SR man dies after police struggle
Officers use pepper spray, stun guns after 911 call reporting bizarre behavior
Sunday, July 17, 2005
By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A Santa Rosa man died Saturday after fighting with police officers who'd been called to his home because of his bizarre behavior and ended up using stun guns and pepper spray in efforts to subdue him, authorities said.
Carlos Casillas Fernandez, 31, died at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he was treated following the struggle involving five police officers, said Santa Rosa Police Lt. Ernesto Olivares.
The officers, and a sergeant who also responded to the incident on Blue Sky Lane in southwest Santa Rosa, are on paid administrative leave until further notice, Olivares said.
Under countywide regulations governing such law enforcement-related fatal incidents, a separate agency, in this case the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, conducts a criminal investigation, he said.
Fernandez's family could not be reached Saturday either by telephone or at their home.
Fernandez's wife, Karla Fernandez, called 911 at about 1 a.m. Saturday, and said her husband "may be under the influence of drugs and had been acting paranoid and delusional during the past several days," Olivares said.
Officers Brian Sinigiani and Matt Sanchez - with 5 and 3½ years respectively on the force - found Carlos Fernandez on the front lawn when they arrived, Olivares said.
He refused to speak to them and went inside, Olivares said. The officers followed with the permission of Karla Fernandez, who was with the couple's 4-year-old son.
Carlos Fernandez was sweating and clenching his jaw and fists, Olivares said, and the officers, believing he was under the influence of drugs, checked his pulse and found it was abnormally fast.
"That's when things went sideways," Olivares said.
According to the preliminary investigation, Fernandez began to pull away from the officers and refused repeated commands to stop. He began to bite and kick as he tried to free himself and at one point grabbed one of the officer's portable radios, Olivares said.
The struggle went on for perhaps 10 minutes, Olivares said, and Sinigiani and Sanchez eventually tried to subdue Fernandez with stun guns and pepper spray.
Olivares said the officers also used a hold termed a carotid restraint - in which an arm is hooked around a suspect's neck to exert pressure on the carotid artery.
The Taser guns - which fire electrified probes - were used "multiple times," but it's not yet known how many times they were fired, Olivares said. The precise sequence in which officers used the various methods to try to control Fernandez is also not yet clear, he said.
Three more officers and a police sergeant arrived to help and joined the struggle, Olivares said. He said he didn't know yet whether they also had used Tasers and pepper spray.
As Fernandez was finally restrained, officers noticed he was having difficulty breathing, began CPR and also called for an ambulance.
On Saturday, neighbors said the Fernandezes had moved in sometime within the last six months and were not yet well known, but that they'd noticed no obvious signs of trouble. It is a neighborhood of large, mostly two-story homes built in the late 1990s.
The couple's son played with other children on the street, and they seemed "just a regular family," said Gary Silva.
"His buddies would drop him off after work and I'd wave to him," Silva said of Fernandez.
The other officers placed on leave are Bob St. Pierre, whose back was injured in the struggle, James Griffin and Dan Jones. Sgt. Gary Negri was also placed on leave, Olivares said.
Officers use pepper spray, stun guns after 911 call reporting bizarre behavior
Sunday, July 17, 2005
By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A Santa Rosa man died Saturday after fighting with police officers who'd been called to his home because of his bizarre behavior and ended up using stun guns and pepper spray in efforts to subdue him, authorities said.
Carlos Casillas Fernandez, 31, died at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he was treated following the struggle involving five police officers, said Santa Rosa Police Lt. Ernesto Olivares.
The officers, and a sergeant who also responded to the incident on Blue Sky Lane in southwest Santa Rosa, are on paid administrative leave until further notice, Olivares said.
Under countywide regulations governing such law enforcement-related fatal incidents, a separate agency, in this case the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, conducts a criminal investigation, he said.
Fernandez's family could not be reached Saturday either by telephone or at their home.
Fernandez's wife, Karla Fernandez, called 911 at about 1 a.m. Saturday, and said her husband "may be under the influence of drugs and had been acting paranoid and delusional during the past several days," Olivares said.
Officers Brian Sinigiani and Matt Sanchez - with 5 and 3½ years respectively on the force - found Carlos Fernandez on the front lawn when they arrived, Olivares said.
He refused to speak to them and went inside, Olivares said. The officers followed with the permission of Karla Fernandez, who was with the couple's 4-year-old son.
Carlos Fernandez was sweating and clenching his jaw and fists, Olivares said, and the officers, believing he was under the influence of drugs, checked his pulse and found it was abnormally fast.
"That's when things went sideways," Olivares said.
According to the preliminary investigation, Fernandez began to pull away from the officers and refused repeated commands to stop. He began to bite and kick as he tried to free himself and at one point grabbed one of the officer's portable radios, Olivares said.
The struggle went on for perhaps 10 minutes, Olivares said, and Sinigiani and Sanchez eventually tried to subdue Fernandez with stun guns and pepper spray.
Olivares said the officers also used a hold termed a carotid restraint - in which an arm is hooked around a suspect's neck to exert pressure on the carotid artery.
The Taser guns - which fire electrified probes - were used "multiple times," but it's not yet known how many times they were fired, Olivares said. The precise sequence in which officers used the various methods to try to control Fernandez is also not yet clear, he said.
Three more officers and a police sergeant arrived to help and joined the struggle, Olivares said. He said he didn't know yet whether they also had used Tasers and pepper spray.
As Fernandez was finally restrained, officers noticed he was having difficulty breathing, began CPR and also called for an ambulance.
On Saturday, neighbors said the Fernandezes had moved in sometime within the last six months and were not yet well known, but that they'd noticed no obvious signs of trouble. It is a neighborhood of large, mostly two-story homes built in the late 1990s.
The couple's son played with other children on the street, and they seemed "just a regular family," said Gary Silva.
"His buddies would drop him off after work and I'd wave to him," Silva said of Fernandez.
The other officers placed on leave are Bob St. Pierre, whose back was injured in the struggle, James Griffin and Dan Jones. Sgt. Gary Negri was also placed on leave, Olivares said.
