Autopsy Results Revealed in Mountain Police-Related Death
After a fatal encounter with Twin Peaks deputies at a Valero gas station in Lake Arrowhead, Calif., Allen Kephart's autopsy says he died of "Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease," and his manner of death was a "homicide." The results of the autopsy were revealed in a press release from the Twin Peaks police station, although the full autopsy has not been released.
The two page press release also contained an account of what happened to Kephart that differed greatly from a wrongful death lawsuit filed in San Bernardino Superior Court, August 30, by Alfred and Carol Kephart in the death of their son.
The release says that Kephart failed to stop at a stop sign and did not pull to the side of the road as directed by Deputy Ismael Diaz. Once at the gas station, alleges the release, Diaz was not able to handcuff Kephart because of his 392lbs size and a struggled occurred where both ended up on the ground, after which a Taser was deployed several times.
The lawsuit says the encounter began when Kephart honked at Deputy Diaz after Diaz pulled in front of Kephart at an intersection. It went on to say, Diaz was angered and turned on his police vehicle lights attempting to pull Kephart over.
Once at the gas station, the suit says, Deputy Diaz ordered Kephart out of his car at gunpoint, threw him face first to the ground where he was eventually Tasered repeatedly in the upper back, neck and head.
The press release also states that, "At no time during the investigation was anyone's cellular telephone confiscated." A witness told Reason.tv in The Killing of Allen Kephart: How the Police Lost the Trust of a Law-and-Order Town, that he saw law enforcement taking cameras at the scene.
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Just let me know when the police get off scott free.
Contempt of cop has become the leading death penalty crime in California. Two executed in the past 4 months. That’s as many as they’ve executed for murder in the past seven years.
No sympathy for the victim here. He knew the penalty for honking at a police officer was death. Plus he was fat.
Damn fine coffee there though.
Diane, I don’t know how I missed this.
And that cherry pie is worth a stop.
THAT’S RIGHT, GORDON!
Who killed Allen Kephart?
BOB
It’s all tied up in the bottom of the second.
Outrage: 2, Pop Culture references: 2.
Sarcasm is on the mound. He gets the sign from Cynicism.
The pitch…
Most of us are pretty out-outraged. I ran out of outrage a few years ago. I just shoot dust when these stories get posted.
So, yeah, pop culture references. Gotta laugh to keep from crying, etc.
That’s what she said.
Slaver!
Turn off the phone bitch
Maybe you should disconnect for awhile, narcissist.
Turn off the phone bitch
I don’t have a phone, narcissist.
Some of us never watched Twin Peaks.
Some of us should get that show on DVD.
The time has come to disarm to police … completely.
If they need help subduing someone, let them ask for help from the citizenry.
This may happen at some point, but not until long after the citizenry itself has been disarmed.
Besides, didn’t you know there was a WAR ON COPZ!!
How did you get INCIF to work via a click interface? I have to edit my file by hand.
Just click the ‘ignore’ link that Reasonable puts by each comment.
erm, what’s “Reasonable”? another script? I see no ignore link.
aw man, it’s only for chrome. SOMEBODY MAKE A FIREFOX VERSION!
The code’s public.
Porting it to FF is lengthy in the extreme, though. Anyone who wants to help is free to do so, though.
Amakudari, are you the new Eric the .5B? (the INCIF scripter) If so, a greatful commentariat thanks you for providing such a great service at such a reasonable price. (Seriously, bro, if you’re going to give it a top hat and a monocle, you need to start charging).
It’s okay. The Koch wheelbarrow showed up at my door this morning.
But seriously, I don’t figure I’d be able to charge without killing off the user base and thus making it worthless. What’s worth more is having the community mod things for me, too. And it was a good exercise in keeping up with those sexy abstraction layers for web languages — HAML -> HTML, SASS -> CSS, CoffeeScript -> JavaScript.
just get chrome, it’s a better browser, AND it works in linux.
Yes get Chrome; I use it basically just for reason.com now.
Disarming the police is the most craziest idea I have read on Hit & Run. When criminals and drug dealers are controlling the streets with guns, you want to take away guns from the police? What happens when the drug dealers are breaking into your house, and you call the police? You and the police officer will get shot!
Ladies and gentlemen…..a new candidate for “Troll of the Month”!
AAAAAAHHHHH
It’s neil come back from the dead to haunt us!
MAD GRAMMAR SKILZ though!
It’s a very safe bet that I am armed better than any police officer who would show up 10 minutes after I call because he’s half way across the county (one of the perks of living in the country).
Well, if your smart you own a gun and then you shoot the fucker dead that’s what will happen.
Really, the word ‘homicide’ being used in the autopsy is pretty damning. The implication being that a person would not be tased that many times were the person wielding the taser merely trying to subdue the other.
Not really – “homicide” just means he died through the actions of another person. It doesn’t make any judgement about whether those actions were lawful.
Actually, you are completely wrong
Wait, am I completely wrong? I admit I don’t know the exact meaning of ‘homicide’ in this context. Would a coroner put ‘accidental’ on the autopsy under different circumstances?
I’m not sure which of us reality was responding to.
Homicide in this context means somebody killed somebody else. If you shoot and kill a man who breaks into your house and tries to kill you, the autopsy finding will be homicide. The lawfulness of that killing is a separate matter.
Just to be clear – if you tried to hold the guy down until the cops showed up, and he suffocated, that would also be homicide. It doesn’t have anything to do with intent.
Well, fair enough. I learned something.
You ungrateful anarchists fretting about a few broken eggs. If it wasn’t for that glorious thin blue line, America’s heroes risking their lives daily to protect you, there’d be a dozen Mexicans raping your mom. Every American should be licking the boots of anyone wearing a government issued costume. The life a dozen fat turds is not worth the life of one single American hero.
Sarcasm and Troll sensors are not working at this time.
Please clear the buffer and try again.
Funny….a dozen fat turds was exactly the tally for this morning bathroom activity. No bootlicking though.
Let’s not bicker and argue over who Tasered who.
Whom.
And I’m not a narcissist.
Turn the phine off bitch
“Mistakes happened”
Yep.
what mistakes?
i don’t see any
entirely unshocking. and sounds entirely justified. about a dozen witness interviews. multiple recordings, etc.
and generally speaking when a 400 lb man struggles for that period of time in fight or flight response, he aint gonna do well. taser or no taser. cop or anybody else.
You have become a parody of yourself.
i’d rather be a parody and correct, than a kneejerk bigot a la you and others.
i’ll just quote gillespie: Most law enforcement people are upstanding in executing their duties (and they welcome and sometimes even insist on surveillance). – Nick Gillespie
Why am I a bigot?
One comment and you jump to unwarrented conclusions.
Why, pray tell, was the 400lb man struggling in a fight-or-flight reflex? Are you suggesting that, had the cops not pulled him over for no good reason, he’d have spontaneously thrown himself from his vehicle face-first into the asphalt, held himself down, and rolled around until he gave himself a heart attack?
Or just that he was fat and therefore fated to die? The good ol’ “he would have died sooner or later anyway” defense. Very clever.
here we go
“no good reason” – not in evidence.
the point is valid. people LOVE to blame the taser. this morbidly (to put it mildly) obese man was engaged in a long, adrenaline fueled (that’s how fight or flight response works) fight with police.
Two citizens came to the deputy’s aid
and assisted in attempting to control “Mr. Kephart, who was kicking and struggling. Mr. Kephart
completely ignored the deputy’s commands to stop resisting, as well as the pleas of the citizens
there at the scene.” – maybe he should have fucking listened, nu?
if you see evidence the cops did anything wrong, you are living in a fantasy world.
i strongly condemn excessive force WHEN IT HAPPENS
this does not appear to be it
hth
He was struggling due to the prone positioning which causes air hunger, especially in obese individuals, not some need to “resist arrest”. Negligent Homicide. Happens all the time.
Here is another classic case. Autopsy showed “compression of the chest”, in other words, they sat on him despite using taxpayer dollars to work out at the gym. Family Disputes Findings In N. Andover Traffic Stop Death ? CBS Boston http://cbsloc.al/o1TBcj
Dunphy… are you stupid, a lying cop, or both?
Even if you take the press release at face value (its full of bullshit)… it fails to explain why the fuck ALLEN KEPHART was in a struggle in the first place. What the hell did he do?
ad homs aside…
Deputy Diaz saw a vehicle driven by Allen Kephart
run a stop sign at Daley Canyon Road at Highway 189. Deputy Diaz attempted to stop him by
activating his lights and siren. However, Mr. Kephart failed to stop as directed. Two other vehicles
in front of Mr. Kephart pulled to the side of the road to allow Mr. Kephart and Deputy Diaz to pass.
Mr. Kephart drove approximately one mile and then pulled into the parking lot at the Valero Gas
Station. Mr. Kephart got out of his vehicle and when Mr. Kephart did not follow Deputy Diaz’
commands the deputy decided to handcuff him. When Deputy Diaz approached Mr. Kephart to
handcuff him, Deputy Diaz was unable to get the handcuff on Mr. Kephart’s wrist due to his large
size (5’9″? 392 pounds). Mr. Kephart at this point turned to face Deputy Diaz and then continuously
struggled with the deputy. Both Deputy Diaz and Mr. Kephart ended up on the ground.
Deputy Diaz told dispatch that he was “415” indicating he was in a fight and needed help. Mr.
Kephart was tasered several times after control holds failed, however the Taser did not appear to
affect him as he continued to resist and it was abandoned. Two citizens came to the deputy’s aid
and assisted in attempting to control Mr. Kephart, who was kicking and struggling. Mr. Kephart
completely ignored the deputy’s commands to stop resisting, as well as the pleas of the citizens
there at the scene…
hth
It must be stupid then…
Why was he out of the car? Why no mention of a felon stop? Why no mention that there is no shoulder along that road? WHAT DID HE DO THAT WAS PERCEIVED AS RESISTING?? Did he punch the cop? Did he try to run? OR was he not able to “get on the ground motherfucker!” fast enough to fill Diaz with his daily dose of narcissistic supply.
disgusting stupid pig.
I read the report. This is probably a restraint death of an obese individual held in the prone position, +/- Taser effects.
Google: YouTube – Positional asphyxia 2003
#DOJ statement in 1995 on avoidable death in restraint or custody: Positional Asphyxia and Sudden Death http://bit.ly/fWyJKg
Asphyxial Death During Prone Restraint Revisited: 21 Cases http://bit.ly/p86G5F
Prone restraint?, if used at all, should last only seconds. There should NOT be a “struggle” on the ground. People die very quickly in this position.
Negligent homicide by the police. That’s how you would be charged for a similar event. The police have a higher degree of responsibility.
Here’s the link for an NYPD tutorial: Positional asphyxia 2003 – YouTube http://bit.ly/eRBQRq
State troopers kneeling on man’s back when he was handcuffed asphyxiated him to death, and Wyoming must pay half a million dollars in compensation. http://bit.ly/q0Euds