October 13, 2011

Taser Death: Darnell Hutchinson (San Leandro, CA)

It happened again! This time we learn that the San Leandro police were involved in a taser-related killing of 32-year old Darnell Hutchinson. Hutchinson, an Oakland resident, died after an incident at Nations Giant Hamburgers, where officers responded to a report of a suspicious person.

Nations employees reported that a man there, later identified as Hutchinson, was scaring customers by "acting strange" and was asked to leave several times but refused. [SOURCE]

Officers arrived and found Hutchinson outside the restaurant, where he refused to cooperate with the officers and a struggle ensued.


One of the officers pumped Hutchinson with 50,000 volts of electricity from a taser gun. Ultimately, the four police officers on the scene were able to control and handcuff him.

Immediately after being handcuffed, Hutchinson's health began to deteriorate. Paramedics responded and took him to a hospital where he died.

The cause of his death has not been determined, with toxicology and autopsy reports from the coroner's bureau still pending. We know that the young man was UNARMED and that the penalty for being 'scary' is not supposed to be death.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

All - San Leandro police say a man who died after being hit with a stun gun by officers during his arrest had taken a lethal dose of methamphetamine.

The Alameda County Coroner's Office found that 32-year-old Darnell Hutchinson suffered acute methamphetamine intoxication.

Police announced the coroner's findings on Tuesday.

Hutchinson was arrested on Oct. 9, 2011 outside a Nation's Giant Hamburger restaurant. Police say he had been acting paranoid and scaring customers.

They say an officer used a stun gun when Hutchinson struggled with police and resisted arrest.

But Hutchinson became unresponsive after being placed in handcuffs and later died at a hospital.

San Leandro police Lt. Jeff Tudor says an internal police investigation found the officers did nothing wrong.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/08/state/n071155S40.DTL#ixzz1lobH4r4k

Unknown said...

The family of Darnell Hutchinson is suing for wrongful death in this matter.