A Utah couple is suing the West Valley City Police after the agency tased one of them for failure to comply with instructions.
Tabeththa and Fernando Coronado were the subject of a visit by the WVCPD’s tactical team after the former placed a call to the police, asking for help.
Shortly after the team arrived, Fernando stumbled to the door, half-naked and inebriated. For over two hours, he failed to comply with police orders to come speak with them.
Eventually, Fernando became aggressive, pounding his chest and screaming as he lunged toward police.
Needless to say, Fernando was tased. Once incapacitated, Fernando fell to the ground and hit his head on concrete.
According to the Coronado family attorneys, they are suing for life-long injuries and violating his constitutional rights.
“What you have here is forceful take down with a Taser and Fernando had a right to be free from that kind of force,” said Bob Sykes, Coronado’s attorney, who claimed the law states that a stun gun cannot be used on a non-violent individual.
However, WVCPD claim Fernando was dangerous. So dangerous, in fact that he threatened to kill his common-law wife, put a knife to his throat and threatened to kill himself, barricaded himself in his home, and repeatedly threatened to kill officers or anyone who attempted to enter his house.
When asked about the details of the arrest by Fox13, the attorneys claimed they were unaware of the details concerning Coronado’s arrest, going back and forth in what seemed to be second thoughts about the lawsuit and the veracity of Coronado’s claim.
If that wasn’t enough Coronado then said that “the next officer that pulls me over, I might hurt him, or he might get shot.”
Non-violent, indeed.
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