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Suit filed in Taser death

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By Denise G. Callahan, Staff Writer 5:53 PM Monday, February 6, 2012

CINCINNATI — The family of a man who died in 2009 after Mason police shocked him with Tasers has filed a lawsuit in federal court.

Claiming two police officers used excessive force on a mentally ill person, Douglas Boucher’s family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages from the city of Mason and officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick.

Boucher, 39, was allegedly harassing a female clerk at the Speedway gas station on Reading Road in December 2009 when Fry and McCormick happed to stop by the store. The two officers approached Boucher and asked him to go outside. The officers were attempting to handcuff Boucher when he wrestled away and hit Fry in the head with his one handcuffed hand, according to records. When he tried to go after the clerk again - she had come outside - McCormick attempted to use a Taser on him. The first shot failed, but the second one employed the shock, according to reports at the time of the incident.

Boucher fell to the ground, knocking his head on the concrete. The lawsuit, filed by attorney Al Gerhardstein, paints a different picture.

“Defendant Mason police officers arrested him, tased him in the chest and in the back and then, while he was on the ground, struck him with a police baton, kicked him and tased him five more times,” the lawsuit states.

Gerhardstein also alleged the officers failed to “spark test” their Tasers before they used them so the current that ran through Boucher’s body may have been higher than the manufacturer specifies. He said he obtained the download off of the devises and it shows the officers’ Tasers hadn’t been sparked tested for 10 days.

An investigation into the incident was performed by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. That report cleared the officers of any use of force violations but did note they didn’t follow policy when they failed to test their equipment.

Gerhardstein said the BCII investigation likely only focused on whether the police committed a crime.

“The fact that they didn’t find a criminal law violation is only the beginning of the story,” he said. “The standard is very different there, the elements of a crime are very different, this is civil liability.”

Boucher’s autopsy results showed he died from a skull fracture, sustained when he fell face first on the pavement. The report did not blame the use of Tasers for the cause of death. Mason’s attorney Gary Becker said he will be filing an answer denying all the allegations that the officers violated Boucher’s constitutional rights.

“That coroner’s report, coupled with the fact the city did their own investigation and we know BCI did an investigation and didn’t come up with any findings, leads me to believe that these allegations of a constitutional violation don’t have any merit.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.

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