OAKLAND – East Bay Regional Park District police allegedly tasered a person standing in knee-deep water on the East Oakland shoreline earlier this month, causing him to just about drown after he fell face-first into the Bay had fallen, the person's family claimed in a legal claim this week.
Park District police acted with “reckless disregard for human life” within the April 5 encounter with Deontae Faison, a San Francisco father of two who was in a coma on Friday after becoming unconscious through the incident. in accordance with a press release from a lawyer his family.
Earlier this week, Faison's family filed a lawsuit against the East Bay Regional Park District and Alameda County. Such claims normally form the idea for lawsuits against government agencies.
“It's sad. The fact that this continues to happen shows that there are problems with policing,” said the family's attorney, Jamir Davis. “The indisputable fact that there are officers who were brave enough to arrest a person within the Water harassing him from behind – and never being brave or trained enough to leap in and save him – is pretty outrageous.”
The April 5 encounter began when an East Bay Regional Park District officer asked Faison to sit down on the bumper of his vehicle after he discovered his license plates were expired, in accordance with Davis. Faison had lunch with a friend within the park not removed from Oakland International Airport.
The officer called for backup after reviewing Faison's criminal record and at one point attempted to grab Faison, Davis said. Faison ran over a series of rocks and entered a channel that led to San Leandro Bay. That's when an officer fired a Taser into Faison's back, causing him to fall forward, the attorney said.
Faison then spent greater than half-hour struggling within the water and “screaming for help,” his family said in a press release. He added: “It was only when Deontae became unconscious and drifted closer to shore that officers entered, pulled him to shore and gave him help.”
When he emerged from the water, he received cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was taken to a close-by hospital where doctors were capable of revive him. He has been in a coma ever since, Davis said.
“Doctors say he might survive, but if he does, he won't be the same,” Davis said.
A call by this news organization to East Bay Regional Park District police was not immediately returned.
It was not immediately clear why the officer reportedly called for backup. Court records show Faison was on probation after pleading no contest in a 2021 robbery case. That probation appears to have been revoked in early 2023, even though it was not immediately clear whether that continued to be the case when officials contacted him earlier this month.
Davis said the incident raises questions on how well the department's officers are trained to cope with people within the water and why they allegedly didn't work to get him out sooner.
“We're not saying all officers are bad, but this was inappropriate and reckless,” Davis said. “The family needs answers. We need answers now.”
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