the car is Jack Bruce, who was 21-years-old at the time. At first, police are patient with him, trying to make sure he is uninjured. One officer even says that he thinks Bruce just had a seizure.
After a few minutes, police tell him to get out of the car.
"You're about to get tased dude. Get out of the car!" an officer is heard saying in the video. Once Bruce is out of the car, officers continue to use their Tasers and struggle with him.
The lawsuit alleges that Hercules police later charged Bruce with crimes to justify and cover up their actions. Those charges were never pursued by the Contra Costa County District attorney.
"It's not OK to double down on your bad acts and cover them up, or try to pretend they're something that they're not," said attorney Craig Peters. "If you're not using it as a learning experience to improve the culture in the police department, you are tainting all of those good officers who want good outcomes to happen."
The lawsuit accuses the officers of excessive force, battery, false arrest, defamation and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
It says Bruce ended up with puncture wounds from the Taser, multiple cuts and lingering back pain as well as emotional distress.
Councilman Alexander Walker-Griffin released a statement Friday calling the event 'heartbreaking."
He says that after seeing stories about the case and feedback from the community in Hercules, he supports whatever the family decides to do next and will request the police department to conduct further training To ensure events such as this never occur again
Bruce's attorney hasn't specified a dollar amount he's looking for in the lawsuit. He also said he wants acknowledgement from the hercules p-d that something went wrong.
CBS News Bay Area received a statement from Hercules PD that said it does not comment on pending litigation, but takes any allegation of excessive use of force seriously and is committed to following standard protocol in response to such allegations.
