Tazered Man Dies After Brawl With Police

SANTA BARBARA - A 300 pound 6 foot tall mentally unstable man died after he brawled with police.  The man fought with police, was tazered in the process.  He was taken to Cottage hospital and then released to the county psychiatric facility.  The man died while in the custody of the county psychiatric facility.

Sgt. Loren Duarte reported that last Thursday (08/11/11), at 11 am, an officer was flagged down by an employee of the Faulding Hotel located at 15 East Haley Street, Santa Barbara, CA.  The employee reporting that 49 year old Joseph Lopez was destroying one of the rooms and throwing items out of the window into City Lot 10. 

Duarte said that "officer was familiar with Lopez from prior contacts."  Lopez is a big man, described by police at being over 300 pounds and 6 feet tall.

According to authorities, when the police approached Lopez’s room and could hear Lopez yelling and the sound of items breaking in the room.  The officer knocked on the door for several minutes and Lopez answered the door.  Lopez was nude and the officer could see several items broken in the room and strewn all over the floor.  The officer instructed Lopez to stay in the room and called for assistance from police, CARES, and medics. 

CARES - Crisis and Recovery Emergency Services is provided by the county to help people in crisis due to alcohol, drug, and /or mental health problems.

Additional officers arrived to assist and made contact with CARES personnel. Officers were informed that CARES was requesting that Lopez be taken into custody for being a danger to himself and being a gravely disabled adult for a 72 hour hold.

Again Duarte said "Officers waited outside of Lopez’s door and could still here Lopez yelling and breaking things.  Lopez eventually opened the door to his room and addressed one of the officers by name.  Lopez began yelling profanities at the officer.  Lopez’s hands were down to his side and clenched into fists.  The officer explained to Lopez that he was there to help and that Lopez needed to go to the hospital.  Lopez became even more agitated and began to walk towards the officer.  The officer attempted to take hold of Lopez’s arm and Lopez began to resist.  An additional officer attempted to take hold of Lopez.  Lopez continued to resist.  One officer deployed his department issued Taser.  The darts from the Taser struck Lopez in the abdomen area.  The Taser had no effect and Lopez continued to resist.  Officers requested emergency assistance while wresting with Lopez.  An additional officer arrived and helped by taking hold of Lopez’s legs."

After Lopez was subdued, he was taken into custody.  Lopez was escorted by police and walked to the front of the Faulding Hotel where AMR was awaiting to transport Lopez to the hospital due to the Taser deployment.  Once at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Lopez was medically cleared and subsequently admitted to the Santa Barbara County Psychiatric Health Facility. 

The next day, Friday (08/12/11), just before 4 am, the Santa Barbara Police Department was informed by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Office that Lopez had passed away while at the Psychiatric Health Facility. 

Santa Barbara Police Department detectives responded to the station and initiated an investigation.  An autopsy was conducted on 08/15/11 and cause of death is pending Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner’s investigation.