Pubdate: Tue, 04 Jul 2000
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190
Fax: (408) 271-3792
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: John Woolfolk, Mercury News
Note: Contact John Woolfolk at  or (408) 920-5446.

POLICE CITE DRUGS IN ARRESTEE'S DEATH

MAN'S WIFE CALLS SJPD 'COCKTAIL' THEORY 'BOGUS'

San Jose police Monday said it was a "deadly cocktail" of drugs and
alcohol rather than excessive force that caused the weekend death of a
man officers were trying to subdue.

Police Chief Bill Lansdowne said proper procedures were followed in an
effort to safely arrest Shaheed Jamal Daniels, 41, in his home. But
preliminary tests showed Daniels "had several illicit substances in
his blood," a mix Lansdowne said apparently overwhelmed him.

Daniels' death was the first at the hands of San Jose police this
year. It was followed by the death Sunday of a second man, who was
shot two days before by police in a gunfight. Kim Chung Kong, 27,
fired at officers who were investigating a burglary, police said.

Last year there were seven officer-involved fatalities, and on Monday,
a Santa Clara County grand jury released a report looking at the
department's use of force. The report concluded that secrecy
surrounding inquiries into use of force by police hinders oversight by
the public.

Lansdowne said his officers were stunned when Daniels died; they were
using restraints designed to be safe. Lansdowne said he was sure his
officers would be cleared of any responsibility in the death.

"It's a deadly cocktail to mix alcohol and drugs together,"
Lansdowne said. "From what we've seen so far that this will be a drug
and heart issue. We won't make a final decision until we see the
autopsy report."

That conclusion outraged Daniels' wife, Gwen, whom officers had come
to protect. She said the police response was overkill, that she
suspects a coverup and that she is talking to a lawyer.

"They went overboard, way . . . overboard," Gwen Daniels said. "I
want to know the truth behind my husband's death."

Daniels' sister, Sabrina Moore, said her efforts to get information
from police have been frustrating.

Loud quarrel, screaming

Police said officers were dispatched to Daniels' Canoas Gardens Avenue
home shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday when a neighbor called to report a
loud quarrel and a woman screaming for help.

At the home, officers found Daniels' wife, his 12-year-old son and the
couple's 1-year-old daughter and told them to come outside. Daniels'
wife had a bruise on her face and told officers her husband had
injured her, police said.

Daniels stayed inside and locked himself in a bathroom. Police called
in a crisis intervention team and spent half an hour trying to coax
Daniels out before going in after him. Police said he was naked and
sweating profusely.

"He was cooperative until they put the handcuffs on him," Lansdowne
said. "Then he got very violent."

Police tried to subdue Daniels with a nylon sheath known as a
"wrap." As they struggled to put the device on Daniels, officers
noticed he had stopped breathing, police said. They called paramedics,
but they were unable to revive him.

Ironically, San Jose police had turned to the wrap two years ago as a
safer and more humane means of dealing with belligerent suspects.

The wrap was developed by doctors and designed to immobilize the legs
without leaving a suspect face-down, which puts pressure on the chest
and can cause breathing difficulty, Lansdowne said. Officers have
since used the wrap regularly, about five times a week, without
problems, he said.

Among the seven officers identified as being involved with Daniels'
arrest was a sergeant who is the department's training specialist for
the wrap, Lansdowne said.

"My officers were absolutely devastated," Lansdowne said. "They'd
taken every single precaution."

The coroner's office would not discuss preliminary autopsy results.
Spokeswoman Yolanda Contreras said the coroner's office is awaiting
the results of toxicology tests, which could take weeks.

Police identified the officers involved as Lt. Jim Lucarroti, Sgts.
Randy Cardin, Rich Torres and Doug Wiedner, and officers Brian Spears,
Clay Rojas and Ken Kwak. They range in experience from a couple of
years on the force to a couple of decades.

The investigation of the officers' conduct is being handled by the
district attorney's office in the same manner as an officer-involved
shooting, Lansdowne said.

Daniels' wife disputed some elements of the police account of what
happened. She denied telling officers that her husband had hit her,
saying she told them she had fallen. She would not comment on her
husband's alleged drug use, but said the contention that he died of an
overdose is "bogus."

The San Jose branch of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People is also looking into the matter, but had no comment
Monday.

The department's use of force last year had prompted an inquiry by a
county civil grand jury. There were eight officer-involved shootings
last year, seven of them fatal, while the average number of shootings
is seven a year. The district attorney and a criminal grand jury
determined the shootings were justified.

The report listed seven recommendations for the police department,
most of which Lansdowne said were already being implemented. Some,
such as patrol car video cameras, needed funding, he said.

Chief explains

As for the secrecy surrounding inquiries, Lansdowne said the
department is bound by laws protecting the confidentiality of
personnel issues, but that police made every effort to provide the
grand jury access to whatever it needed.

Lansdowne said the department has spent half a million dollars on
improved training, non-lethal weapons and other measures to deal with
suspects as safely as possible. Those measures include a critical
incident training program for dealing with mentally ill suspects that
Lansdowne said is a first in the state and a simulation training
system that has won praise from state law enforcement officials, he
said.

Moore, Daniels' sister, said his death came just as he was turning
around a life that had been marred by drug arrests and time behind
bars. A truck driver, he had just left a longtime employer for a new
job that would pay better, she said.

Born Theford Daniels in Ohio, he changed his name to Shaheed after
converting to Islam. But in the past year he had begun attending
Baptist church with Gwen, his third wife.

He was known as "Chef Shaheed," and would barbecue chicken for the
whole neighborhood, Moore said. Despite previous run-ins with police,
she said, Daniels' style was to sweet-talk authorities.
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