March 11, 2010
Judge dismisses excessive force suit over Taser
A federal judge has dismissed an excessive force lawsuit against Harris County by the family of a Houston truck driver who died two days after sheriff's deputies used a Taser to subdue him.
The brother and sister of Kenneth Ray Eagleton sued the county, then-Sheriff Tommy Thomas and nine deputies who were called to help subdue the driver so he could be taken to a hospital in June 2006. Paramedics suspected Eagleton had suffered a drug overdose after finding him lying in his car, holding a knife and screaming incoherently.
Deputies used a Taser on Eagleton — a muscular man who weighed nearly 300 pounds — after two unsuccessful attempts to handcuff him so he could be placed in an ambulance, according to a press release from the Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan. The truck driver died two days later at the San Jacinto Methodist Hospital in Baytown, and an autopsy showed Eagleton died of “complications of rapid breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue and kidney failure resulting from cocaine intoxication,” the release said.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner dismissed the case last Friday after granting the county's motion for summary judgment. The county argued it was reasonable for deputies to use the Taser under the circumstances, and there was no evidence Eagleton's death was caused by the electronic device.
Athill Muhammad, the Houston attorney who represented Eagleton's sister and brother, declined comment on the judge's ruling.
