Deontae Faison, a 35-year Black father of two, was trying to enjoy a picnic at the park in Oakland with a friend when he was confronted by police over expired tags on the car they had arrived in.
The car belonged to his friend, a white woman, but East Bay Regional Parks police officer Jonathan Knea focused his attention on Faison despite having never seen him driving the car into the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline on April 5, according to a federal lawsuit filed earlier this month.
Believing he was being unfairly targeted, Faison provided police with an alias. But when cops were unable to find that name in their system, they threatened to bring a fingerprint technician to the scene in order to properly identify and check him for warrants.
Meanwhile, the white woman who owned the car was never questioned if she owned the car and never had her name checked for warrants and was never threatened with having her fingerprints taken.
After 20 minutes of being detained and questioned, more cops arrived and Faison panicked, especially after Knea pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot him so he ran toward a body of water, prompting Knea to chase after him and taser him in the back.
Faison fell down but was able to get back up and immerse himself knee-deep in the water but Knea continued tasering him causing him to collapse face-first in the water which is a violation of departmental policy, according to the lawsuit.
The cops then spent the next 40 minutes watching Faison struggle to remain afloat in the frigid 50 degree water, doing nothing to save him.
“He is not going to make it,” a cop can be heard saying on the body camera, according to the lawsuit.
After 40 minutes of struggling to remain afloat, Faison sank underwater, only for his unconscious body to resurface and begin floating near the opposite bank of the estuary.
It was only then that police pulled his body out of the water and called for paramedics, the lawsuit states. They also left his unconscious body on the shore for 15 minutes without attempting to revive him with CPR as they waited for paramedics to arrive.
And they did not inform paramedics that they had tasered him repeatedly which the lawsuit states prevented the paramedics from providing the necessary medical treatment. Six months later, Faison remains hospitalized in a coma.
According to the lawsuit which lists the East Bay Regional Park District and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office as defendants:
It is common knowledge that electricity and water are a dangerous combination. Indeed, Officers are trained they should avoid using a taser when a person’s position creates an increased risk of injury or when a person is located in water, mud or marsh. It naturally follows that any officer who intentionally uses a taser on a person who is near and/or standing in water must be considered to be showing deliberate indifference for human life, given the potentially lethal consequences of such an action.
The lawsuit also states that Knea violated several departmental and state policies set by the Commission of Peace Officers Standard and Training which certifies law enforcement officers in California:
The use of force by taser while in a body of water is strictly prohibited by DISTRICT General Orders and the taser manufacturer warns against such use due to the danger it obviously poses.
The use of force by taser without announcement is strictly prohibited by DISTRICT General Orders.
KNEA did not use his taser in accordance with California POST Standards and attempted to strike DEONTAE with the taser in his head and neck region.
KNEA tased DEONTAE in a manner that violated California POST standards in an attempt to unlawfully subdue DEONTAE.
The lawsuit accuses police and deputies of violating Faison’s Fourth Amendment rights as well as battery, false imprisonment and negligence. Watch the body camera video below.
The Alleged Coverup
The lawsuit accuses the East Bay Regional Park District Police Department and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office of covering up their misdeeds by turning off their body cameras and disposing of evidence like Faison’s clothes with the taser prongs attached.
They also failed to take statements from witnesses, including from Faison’s female friend who also fled from the scene, according to the lawsuit. But she was only issued a citation, which the complaint states is proof of selective enforcement between Black and white people:
COUNTY and DISTRICT do not treat white citizens in the same manner they treat Black citizens. DEONTAE’s friend, a white female, fled from police officers in the same incident and was not tased.
DEONTAE’s friend, a white female, also was not criminally charged for her actions and was only given a citation and allowed to walk away without being formally arrested.
The cops also claimed in their reports that they feared Faison might be armed which made them fear for their lives, which the lawsuit states is a lie.
And the Alameda District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Faison of resisting arrest and giving a false name to an officer despite the fact that Faison remains hospitalized in a coma with no ability to defend himself from the allegations.
“The level of disregard and callousness the officers showed as they comfortably stood by and watched Deontae call out for help while flailing his arms in a desperate bid to avoid drowning is unforgivable,” said civil rights attorney Jamir Davis of J. Davis Law Firm in a statement, one of the attorneys representing the case.
Faison’s oldest son, also named Deontae, turned 18 over the summer and graduated from high school but his father was unable to attend the ceremony.
“It’s just derailed all our lives,” the younger Faison said through tears at a press conference. “I can’t go to the park. I can’t play basketball. … It’s very hard on all of us.”
