Obese Nude Man Who Died after Taser Hit Is Identified
Updated 4:43 PM PST, Tue, Feb 17, 2009
LAKEWOOD, Calif. -- An autopsy done on an obese man who sheriff's deputies pepper-sprayed and shocked with a Taser, when they found him running naked on a Lakewood street Saturday night, was inconclusive, a coroner's spokesman said Tuesday.
Chenard Kierre Winfield, 32, of Los Angeles, struggled with deputies, who noticed he was not breathing once they got handcuffs on him. Apparently, he never regained consciousness.
Craig Harvey of the coroner's office say toxicology tests, whose results are expected to take at least a month and half, may help show the cause of death. He said he didn't know what drugs the man's blood would be screened for.
Deputies at the scene, talking via radio, said the man was behaving as if he'd taken PCP, according to a video crew there.
According to deputies with the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau:
The sheriff's department got a report of a disturbance or fight near Silva Street and Dunrobin Avenue about 10:15 p.m. Saturday.
Deputies found a "very large" man running naked in the street and, when confronted, he "advanced on the deputies in a threatening manner," prompting them to use pepper spray and at least one jolt from a Taser stun gun.
A deputy coroner said Winfield was 6 feet 3 and weighed 350 pounds.
Once deputies handcuffed Winfield, they noticed that he was not breathing and started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, but he died.
According to an Amnesty International report in December, 334 people shocked with Tasers by law enforcement died in the United States between June 2001 and August 2008.
California, which logged 55 Taser-related deaths, and Florida, with 52, had the highest number of deaths during that seven-year span.
First Published: Feb 17, 2009 8:56 AM PST
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