A group of Northern California cops who were well aware that a man had crashed his car after suffering an epileptic seizure became enraged when he did not respond to their commands to step out of the car as he fell in and out of consciousness, tasering him repeatedly while punching his face and pulling his hair, a new lawsuit claims.
“Do not f-cking fight us,” a Hercules, California, police officer yelled. “You will f-cking get ripped out of this car. We’re not playing. Get the f-ck up.”
Then, after learning the man, Jack Bruce was the son of an inspector in the district attorney’s office of their county, Contra Costa County, the Hercules police officers then tried to fabricate a story that they had suspected him of being high on drugs.
But when they could find no evidence in the car of drug use, they became frustrated, with one of the cops turning off the audio on his body camera without a valid reason.
Last week, Bruce filed a federal lawsuit against the Hercules Police Department in the San Francisco Bay Area, accusing the agency of false arrest, excessive force, battery, negligence, emotional distress as well as violating the Americans with Disabilities Act because they chose to abuse him rather than help him after he suffered a seizure.
Listed as defendants in the lawsuit are Hercules police officers Angel Garcia, Michael Thompson, and Joshua Goldstein, as well as the city of Hercules, along with several John Does, which would be the other officers and paramedics on the scene whose names have not been publicized.
“When defendants Garcia, Thompson and Goldstein encounter plaintiff on April 1, 2024, they actually knew, and certainly had reason to know that plaintiff was disabled by a brain seizure,” according to the lawsuit filed by attorneys Craig M. Peters of Altair Law in San Francisco and David L. Fiol of the Brent & Fiol law firm in San Rafael, California.
“They were informed by dispatchers that an eyewitness reported seeing plaintiff suffering from a seizure. Goldstein told Garcia that plaintiff was suffering from a seizure, and Garcia expressed his agreement with that appraisal.”
Watch the video below of the incident:
The Crash
Bruce, a tradesman in Local 38 of the Plumbers, Steamfitters & HVAC/Refrigeration union, was driving on Refugio Valley Road after visiting his grandmother on April 1, 2024, when he suffered a grand mal seizure for the first time in his life, causing him to lose consciousness and drive down an embankment off the side of the road.
One witness ran down the embankment to help him, while another witness called 911 to inform the dispatcher the man appeared to have suffered a seizure.
A grand mal seizure, also known as a tonic-clonic seizure, “causes a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
“The person often is disoriented after a tonic-clonic seizure,” the Mayo Clinic website explains. “This is referred to as postictal confusion. Sleepiness is common after a tonic-clonic seizure.”
But despite recognizing he was suffering a seizure, the responding cops became irate when he would not comply with their orders to step out of the car.
According to the lawsuit:
The other witness called 911 and expressly told the 911 operator that the plaintiff was convulsing and apparently unresponsive as his vehicle left the road and that he appeared to be having a seizure.
The fact that plaintiff was suffering a seizure was conveyed to the defendant officers both through dispatch communications and the CAD system.
At 1:07:20 pm, defendant Garcia entered the back seat of plaintiff’s vehicle, leaned forward and attempted to communicate with plaintiff, with no success.
Plaintiff was exhibiting and continued to exhibit symptoms of the postictal phase of a seizure. Initially he appeared to be asleep. Eventually he recovered minimal consciousness, but did not appear to understand what had happened, or even where he was.
Body camera video shows the cops were well aware he had suffered a seizure moments after responding to the scene.
“Hey Goldstein, you want to wait for fire to try to get him out,” Garcia asked, referring to the paramedics who were on their way to the scene.
“If he’s having a seizure, just let him be,” Goldstein responded.
But minutes later, they were tasering and punching and abusing him for not complying with their orders even though it was obvious he was barely conscious.
“Shortly after 1:12 pm, Garcia, a mere five minutes after his arrival, lost his patience and began to shove plaintiff out of his car,” the claim states.
“By that time, Goldstein had returned and, despite what he said four minutes earlier, joined Garcia in attempting to forcibly extract plaintiff from the car. They were joined by defendant Thompson.”
The lawsuit states the officers should have known better because they should all have received training from the California Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training (POST), the agency responsible for licensing law enforcement officers in California.
“Do not restrain them,” advises a POST workbook, according to the claim. “Agitated behavior during an episode should not be perceived as deliberate hostility or resistance to the officer.”
He was transported to a hospital where blood tests found no drugs or alcohol in Bruce’s system besides a trace amount of weed and a sedative administered to him by paramedics in the ambulance.
Doctors at another hospital administered an electroencephalogram test to measure the signals in his brain, revealing an abnormality consistent with epilepsy.
He has since experienced several more seizures and has also been prescribed anti-seizure medication, according to the claim.
“Because his seizure disorder remains insufficiently controlled by medications, plaintiff is not qualified to drive and cannot safely work in his chosen profession,” the claim states. “All of these disabling conditions were present on April 1, 2024.”
A similar incident took place last year in Indiana, where a family called police for help after their loved one was suffering an epileptic seizure, only for them to show up and kill him.
