Coroner Says Drug, Injuries Killed Man Shot by Tasers

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has concluded that multiple injuries and methamphetamine intoxication caused the death of a man involved in an altercation with police last month outside Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Coroner’s spokesman Bob Dambacher on Thursday announced the results of the autopsy on Stewart Alan Vigil, 29, of Lomita, who died on Dec. 4 after being shot by three Taser stun guns and gang-tackled by police.

Dambacher said coroner’s investigators will issue a report within a few weeks detailing the nature of Vigil’s injuries.

Police initially speculated that the illicit drug PCP caused Vigil to become combative. Coroner’s investigators found no evidence of PCP, but said that methamphetamine, a stimulant known as “speed,” contributed to Vigil’s death.

Vigil’s parents filed a $10-million lawsuit four days after the incident, accusing Los Angeles police of killing their son. No hearing has been set. The department’s Internal Affairs Division was assigned to investigate the case after witnesses initially criticized police tactics, according to police Cmdr. William Booth.

In follow-up interviews, none of the witnesses charged that patrolmen used too much force to subdue Vigil, Booth said Thursday. The case will be turned over to a police review board that will determine whether the 14 officers involved in the incident acted properly.

One hospital employee who witnessed the confrontation said in an interview that he saw more than 10 policeman trying to restrain Vigil. Several of the officers held Vigil’s arms and legs, according to the employee, who requested anonymity. The man said he saw one policeman kick Vigil and another hit him over the head with a night stick.

‘Not Going to Make Any Judgment’

The man said he watched for about two minutes before walking away. “I don’t have much stomach for that kind of thing,” he said. “I’m not going to make any judgment. I don’t know if they used too much force.”

The incident began before dawn when police received a report about a man wandering in traffic at the intersection of Western Avenue and Carson Street near Torrance. Patrolmen Randall Childs and Edward Trujillo said they found Vigil standing in the middle of the street, speaking incoherently.

They handcuffed Vigil and drove him, without incident, to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, according to Booth. But Vigil began to struggle in the parking lot outside the hospital emergency room, police said, and 12 back-up officers were called in.

Police said they fired three Taser guns, which shoot electrically charged darts, and then used their night sticks before finally subduing Vigil with a gang tackle.

A private medical examiner hired by Vigil’s family concluded last month that Vigil was beaten to death, according to family attorney Stephen Yagman. Examiners said there was no evidence that Vigil was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident, Yagman said.

The lawyer also said that he has witnesses who will testify that the police used excessive force.