Pubdate: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 Source: Austin American-Statesman (TX) Copyright: 2005 Austin American-Statesman Contact: http://www.statesman.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/32 Authors: Katie Humphrey and Claire Osborn Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Taser Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues) MAN WHO DIED IN CUSTODY HAD MULTIPLE TASER INJURIES Austin Police Say 9 Officers Were Involved in Arrest; 2 Shocked Suspect The man who died Monday after a scuffle with Austin police officers was identified Tuesday as 33-year-old Michael Clark. Clark, who was black, was a married father of a 3-year-old boy. He was the second person this year to die after Austin officers used force. Since 1998, all but one of the 14 people who died while or after Austin police officers used force on them were minorities. "Enough is enough," Michael Clark's mother, Mary Clark, said of use of force by police officers, especially against minorities. "I want this stopped right now." Clark, who had a history of criminal convictions, died after police fired a Taser at least twice to attempt to subdue him and arrest him on charges of public intoxication. Clark's death occurred as officers responded to a fight between a man, later identified as Clark, and an unidentified woman Monday afternoon in the 6400 block of East William Cannon Drive near , police officials said. Clark struggled, officials said, as police were attempting to arrest him. Clark bit Detective Robin Denton on the hand and injured Sgt. Robert Pewitt's shoulder, officials said. Eventually, nine officers, including Denton and Pewitt, were involved in taking Clark into custody. Officers subdued him with pepper spray, and officers Douglas Drake and Blaine Eiben administered Taser shocks. Clark went into "medical distress" after being taken into custody and died at South Austin Hospital at 3:55 p.m. The cause of Clark's death was undetermined Tuesday, pending toxicology results, said Dr. Roberto Bayardo, the Travis County medical examiner. Clark had a few Taser gun injuries, which look like small pricks from a two-tined fork, and had been sprayed in the face with pepper spray, Bayardo said. Clark also had a few minor scrapes. Bayardo said he could not comment on how many Taser injuries Clark had or where they were because the autopsy was done by Deputy Medical Examiner Elizabeth Peacock, who was not available for comment Tuesday. The two Austin police officers who used their Tasers, Drake and Eiben, were placed on restrictive duty, which is standard procedure when a death occurs, said Laura Albrecht, a department spokeswoman. Police records show no disciplinary actions against either officer. According to the department's policy, officers are allowed to use Tasers to control a dangerous or violent person when deadly force doesn't appear to be necessary, if attempts to subdue someone by other tactics haven't worked or if it is unsafe for officers to approach the person. Only one officer is allowed to use a Taser on a person unless it is obvious that it did not work, according to the policy. Officers also must warn a person that they are going to use a Taser, unless the warning would jeopardize the officers. Albrecht said it was too early in the investigation to determine how many times the weapons were fired against Clark and whether they were fired at close range or from a distance. There was video taken of the incident but it was not being released Tuesday, Albrecht said. She declined to comment further. After using a Taser, officers are to notify their supervisors immediately, gather the used cartridges and electrical probes to be used as evidence, and download the electronic firing data from the Taser. The firing data are then to be attached to a use-of-force form for review by supervisors, according to the department's policy. The Central Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the use of Tasers by the department in a Tuesday afternoon protest by a handful of people at police headquarters. Austin Dullnig, an ACLU spokesman, called for a moratorium on use of the devices and a more uniform discipline matrix for the department. "Not four months ago, Daniel Rocha was shot in the back," Dullnig said. "If five officers cannot deal with a suspect with anything other than a lethal weapon, policy needs to change. If the police chief and the city manager don't do anything, then it's up to City Council. If the council doesn't do anything, then it's up to the people to vote them out of office." Officer Julie Schroeder has said she shot Rocha because she thought the 18-year-old had taken her Taser gun during a struggle and was about to use it on her or a sergeant who had come to her aid. The last person to die after Austin police used a Taser to subdue him was Abel Ortega Perez. Perez, 36, died after he was arrested June 16, 2004. However, the Travis County medical examiner's office found the cause of death to be a cocaine overdose. Clark had four felony convictions, according to Travis County court records. In 1990, he was sentenced to two years in jail for possession of cocaine, to four years for delivery of a controlled substance and to 10 years for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. In 2002, he was sentenced to 20 months in state jail for possession of cocaine. He also had a misdemeanor conviction from 2002 for possession of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a drug-free zone. The latest charge against Clark involved a misdemeanor charge of driving without a license in May. Relatives said Clark was using crutches because of a leg injury he sustained Sunday and wouldn't have become violent with police. His wife, Monica Clark, said she didn't know about the events leading up to her husband's death. The family was also frustrated by the lack of information they were receiving about the incident, said Glenda Guiton, Michael Clark's cousin. She said police have been changing the story of what happened, telling the family that there was also another man, not just a woman, involved in the fight prior to Clark's arrest. But the family's biggest question is why police went beyond pepper spray and used the Taser more than once. The use of Tasers has been widely debated among civil rights groups because their safety has not been firmly established. More than 70 people have died from Tasers in the United States since 2001, Amnesty International says. Gathered on the front porch of the Clark family home on East 21st Street on Tuesday, relatives remembered Clark as a fun-loving guy who liked to play with his son, Michael Jr., and pick people up in giant bear hugs. "No matter what the problem was, if you came over here, Michael was going to have you smiling when you leave," said cousin Larry Foley. "If you want to uphold the law, one man doesn't have the right to take another man's life," Monica Clark said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake