Dec 20, 2008 8:44 pm US/Pacific
Coroner IDs SJ Man Who Died After Being Tasered
SAN JOSE (BCN) ―
A 26-year-old San Jose man who died after being Tasered by a Campbell police officer Thursday night has been identified as Edwin Rodriguez, the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office reported Saturday.
Rodriguez was Tasered during a struggle with Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies when a disturbance between family members turned into a physical fight, sheriff's Sgt. Don Morrissey said.
Sheriff's deputies were dispatched at about 11:20 p.m. Thursday to the Valley Medical Center at 751 S. Bascom Ave. after receiving a 911 call from a family member of Rodriguez, according to Morrissey.
Moments after arriving, the deputies began to struggle with Rodriguez, who was allegedly causing the disturbance.
Campbell police Agent Gary Berg, 31, was following up on an unrelated matter at the medical center when he saw deputies struggling with Rodriguez outside the hospital, Campbell police Capt. David Dehaan said.
Rodriguez, standing 6 feet tall and weighing about 260 pounds, was failing to comply with deputies' requests, Morrissey said.
Berg got out of his car and went over to render aid.
"In the process of helping them gain control of the man, our officer deployed his Taser," Dehaan said.
Rodriguez was then taken into custody, but deputies noticed he was unresponsive.
The deputies and officers started CPR on Rodriguez. He was taken to the emergency room at the medical center where further efforts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead.
An investigation into the incident is being conducted by the sheriff's office with monitoring from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, Morrissey said.
His cause of death has not been released.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
