21-Year-Old Suspect Had Refused to Come Out of Apartment Closet
By Holly Yan and Jason Trahan, The Dallas Morning News
FORT WORTH, Texas – When police shot 21-year-old Robert Guerrero with a Taser gun Tuesday afternoon, they didn’t know he might have been on drugs. And they certainly didn’t know he was going to die.
Fort Worth police are investigating whether department policy was followed when an officer fired a stun gun into Mr. Guerrero, who had holed up in a closet after refusing to cooperate with the officers when he was suspected of illegally running electricity to an apartment.
Police said they have no plans to change their policy on the use of Taser stun guns, which are also used in Dallas. Police and the manufacturer say they are safe when used correctly. Officer P.R. Genualdo, the six-year veteran who stunned Mr. Guerrero in the apartment in the 2400 block of Clinton Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, has been placed on administrative leave.
Mr. Guerrero’s cause of death has not been determined. The Tarrant County medical examiner is awaiting results of toxicology tests, which could take eight weeks to complete. But Mr. Guerrero’s father says he wants to know why police used a Taser on his unarmed son when they say he was not struggling with them.
Possible electricity theft
Police were called to the apartment complex Tuesday afternoon by a manager who said she suspected Mr. Guerrero of trying to run electricity from an outdoor utility box to an apartment.
Police said they found Mr. Guerrero hiding in an upstairs closet, and he refused to emerge even after officers warned him they would use a Taser to subdue him. Police said he was unarmed.
After using the Taser, officers carried Mr. Guerrero downstairs and discovered that he was not breathing, said Lt. Abdul Pridgen of the Fort Worth Police Department. He was pronounced dead at an area hospital.
Mr. Gutierrez said he thinks his son had a history of drug use, and detectives are investigating whether Mr. Guerrero smoked crack before their arrival at the apartment complex, said Lt. Paul Jwanowski, who coordinates Taser training for the Fort Worth Police Department.
Dr. Paul Pepe, head of emergency medicine for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the Parkland Health and Hospital System, said stimulants such as crack cocaine could contribute to a cardiac arrest.
More than two dozen people have died nationwide after officers used Tasers on them. But the manufacturer maintains that the deaths were caused primarily by other factors such as heart problems or drug use.
“We believe in the lifesaving value of Taser technology, and we are prepared to help the investigation of this tragic incident,” Steve Tuttle, director of communications for Taser International, said via e-mail.
Mr. Tuttle wrote that, as of September, autopsies had listed Tasers as a possible contributing factor in the deaths of three people, though he said these findings have been disputed by independent experts.
103 uses of stun guns
Since Fort Worth police began using Tasers in July 2001, officers have fired them at people 103 times, Lt. Jwanowski said.
“We’ve had no problems like this before,” he said. “The amps delivered by one of these is less than a defibrillator.”
Fort Worth has 255 Tasers, and 280 are on order.
Lt. Pridgen said department policies allow officers to use nonlethal weapons, such as Tasers or pepper spray, when a physical confrontation to make an arrest is unavoidable.
“The Taser has been proven to reduce injuries to officers and suspects,” Lt. Pridgen said. “If he had cooperated, I’m not sure they would have had to make an arrest.”
Pepper spray no option
He said pepper spray might not have been a wise alternative in Mr. Guerrero’s case because of the confined quarters.
Dallas police also recently began using Tasers after the police chief banned a controversial neck hold that contributed to a man’s death.
About 50 Tasers have been assigned to patrol supervisors, and the department is seeking $286,000 for about 350 more.
Arlington police used a Taser on Ronald Wright, 35, of Grand Prairie, on Dec. 31, 2002, in an attempt to keep him from jumping off an overpass.
Officers fired the Taser at him, but he jumped anyway. His death was ruled a suicide. A police investigation concluded that the Taser did not malfunction and was used as a last resort.
Mr. Gutierrez said that his son had behavioral problems growing up and that he suspected he got involved in drugs years ago.
“He was always telling me he wants to be like me, but he changed,” Mr. Gutierrez said. “Friends and other people said he was using drugs. I tried to tell him I would take him to rehab to see if he can get well.”
Although Mr. Gutierrez said he was angry with police, he wants to speak with the officers involved and learn why they felt the need to shoot a Taser at his son.
“I respect officers,” Mr. Gutierrez said. “But everybody’s a human being, and people make wrong decisions. Sometimes they use extra power for things like that.
“I’m not going to let people forget about this.”