This wasn't the only taser related death in Northern California. There was one on Friday (the night before this one) in San Jose California. The man was at the hospital for treatment of his mental illness, he was running away, tackled by four deputies, and then teased four or five times. He became un responsive immediately after tasing.

Family of man who died in Taser incident says he was ill, not violent

By John Woolfolk
Mercury News
Article Launched: 12/20/2008 07:26:46 PM PST

The family of a man who died Friday after repeated Taser jolts dispute police accounts and say he already was pinned under several deputies, handcuffed and not fighting back when another officer used his stun gun.
Rather than the "strenuous, intense physical altercation" that police described, the family of 26-year-old Edwin Rodriguez said he was confused but not combative with officers that night. They also said Rodriguez suffered from schizophrenia, a chronic mental illness that can cause hallucinations.
"He wasn't violent at any point," said Emilia Centeno, 35, a cousin whose brother and mother witnessed the incident. They have cell-phone photos showing several officers on top of Rodriguez that they say they took before the officer used the Taser.
"That is what we don't understand. Why would you use it on him more than one time when there were so many officers already on top of him and he couldn't move and wasn't fighting back?"
Sgt. Donald Morrissey of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, which employed most of the officers involved and is leading the investigation into the incident, said he could not comment on the family's claims.
But Capt. David Dehaan of the Campbell Police Department, which employs Gary Berg, the officer who fired the Taser, insists Rodriguez was still struggling and was not handcuffed when Berg used the stun gun.
Rodriguez, who lived in Puerto Rico, had been staying with his aunt's family

in San Jose since May — his first visit — and planned to return home at the end of the year. They said that despite his size, the 6-foot-tall, 260-pound man was gentle and affable.
"He was a big guy, yes, but he wasn't a violent guy," Centeno said. "When he would get angry, he would "... walk away."
Rodriguez, she said, loved music, playing basketball, skateboarding and chatting up just about everyone he encountered. He also was a devout Christian, and prayed daily.
By the time Rodriguez was 21, he was put on medication to treat what his family said was schizophrenia, and he continued taking the medication regularly during his visit to San Jose.
During his time here he enjoyed visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Santa Cruz beaches and going bowling or to parties with his family. His illness flared up briefly a month ago, when he complained of feeling ill and "seeing things." He phoned his brother, Juan Carlos Rodriguez, a pastor in Puerto Rico, and asked that they pray together. The episode passed without incident.
But Thursday night, it flared up again. At 9:38 p.m. he called San Jose police for help. Officers arrived, then left after determining Rodriguez posed no danger to himself or others. At 10:10 p.m., he and another family member summoned police again. Officers briefly handcuffed him, but after determining he posed no threat, released him and suggested he see a doctor.
Several family members followed that advice and drove Rodriguez to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. But when they got there, he did not want to leave the car. When Centeno's brother, Dennis Centeno Jr., tried to coax him out, Rodriguez became testy. Someone at the hospital suggested that the family summon police for help, Centeno said.
Deputy sheriffs arrived shortly after 11:20 p.m. Rodriguez was hugging his mother at the time, relatives said, while Dennis Centeno Jr. warned them that he did not speak English and, pointing to his head, "is not all there."
Relatives said Rodriguez began walking away from officers, who demanded in English that he get on the ground while his cousin attempted to translate. Moments later, relatives said, five or more officers pinned Rodriguez to the ground — face down. Some knelt on his back, they said, and others punched and kicked him.
Dehaan said officer Berg noticed the struggle and offered to assist with his Taser. The deputies, who do not carry the stun guns, accepted the offer, Dehaan said. Berg pressed the device against Rodriguez's lower back and discharged it "multiple times," Dehaan said. At one point, the deputies had hold of one of Rodriguez's arms, but otherwise his hands were free and uncuffed, and he was pushing up off the ground, Dehaan said.
Family members tell it differently. Dennis Centeno Jr. said Rodriguez was handcuffed, pinned and not resisting when the officer used the stun gun at least four times.
Minutes later, Rodriguez stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead at 12:11 a.m.
"That was the last thing we were expecting, for them to take him away from us," Emilia Centeno said.