Taser Found “Not Guilty” in Death of Schizophrenic Male

St. Louis County police officers confronted a combative man last Tuesday. DeBoise, a schizophrenic who was off his medication, emerged from the house on Lake Paddock Drive, naked and in a highly agitated state. In an effort to subdue him, officers used a TASER.

Officers were first called about 7:30 a.m. by a neighbor who stated that a naked man had been hitting a house with a stick. The man then chased the neighbor while wielding the unidentified stick. Police spent a fruitless half hour trying to locate the man. Then, at 8:45 a.m., DeBoise’ mother called authorities to say that her son had been lying naked on the grass all day, then spent the night outside. She further stated that he had also held her hostage inside the house for over 90 minutes.

Although some of his relatives stated the man was posed no threat and was not behaving in an unruly manner. Officers at the scene disagreed, saying that he became combative when they tried to handcuff him. After TASERs were used a second time, the man “started fighting again,” according to Officer Tracy Panus. She stated that officers were finally able to subdue the man using only their hands. “He wasn’t injured. He had no scratches, bruises, nothing like that.” She further stated that, “It doesn’t appear the officers did anything wrong. This guy comes out and he’s naked. We don’t know if he’s on any type of drugs.”

Relatives believe TASERs were not necessary and that they proved lethal. Nevertheless, DeBoise’ cousin, Airest Wilson, acknowledged that the man was not behaving normally, besides wandering around outside while naked.

Some time later, officers loaded him into an ambulance. Then, several minutes after being in the ambulance, he went limp. At Christian Hospital DeBoise was pronounced dead. More than an hour had passed after police were called to the scene.

A cousin of the deceased, upset about the death, believes police officers used excessive force and that DeBoise posed no threat to anyone.

Dr. Mary Case, St. Louis County Medical examiner, stated that although toxicology tests were pending, the autopsy did not find a cause of death. Case believes the circumstances exclude the possibility that TASERs interfered with his heart rhythm. “Because the TASER was over and he’s still combative, that tells me he’s conscious and breathing and there’s no cardiac arrhythmia,” she said.

According to Dr. Case, while medications may play a key role, psychotic patients who are in an agitated state “have been known to die for unexplained reasons.”

In any case, Officer Panus, who believes officers will be exonerated, said that police investigative agency will be doing a routine “use of force” review.