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Family Of Man Killed After Officers Use Taser Call Death "Barbaric"
Posted: Aug 1, 2011 3:43 PM by Keaton Fox - kfox@kristv.com
Updated: Aug 1, 2011 7:00 PM
CORPUS CHRISTI -- Lawyers for the city and the family of a man who died after being shot with a Taser will meet later this week, an attorney said.
Police say 57-year-old George Knabe was riding his bike into traffic along Cimarron and Wooldridge back in November in 2009, causing a police officer to stop to try to get him out of the street.
When Knabe wouldn't comply, police say officers who responded to the call used a Taser to subdue the man.
The family says he went unconscious, and died two days later. The Nueces County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. According to a KRIS report in January of 2010, the medical examiner's report said Knabe had an underlying heart condition that contributed to his death, along with the physical struggle. The report did not indicate the Taser as a factor in the man's death.
The man's family filed suit and their attorney Christopher Gale, says the police acted with excessive force.
In the suit, Gale alleges that after police "tired of beating Knabe with their fists and feet," police used him as "target practice", all the while spraying him with pepper spray.
"It's probably not the legal word, but barbaric is probably not off base," Gale said.
Knabe's family says he was homeless and not a threat to anyone, just a man riding a bicycle.
"I have a problem with that," Gale said. "If he was a bank robber, or some kind of burglar, but he was just driving down the road, even allegedly going the wrong way on the street."
Gale says the use of a Taser is a good non-lethal way to protect the community, but says there's a time and place for it's use.
"Had a lot of calls from people in the community, they're doing this to a homeless guy, and it's just concerning, that's why I took the case," Gale said.
We asked for comment from the Corpus Christi police department and the city attorney's office, both declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
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