But Lambert was never given any medical care even though he was driven to the hospital.
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As they pulled up to the hospital, Lambert kicked out a squad auto window and ran out the passenger door the moment it was cracked open, crashing into the glass door of the ER. The officers ran after him and began tasing him outside of the ER door.
Lambert’s body goes stiff and, with his hands cuffed, his arms could not break the fall when he hit the cement, MSNBC noted.
Nurses and hospital staff watched from inside. But when they arrived Lambert was unconscious. They used the Taser on him several times then as well because he wouldn’t sit up straight.
The officers then put Lambert back in the squad auto, where they shocked him again while he was restrained, according to the video.
The lawsuit claims Bratton and fellow officers Travis Clay and Clifton Mann showed callous disregard for Lambert, WTVR reported. The officers tell Mr Lambert to lie down, stay down, get on his belly, and roll over.
South Boston police claim Lambert became violent, necessitating Taser use, but the video does not appear to show him acting aggressively.
The officers notice his state when arriving at the jail, where they checked Lambert’s pulse, attempted CPR and called for help.
He was later pronounced dead at the hospital, after going into cardiac arrest according to the medical examiners’ report. Law enforcement experts caution against repeat tasings.
In total the three officers discharged their Tasers 20 times in about a half-an-hour of their encounter with Mr Lambert. While the videos clearly show multiple tasings connecting with Lambert, not every recorded discharge necessarily makes human contact. The officers weren’t criminally charged, and their attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on Thursday.
Linwood Lambert with his sister, Gwendolyn Smalls. It was later revealed that he had died even before he could be transported to the hospital.
But the family blames the police and they filed a $25 million wrongful death suit. “It was frightful”, she said, “a nightmare”. “They used so much force with a man who was already restrained”.
“The mere breaking of a door”, he said, “does not warrant the use of hundreds of thousands of volts being shocked into a person’s system on multiple occasions by multiple parties”. Though they handcuffed him, they assured him, “we’re not locking you up, we’re going to the ER”.
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“We are vigorously defending the case on behalf of the South Boston Police Department and its officers as we strongly believe the Defendants did nothing wrong in their interaction with the late Mr. Lambert on May 4, 2013 and that their actions did not cause his death”, read an attorney statement.
