GOLD BAR — A special team of detectives is trying to piece together the events that led to death of a Sultan man after an encounter Saturday with Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies.
The man, 25, reportedly stopped breathing after he was shocked with a Taser, said Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz, a spokesman for the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team.
A deputy used the Taser after the man reportedly charged him, Goetz said.
Deputies were summoned to the scene about 1:30 a.m. for a disturbance. Two callers reported that there was a man running up and down 1st Avenue W. in Gold Bar, yelling and causing a disturbance, Goetz said.
The deputies were confronted by the man who charged them and fought with them to the ground, Goetz said.
“I don’t know how long that went on,” he said.
One deputy used his Taser, administering a powerful electric shock. It was unclear Saturday if the deputy applied the weapon for more than one cycle, Goetz said. A Taser shoots out two metal barbs meant to attach to a person’s clothes or skin. An electrical current is sent through the person at five-second intervals. The application isn’t continuous. The officer must activate each five-second cycle.
The machines record how many cycles were applied.
After the man was hit with the Taser, the deputies discovered that he was not breathing.
They immediately began CPR, called for aid and the man was rushed by emergency crews to Valley General Hospital in Monroe, Goetz said. Despite those efforts, the man could not be revived.
His name was not officially released Saturday.
Heidi Colliers told KING 5-TV that it was her brother Adam Colliers who died after the encounter with sheriff’s deputies.
The deputies, one 29 the other 26, were placed on administrative leave. Both have been employed by the sheriff’s office for about three years.
SMART investigates all police incidents involving death or serious injuries. The detectives come from departments around the county, each hand-picked because of their experience in homicide and major-crime cases. Their findings are provided to prosecutors for review and made public under state records laws.
The team was called out in January when a sheriff’s deputy fatally shot a man at a Bothell apartment complex. Witnesses told investigators Adam J. Smith may have been high on hallucinogenic mushrooms when he was shot, according to court documents. That case remains under investigation.
Last year, the team’s investigation led prosecutors to file a murder charge against Everett police officer Troy Meade for the shooting death of Niles Meservey outside the Chuckwagon Inn. Meade was acquitted of all charges at trial.
Meade told a jury he used his Taser to try to subdue Meservey, but later fired his handgun. He told jurors that he was afraid the drunken Stanwood man was going to run him down with a car.
Meade remains on paid administrative leave. Meservey’s family has filed a lawsuit against the city of Everett.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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