87 year old woman dies in Boring, Oregon after she is tasered

July 8, 2010
Michael Russell, The Oregonian

An 87-year-old woman tasered by deputies Thursday afternoon after she reached for a handgun on the porch of her Boring home died an hour later at a hospital, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said.

Detective Jim Strovink, a sheriff's spokesman, gave this account of the incident:

Deputies responded to reports that the woman was waving a semi-automatic handgun toward a man using a backhoe to install a new water line near her home at the Big Valley Woods Mobile Home Park, 32700 S.E. Leewood Lane.

The man radioed his wife, an assistant manager at the park, that the woman was threatening to shoot. The wife called 9-1-1.

Two deputies responded about 2:35 p.m. and cautiously approached the woman. After five minutes, they began negotiating with the woman, telling her to put the gun down. Her identity was not released

She briefly placed the gun on the porch handrail, then reached to pick it back up.

A deputy who was positioned out of sight in shrubbery near the porch used his Taser, and the woman slumped to the ground.

Deputies began performing CPR on the woman, who was described as unconscious and unresponsive but breathing, Strovink said.

American Medical Response medics arrived a few minutes later and took the woman to Mount Hood Medical Center, where she died.

Neighbors told investigators the woman had been in failing physical and mental health recently, suffering from a heart condition and dementia. The woman was still wearing a hospital admittance bracelet from a recent visit.

The deputies involved will be placed on administrative leave, Strovink said.

An investigation of the incident will be handled by the Clackamas County Inter-Agency Major Crimes Team, he said. The team includes detectives from Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, Molalla, Oregon City and West Linn as well as representatives from the county sheriff's and district attorney's offices.

Although the incident did not involve the use of lethal force, Strovink said, "we want to do it (the investigation) so that it's totally above reproach. "