Robert Pfeffer, a 64-year old man, has sued two deputies allegedly exhibiting “roid rage” during an incident where one of the deputies tasered him. Deputy John Eaton, with the Lee County Sherriff’s Office, “escorted” Pfeffer to the ground and tasered him while Pfeffer was walking away from an ambulance. The EMS ambulance was requested by Pfeffer’s wife to attend to Mr. Pfeffer’s severe chest pains after receiving an implanted heart defibrillator (“Lee deputies face lawsuit after man Tasered during arrest,” December 22).
The plaintiff, Robert J. Pfeffer, a 64-year-old Bonita Springs man, was walking with his wife in their Spanish Wells neighborhood on April 11, 2007, when he suddenly felt sharp pain in his legs and chest. Pfeffer has a heart defibrillator, and his wife called paramedics out of concern he might be having a heart attack.
Pfeffer refused treatment after being seen by EMTs, and he began to walk home. The two deputies, John Eaton and Thomas Chappell, both of whom were assigned to the Bonita Springs Community Policing Unit, arrived at Spanish Wells and confronted the man. At some point, Eaton tackled Pfeffer ” or, as the arrest report states, escorted him to the ground ” and Chappell shot Pfeffer with his Taser stun gun.
The possible use of anabolic steroids and “roid rage” that could have caused the “improper, illegal and excessive use of force” were specifically cited by Robert Pfeffer in an amended complaint alleging multiple constitutional and civil rights violations by Deputy John Eaton, his partner Deputy Thomas Chappell and their boss Lee County Sheriff Michael Joseph Scott.
The above-described actions by the Defendants and the failure of the Sheriff to properly train and supervise his deputies and to have in place a system to monitor the use of steroids or other drugs by his deputies which could result in them having “roid rage” or other unprovoked violent acts against civilians such as Pfeffer, and to implement a continuing education or training program to ensure that the deputies understood the basic tenants of criminal law, specifically as it relates to their arrest powers and authority directly resulted in violations of Robert J. Pfeffer, Jr.’s constitutional rights.
Robert Pfeffer’s attorney, Patrick Geraghty, told reporters that Deputy Eaton admitted to using anabolic steroids in college when applying to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
The lawsuit implies one or both deputies could have been using steroids, resulting in roid rage, and Geraghty is quick to note that Eaton admitted on his Sheriff’s Office application to using steroids twice in college.
Apparently, the violent tackling and tasering an older man with a heart defibrillator after he refused medical treatment for severe chest pains was not enough to cause concern. But if anabolic steroids and roid rage were involved…
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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