Taser Lawsuit: Douglas Boucher (Mason, OH)

Mason police officers tased 39-year old Douglas Boucher in December 2009. He died. The police didn't see anything wrong with it. No charges were filed against the two officers. The family of the dead man see it differently. Boucher's family filed a federal lawsuit. [SOURCE]

The autopsy didn't indicate that the taser was the cause of death.  The lawsuit claims that the two police officers used excessive force on a mentally ill person. The family seeks compensatory and punitive damages from the city of Mason and officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick.

The two police officers were not called onto the scene. They just stopped by the same Speedway gas station where a female clerk was serving Mr. Boucher. When the police arrived, the clerk alleged that Boucher was harassing her. The two officers asked Boucher to go outside. The officers were attempting to handcuff Boucher when he wrestled away and hit Fry in the head with his one handcuffed hand, according to the police. When he tried to go after the clerk again - she had come outside - McCormick attempted to use a Taser on him. The first shot failed, but the second electrocution with the 50,000 volts from the taser gun knocked Boucher to the ground. He hit his head on the concrete and died.

The lawsuit claims that "Mason police officers arrested him, tased him in the chest and in the back and then, while he was on the ground, struck him with a police baton, kicked him and tased him five more times."

The report issued by the Ohio powers-that-be did note that the police officers failed to 'spark test' their taser guns ... to the device may have given off more that the 50,000 volts of electricity specified by the manufacturer.