Patrol Officers Pepper Spray, Taser, Man In Diabetic Shock: Police Unapologetic

By DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR.
Star-Telegram
Mar. 10, 2006

EULESS -- As he finished helping a friend move in Irving on Feb. 11, Bryan McManus could feel his blood-sugar level dropping.

That was a sign to the 37-year-old diabetic that he needed to hurry home in Euless to eat something to help it go back up.

But McManus didn't make it home quickly.

McManus, a technician, went into diabetic shock on the side of a highway just a block from his home, then he was shot with pepper spray and a stun gun by police, who believed he was intoxicated and became unruly, authorities said Wednesday.

Patrol officers used pepper spray on him then shocked him three times with a Taser before they were able to handcuff him, according to Euless police reports.

Authorities did not realize McManus was in diabetic shock until paramedics checked on him in the Euless Jail.

"With proper training, they would have recognized that I was in shock," McManus said. "Had they searched my car, they would have found the insulin, syringes and glucose."

Police officials said the incident is unfortunate but that the officers acted properly.

"He could not drive, yet he tried to drive off while the officers were there," Euless Assistant Police Chief Harland Westmoreland said. "And he was not responsive."

The incident happened shortly before 3:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at Harwood Road and Texas 360.

Responding to a call of a vehicle acting suspiciously, a patrol officer observed McManus' car moving very slowly, reports state.

"The car finally stopped," Westmoreland said. "The officer got the driver to put the car in park and tried to talk to the driver. The driver's eyes were glazed over."

According to police reports, the driver appeared intoxicated or drugged and did not answer officers' questions. When the driver tried to put the car into drive, Westmoreland said, an officer used the pepper spray.

"The driver began fighting and kicking as the officers got him out of the car," Westmoreland said. "They got him on the ground, but he's still struggling with officers."

At that point, an officer shot McManus three times with a Taser.

McManus said he can't remember anything that happened on the highway.

"I remembered leaving Irving and driving home," McManus said. "The next thing I remember is that I'm in jail with Mace on my face."

Officers transferred McManus to the Euless Jail, where paramedics began treating him. McManus said he was in and out of consciousness but remembers telling a paramedic that he is diabetic. The paramedics gave him glucose, and he began to feel better, he said. He did not need any additional medical treatment after that.

McManus said the officers had to tell him what had happened. He doesn't wear a medical bracelet, but he had a card in his wallet identifying him as a diabetic.

When officers determined that he had suffered diabetic shock, McManus was released and driven to the impound yard to get his car. Euless police paid the impound fee. He was not booked into jail or charged with a crime.

But McManus said he received a request from the Euless Fire Department asking for his insurance information so that his insurance company could be billed for the cost of the paramedics.

McManus said he is not happy about how the situation was handled.

"All police had to do was look in my car and they would have known what was going on," he said. "It shouldn't have happened."

In July, Kevin Omas, 17, who had taken Ecstasy, died after being repeatedly shot with a Taser by Euless police. Omas had been acting bizarrely on a school playground, and friends had called police for help controlling him.