From staff reports
Waco Tribune Herald
Thursday, March 16, 2006

Feazell & Tighe Prevail
Stun-gun Death Still Targets City

A district judge on Wednesday refused to dismiss the city of Waco from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a disabled veteran who died after being shocked by Waco police with electrical stun guns.

Judge Vicki Menard of Waco's 414th State District Court ruled against the city a day after hearing arguments from attorneys for the city and the family of Robert Earl Williams Sr., who died June 14, 2005, after being subdued by police during a disturbance at his sister's house.

Waco attorney Charles Olson, who represents the city, argued Tuesday that the city should be dismissed from the suit because it has sovereign immunity against claims arising from intentional acts, as opposed to negligent acts, by city employees.

Olson charged the plaintiffs were trying to skirt the city's immunity against such claims by alleging that the officers acted negligently instead of intentionally.

Vic Feazell, one of two Austin attorneys representing the Williams family, said he found the city's argument interesting but flawed and that the judge made the right decision in denying the city's move to dismiss the case.

"I never understood why they (city officials) would make such an argument," he said Wednesday evening.

Efforts to reach Olson were unsuccessful.

Olson had argued that the city also was immune from lawsuits concerning the results of discretionary law enforcement decisions, such as the use of Taser devices. Besides the city, the lawsuit also names as defendants Taser International and Affordable Realistic Tactical Training, a company that trained Waco officers to use the Tasers.

Feazell, a former McLennan County district attorney, said his lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of the officers and on the part of the city for failing to train them properly. No one, he said, claims that the officers intended to injure or kill Williams.