Posted on Apr 2, 2016
Army combat vet tased, pepper-sprayed, and beat by police after call to VA crisis line
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US Army vet from Arizona has filed a notice of claim with the Gilbert Police Department accusing them of using excessive force. The notice – which means he could sue at any time -reveals that Kyle Cardenas began suffering from delusions back in September and was showing “intense signs of PTSD.”
His family called the VA crisis hotline and asked for a crisis team to come to their home, but instead they got the cops, even though they specifically asked to leave them out of it.
The police told Kyle he was being detained after he tried to have his dog attack them and slammed the door in their face.
According to the complaint, Cardenas initially struggled with the officers before retreating to his room. It went on to say: “The police charged into this bedroom … and attempted to restrain Kyle again. During the melee, the officers Tased Kyle at least seven times, sprayed OC spray directly into Kyle’s face, struck Kyle multiple times with their batons, punched Kyle in the face with closed fists, kicked and kneed Kyle in the thighs and legs, and ordered one of the K-9 unit dogs to attack and bite Kyle.”
The fight triggered an episode, apparently, and Kyle was rushed to the hospital.
There, he was reportedly given an anti-psychotic drug commonly used to sedate ‘agitated patients.’ At one point he stopped breathing and turned blue. Cardenas was revived and put into a medically induced coma for four days, local media reported.
Cardenas is charging police with assault and battery, excessive force, false arrest, and negligent hiring, training, and supervision. He’s seeking $20 million to settle the case. Scott Zwillinger, Cardenas’s attorney, said if the police department declines to settle, his client is “prepared to proceed with litigation to recover not only his damages, but to raise awareness of what is occurring on a daily basis throughout the United States relating to the rising numbers of veterans being shot and killed by the police.”
Cardenas, a US Army combat veteran with the 82nd Airborne Division, served two tours of duty in Iraq and was honorably discharged in 2006. His PTSD stems directly from his deployments to Mosul, Iraq, his attorney told the Phoenix New Times.
His family called the VA crisis hotline and asked for a crisis team to come to their home, but instead they got the cops, even though they specifically asked to leave them out of it.
The police told Kyle he was being detained after he tried to have his dog attack them and slammed the door in their face.
According to the complaint, Cardenas initially struggled with the officers before retreating to his room. It went on to say: “The police charged into this bedroom … and attempted to restrain Kyle again. During the melee, the officers Tased Kyle at least seven times, sprayed OC spray directly into Kyle’s face, struck Kyle multiple times with their batons, punched Kyle in the face with closed fists, kicked and kneed Kyle in the thighs and legs, and ordered one of the K-9 unit dogs to attack and bite Kyle.”
The fight triggered an episode, apparently, and Kyle was rushed to the hospital.
There, he was reportedly given an anti-psychotic drug commonly used to sedate ‘agitated patients.’ At one point he stopped breathing and turned blue. Cardenas was revived and put into a medically induced coma for four days, local media reported.
Cardenas is charging police with assault and battery, excessive force, false arrest, and negligent hiring, training, and supervision. He’s seeking $20 million to settle the case. Scott Zwillinger, Cardenas’s attorney, said if the police department declines to settle, his client is “prepared to proceed with litigation to recover not only his damages, but to raise awareness of what is occurring on a daily basis throughout the United States relating to the rising numbers of veterans being shot and killed by the police.”
Cardenas, a US Army combat veteran with the 82nd Airborne Division, served two tours of duty in Iraq and was honorably discharged in 2006. His PTSD stems directly from his deployments to Mosul, Iraq, his attorney told the Phoenix New Times.
Army combat vet tased, pepper-sprayed, and beat by police after call to VA crisis line
Posted from popularmilitary.comPosted in these groups: 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Disabled Veterans
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Disabled Veterans
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 13
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That is sad news that Kyle Cardenas was tased, pepper-sprayed, and beat by police after his family called the VA crisis hotline crisis line SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL especially after his family specifically asked the VA to leave the [police out of it.
To be honest I would fault the VA crisis hotline personnel. Once they alerted the police the police did what they are trained to do.
To be honest I would fault the VA crisis hotline personnel. Once they alerted the police the police did what they are trained to do.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
LTC Stephen F. just when you think you heard it all, this case is sad and takes the cake.
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SGT Michael Thorin
Sir, I agree that the police being involved may have seemed like the wrong thing to do, but I would like present something that may help you understand the reason the police were involved.
Anytime there is a possible psych patient, police are dispatched regardless for 2 reasons.
1. For the safety of the family. If there is a crisis bad enough for the family to call the crisis line, then there is always reason to believe that the individual could be a threat to himself or others, even to the point of a homicide or a suicide.
2. For the safety of a crisis response team. Regardless of what is requested in regards to police involvement, they will be dispatched. One reason is because a Veterans Crisis Team may take hours to get there, because they are called in. They have no weapons to defend themselves, so police involvement is a must.
Dispatch of law enforcement is strictly policy that was developed for the safety of all involved.
If I had to guess, the reason the VA is not being sued is because it is an industry wide standard.
How the officers acted and responded I will not place judgment on, but I will say that as a firefighter/ paramedic, that in my 19 years of service I had never been involved with a psych patient that I could not either reason with or control. This is not true of every situation or for person, but in my interaction, I found ways to meet a common ground.
I think that may a distinctive difference; police are trained to seize control, and that control can be obtained by physical means. Fire and EMS have no offensive weapons, so we had to make negotiations work.
As far as the police officers go, they will be pressed, and hopefully they will start training officers in dealing with vets with PTSD.
Anytime there is a possible psych patient, police are dispatched regardless for 2 reasons.
1. For the safety of the family. If there is a crisis bad enough for the family to call the crisis line, then there is always reason to believe that the individual could be a threat to himself or others, even to the point of a homicide or a suicide.
2. For the safety of a crisis response team. Regardless of what is requested in regards to police involvement, they will be dispatched. One reason is because a Veterans Crisis Team may take hours to get there, because they are called in. They have no weapons to defend themselves, so police involvement is a must.
Dispatch of law enforcement is strictly policy that was developed for the safety of all involved.
If I had to guess, the reason the VA is not being sued is because it is an industry wide standard.
How the officers acted and responded I will not place judgment on, but I will say that as a firefighter/ paramedic, that in my 19 years of service I had never been involved with a psych patient that I could not either reason with or control. This is not true of every situation or for person, but in my interaction, I found ways to meet a common ground.
I think that may a distinctive difference; police are trained to seize control, and that control can be obtained by physical means. Fire and EMS have no offensive weapons, so we had to make negotiations work.
As far as the police officers go, they will be pressed, and hopefully they will start training officers in dealing with vets with PTSD.
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SFC Tom Jones
See in some ways I agree with you but speaking from experience cause I have had family call the crisis line and you are correct the police will be called every time. I understand that no one knows if the vet is willing to use weapons, or try and fight them, but in saying this I will give you something to think about, I was in a public place when the police found me, they pulled thier weapons, and 3 of them jump on me forced my right arm even after I told them not to force it back cause of an old injury well to make a long story short. A police woman came over and took over and told the sheriffs officer to back off, see told me to calm down and asked me what was going on? I told her about the pain so she put an extra cuff on which loosen them up, then she ask me why I had called the line when I explain what was going on she escorted me the hospital, then she called my wife and she help me, found out she was a medic in the Army, she understood. So last thing is this, officers need some training on how to handle veterans like myself, cause when I am pressed and I see weapons I get very mean, veterans with PTSD have a very short fuzz and most of the time it tells us that they are the enemy and than our training takes over and the battle begins.
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