Officer Uses Taser During Struggle; Man Dies

MAYPORT, Fla. -- A 21-year-old man died Sunday night after a routine traffic stop over a loud radio became a confrontation in which an officer used his Taser gun three times before getting the driver into custody.

Police said an officer pulled over an SUV driven by Christian Allen about 7:45 p.m. near the Bikini Beach club at Mayport Road and Pioneer Drive.

According to Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Assistant Chief Rick Graham, Allen got out of the car, pushed Officer D.R. Hurley and began to run. A passenger in the vehicle also ran.

Hurley got back into his police car and caught up with Allen, got out and tried take him into custody.

"Initial Taser probe deployment did not prove to be effective," Graham said. During the struggle, the officer used the Taser gun at least twice more in contact with Allen's body.

When backup units arrived, Allen was in custody and conscious. Following standard procedure following the use of a Taser gun, rescue personnel were called to check Allen. Fire-Rescue spokesman Lt. Mike Peery said rescue workers evaluated the subject and cleared him to be placed in the back of a police car, then left.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office booking photo of Christian Allen from a previous arrest

While police were attempting to question Allen, he became unresponsive. While officers performed CPR, rescue was called back to the scene and found Allen in cardiac arrest. He was transported to Baptist Beaches Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy is planned to determine the cause of death
.

Graham said that a loaded handgun was found in the pocket of Allen's jacket and several packets of what appeared to be crack cocaine were found in his SUV.

The passenger who ran was still at large as of 11:30 a.m. on Monday.

"The exact number of times (the Taser was) deployed will be determined in the course of the investigation," Graham said. "Obviously he's engaged in a physical confrontation in the middle of the street with a suspect, therefore it's at the officers discretion at what means he can use to get control of the suspect."

Allen's mother, Lisa Jackson, said her son was a healthy and had no prior medical conditions. She thinks Allen ran because he didn’t have a valid driver’s license, so she can't understand why officers had to use a Taser gun multiple times.

"I'm not saying he was, you know, innocent, and in any of it, but I think that they did use excessive force," Jackson told Channel 4's Diane Cho. "It wasn't like he was trying to actually pull the gun out and use it on (the officer)."

Hurley was placed on administrative leave, which is standard policy while a police-involved death is investigated.

Graham said Allen had several prior arrests on charges of drug possession and traffic offenses.

Allen is the eighth person shocked by a law enforcement Taser gun to die in northeast Florida. There were two deaths in St. Johns and Clay counties, and one each in Duval, Clay, Nassau, Putnam and Columbia counties.

Lawsuits resulting many of those incidents are pending.