Here's the Charge: Tasing Lawsuit Costs Sonoma County $1.25M

SANTA ROSA - Sonoma County has agreed to pay $1.25 million to a settle a lawsuit filed by a Forestville man who was shot more than 20 times with a Taser stun gun by Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies during a booking in the county jail three years ago.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the settlement, which does not admit liability, during a closed session Tuesday.

A video of the Jan. 3, 2013, incident was posted on YouTube and on the website of Izaak Schwaiger, the attorney who represented the plaintiff, 29-year-old Esa Wroth. Schwaiger said Wroth will receive $750,000 tax free for his pain and suffering, but his recovery will cost over $1 million.

The California Highway Patrol arrested Wroth on Jan. 2, 2013 for DUI. During a struggle with deputies in the jail he was shot 23 times with Tasers.

Schwaiger said deputies pulled both of Wroth’s arms out of their sockets, tore his labrum muscles and caused permanent nerve damage to his hands.

Assistant Sonoma County Sheriff Randall Walker said Wroth was “extremely intoxicated and belligerent” when he arrived at the jail. Walker said Wroth initially was not physically resisting but was verbally abusive, and he ripped a cuff that monitors blood pressure off his arm, backed with force into a medic and tackled a deputy to the ground.

Deputies shot Wroth with a Taser and punched him as he rolled on the ground and kicked his legs but Wroth pulled some of the Taser gun’s barbs out of his body, Walker said. Most of the Taser shots were ineffective Walker said. Wroth was held to the ground before an ambulance arrived, Walker said.

Wroth pleaded no contest in December 2014 to a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving involving alcohol, and the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office dismissed charges of resisting arrest, DUI and assaulting an officer against him.

Schwaiger called the plea agreement “an absolute victory, hands down,” but he said he would file a civil rights violation lawsuit against the sheriff’s office and the county.

Schwaiger called the settlement of that suit by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday “a socially responsible decision” and the first step toward holding law enforcement officers accountable for their actions. “But we need to fire people and that has never happened,” Schwaiger said.

“There are a lot of good, professional cops in the sheriff’s office, but the culture there encourages real hands-on behavior,” Schwaiger said.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Cecile Focha said before Wroth’s suit was filed, the sheriff’s office reviewed the Wroth booking video and changed its equipment options to include maximum cord restraints that prevent someone from hurting themselves or others, and provide more tactical training of supervisors.

Focha said the Wroth booking event was “an isolated incident.”

-Bay City News