Blake Hall
The family of Iraq War veteran Kyle Cardenas is suing their local police department after officers tased the veteran until his heart stopped beating. The family is seeking a whopping $20 million in damages.
Kyle served two combat tours in Iraq with the U.S. Army, 82nd Airborne Division. He was honorably discharged in 2006, but suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder tied to his deployment in Mosul.
On Sept. 12, he suffered a flare up of paranoia and delusions. When he accused his parents of trying to poison him, his mother called the VA Crisis Hotline and requested a mental health crisis team to come to their home. She specifically asked that no police officers respond to their emergency.
Despite Mrs. Cardenas’ wishes, police stormed the house. When Kyle threatened to record the encounter on his cellphone, officers tased him into submission.
From the family’s formal complaint:
The police charged into this bedroom … and attempted to restrain Kyle again. During the melee, the officers Tased Kyle at least seven times, sprayed OC spray directly into Kyle’s face, struck Kyle multiple times with their batons, punched Kyle in the face with closed fists, kicked and kneed Kyle in the thighs and legs, and ordered one of the K-9 unit dogs to attack and bite Kyle.
Injured and still very delusional, Kyle was taken to the hospital. As he was restrained to a gurney and sedated, officers tased the Iraq War veteran even more. It was there, strapped to a hospital bed and succumbing to heavy sedatives, that Kyle stopped breathing and his heart beat slowed to a stop. According to his lawyer, Kyle had no pulse and was “turning blue.”
Luckily, doctors were able to resuscitate Kyle before he suffered any brain damage.
For all of the police’s abuses, the Cardenas family is seeking $20 million to settle the lawsuit. If the police department doesn’t settle, the family is “prepared to proceed with litigation to recover not only his damages, but to raise awareness of what is occurring on a daily basis throughout the United States relating to the rising numbers of veterans being shot and killed by the police.”