Man sues police over Taser use
By Christina Jewett -
cjewett@sacbee.comLast Updated 6:17 am PST Friday, February 8, 2008
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B3
Tedral Thompson claims seven Woodland police officers burst into his home with a search warrant, refused to let his wife put on a blouse – and then stunned him with three Taser guns.
Yolo County court records say only one officer fired a stun gun to protect a colleague, and that it happened as Thompson came at him cursing and carrying a fly swatter.
Thompson has filed a lawsuit in Yolo Superior Court alleging officers used excessive force and falsely arrested him for obstructing an officer as a "cover up."
The officers were completing a search related to Thompson's then-16-year-old son, who was in police custody at the time of the Nov. 28, 2006, search.
"I don't think what happened to me and my wife is in the dictionary," Thompson said in a tearful interview at the Yolo County administrative building. "We were beyond being violated."
FBI officials have looked into the incident and sent a summary of the case to the civil rights division of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., which decides whether the office will launch a full investigation, said Steve Dupre of the Sacramento FBI office.
Woodland Police Lt. Charlie Wilts, however, said the department did nothing wrong.
"Our position is we didn't do anything illegal or inappropriate," he said, declining to comment on the details of the case.
Attorney Martin Jennings said he took the case because Thompson struck him as a sincere person who had been wronged.
"All they were asking for was the officers to have the decency to let his wife put a blouse on," Jennings said.
Tedral and Patricia Thompson recounted the incident Wednesday, before attending their son's trial on a charge of rape.
Tedral Thompson, who runs a private security firm, said on the morning of the search officers stopped their daughter, who was driving to school. They arrested their son, who was in the car.
Officers asked the daughter not to warn her parents about the search warrant, the lawsuit says.
About 9:15 a.m., Tedral Thompson said, he heard a loud boom, the lawsuit says, as five plainclothes and two uniformed officers rushed into his home.
Thinking his mother-in-law had fallen, Thompson put on his pants and was walking to the bedroom door when it burst open.
Thompson said he faced a man who pointed a gun at his head.
"He gave me one of those looks – if you move I'll blow your head off," Thompson said. "I looked at my wife and said, 'Can my wife please put a blouse on?' "
Then, Thompson said, three other officers stunned him with their Taser guns.
Tasers emit two wire-tethered barbs that connect to the skin and create a path of electric current. Thompson said four barbs connected, forming a square around his heart, and another barb lodged in his hand.
When they struck, Thompson fell forward like a tree, the suit says.
"I smelled burning and heard the crackle," Patricia Thompson said. "I begged them to stop."
Thompson said he lost consciousness briefly, then felt excruciating pain before an officer knelt on his neck and cuffed him, yelling "stop resisting."
Thompson said he was not carrying a fly swatter. Patricia Thompson, a fruit inspector, said she had an oversized swatter she planned to take to work as a joke.
Police took Thompson to a hospital, then booked him into jail after citing him with obstructing an officer.
According to court documents related to the charge, the officers entered the house announcing: "Police department, search warrant!"
"(Thompson) walked from the rear bedroom toward Detective (Jack) Schubert with a fly swatter in his hand," the court document says. "Defendant appeared agitated and expressed anger through his facial expressions and body language."
The document says Thompson continued to walk toward Schubert, "yelling obscenities." A sergeant deployed his Taser fearing Schubert "was in immediate danger of being feloniously assaulted," the document says.
The document refers to only one Taser and says Thompson was subsequently arrested.
Tedral Thompson claims in the suit that the arrest was "in retaliation" for his past allegations that Woodland officers used unnecessary force against African American youths.
Woodland police, however, alleged that in May 2005 Thompson assaulted an officer and incited a riot when officers arrested his son. The case is pending.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 27, seeks unspecified damages.
