64-Year Old Man Tasered in His Own Home
Sheriff deputies in Marin County California have once again demonstrated that it can be dangerous to call 911 for medical assistance. A 64 year old man who was tasered three times in his own home by Marin County Sheriff’s deputies has filed a lawsuit stemming from that incident.
The incident occurred on June 29, 2009 shortly after midnight when Marin County resident Peter McFarland and his wife Pearl returned home from a charity fundraising event. McFarland slipped on steps leading to his home and suffered injuries to his leg, arm and head. His wife then called paramedics from a nearby fire station who helped him in and treated his wounds.
McFarland says as the paramedics were leaving, two Sheriff’s deputies “bolted into his home.”
“The sheriffs ran up the stairs into the room here like a bunch of cowboys,” he said.
ABC7 obtained the audio and video captured by a camera mounted on the Taser. It shows McFarland sitting on a couch with the gun’s laser beam targeted on his chest. The deputy repeatedly tells him that he is going to take him to a hospital to be evaluated because of a comment McFarland made previously that he would “shoot himself in the head.”
McFarland’s wife can be heard in the video pleading with the police not to taser her husband because he has a heart condition.
After torturing McFarland in his own home, the sheriff deputies arrested him and charge him with “resisting arrest.” Those charges were eventually dismissed.
It is not clear at what point during the incident McFarland made the supposed suicidal comments, but regardless, I want to know why the police were in his home uninvited in the first place.
