Family Of Tasered Man Files Suit Against Cincinnati Police Department
The University of Cincinnati police department has been sued over allegations that their members used excessive force on Kelly Brinson. Mr. Brinson’s family has made clains on behalf of the 45-year-old psychiatric patient, who died after being shocked with a Taser while restrained in the hospital
Brinson who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, delusions and other mental disorders, voluntarily submitted himself to the hospital's psychiatric unit. Some days later Mr. Brinson became upset when his cell phone was confiscated. Hospital staff injected the drug, Haldol, to tranquilize him; he was separated form the rest of the patients until the drug could take effect. Seven police, the lawsuit claims, entered the seclusion room where Brinson was positioned behind the bed and shocked him with a Taser, restrained him to the bed and shocked him again. Mr. Brinson went into cardiac arrest and died three days later.
The seven officers, the chief of the university's police department, the hospital and its trustees are among the 16 people or institutions named in the suit.
Mr. Brinson’s attorneys stated "Although Brinson had been given an injection that would soon cause him to be lethargic, (he) was heavily outnumbered, had officers restraining him and had no weapon." The university's police chief was not available for comment. The suit seeks an unspecified amount of money.
