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Right now, Deontae Faison, a Black father of two in Oakland, California, has been lying in a coma since April after being tased repeatedly by an officer while in water — and, somehow, that’s not the worst of it.
According to the Miami Herald, the family of 35-year-old Faison filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing officers not just of tasing their loved one–who was unarmed–when it was clearly unsafe to do so, but of allowing him to struggle in the water for the better part of an hour before he lost consciousness, causing him to remain unresponsive for the past six months.
my hubby is in a coma fighting for his life,police tased him while he was standing in water…please we need all the support we can get
For about 40 minutes, the lawsuit says East Bay Regional Park District police officers and Alameda County sheriff’s deputies who arrived at the scene watched Deontae Faison “struggle and scream for help until he eventually fell unconscious” in the water.
The officers didn’t rescue Faison from the water until he drowned, went under and ended up 10 to 15 feet away at Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline park on April 5, according to an amended complaint filed Oct. 22.
They didn’t call for help until he was lying unconscious on the shore, the lawsuit says.
None of the officers administered CPR while Faison was unresponsive after being pulled from the cold water, which was about 50 degrees, according to the complaint. It took about 15 minutes for paramedics to arrive.
“The level of disregard and callousness the officers showed as they comfortably stood by and watched Deontae call out for help while flailing his arms in a desperate bid to avoid drowning is unforgivable,” civil rights attorney Jamir Davis of J. Davis Law Firm, who is representing the case, said in an Oct. 22 news release.
It all reportedly started when Faison and his friend, a white woman, had driven to the park to enjoy the nice weather. An officer arrived and ordered them to sit on the bumper of their car before informing Faison that the vehicle’s tags were expired, according to the complaint. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, states that Faison felt the officer was treating him differently than his white friend. The complaint acknowledges that Faison gave the officer a fake name, prompting the officer to have a fingerprint technician come to the park when Faison’s name didn’t appear in the database.
“Deontae, not understanding why he was being harassed in the park and held for nearly 20 minutes, became nervous and upset,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit also states that more officers arrived at the scene, and the first officer drew his gun, which is when Faison reportedly fled. Police body camera footage shows Faison running toward the water while an officer chased after him and pointed his taser at him. According to ABC 7, the suit noted that tasing someone who is wet or in water is against district policy and that the officer first shot Faison in the back with the taser while he was still on the beach, but continued to tase him after he wandered into the water.
Every violation you can imagine
Actually, what the district’s 2024 police policy manual states is that officers should avoid using their tasers, period, “unless the totality of the circumstances indicates that other available options reasonably appear ineffective or would present a greater danger to the officer, the subject or others.”
“Multiple officers stood and watched for 40 minutes while Faison struggled and drowned, and they didn’t even attempt to rescue him…”
One would think it would be clear to officers that tasing a person who is wet and in water qualifies as a circumstance that would “present a greater danger” to the suspect. In fact, the manual states specifically that tasers shouldn’t be used on “individuals whose position or activity may result in collateral injury” such as someone “located in water.”
“The repeated use of a Taser, particularly in water, was not only excessive but reckless — violating the very standards set by not only the Taser manufacturer but the district’s policies to protect lives,” said civil rights attorney Adanté Pointer, of Pointer & Buelna, who is also representing the case.
Still, arguably the most egregious allegation stated in the suit is that multiple officers stood and watched for 40 minutes while Faison struggled and drowned, and they didn’t even attempt to rescue him until the damage had already been done. If the allegations in the suit are true, the involved officers don’t just deserve to be sued, they should be fired and criminally charged.
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More from the Herald:
The East Bay Regional Parks District told deputies that it tried to contact the U.S. Coast Guard but water rescue resources were unavailable, according to the report.
The report says that East Bay Regional Parks District officers deployed a flotation device when he neared the shoreline, after Faison was in the water for about 30 to 40 minutes. It also notes that he went underwater, the report says.
After a police officer pulled him from the water, the deputy who wrote the report stated Faison appeared not responsive even after the EBRPD placed Faison in the recovery position.”
The Oakland Fire Department ultimately arrived and CPR was performed on Faison, who was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, according to the report.
During a news conference on Tuesday, one of Faison’s two sons told reporters that what has happened to his father has been “hard on the whole family.”
“I can’t talk to him,” he said. “I could talk to my dad about anything.”
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