Family settles Michigan taser lawsuit for $1.95M

January 10, 2009
Associated Press

SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. - The family of a man who died in August 2007 after police used a Taser to subdue him settled a lawsuit filed against a Macomb County community and five officers involved for $1.95 million.

The suit claimed that police in Shelby Township violated the civil rights of 49-year-old Steven Spears by striking him with Tasers, and beating and suffocating him while they were restraining him.

The Detroit Free Press and The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens report U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood approved the settlement Dec. 8.

Police say they found Spears running through traffic wearing only his underwear. They say they used the Taser gun to subdue him with an electrical shock.

A medical examiner later ruled Tasers were not a factor in Spears' death.