OAKLAND — East Bay Regional Park District police allegedly tased a man who was standing in knee-deep water off an East Oakland shoreline earlier this month, causing him to nearly drown after he fell face-first into the bay, the man’s family alleged in a legal claim this week.
The Park District’s police department acted with a “reckless disregard for human life” during the April 5 encounter with Deontae Faison, a San Francisco father of two, who remained comatose Friday after falling unconscious during the incident, according to a statement from an attorney representing his family.
Earlier this week, Faison’s family filed legal claims against the East Bay Regional Park District and Alameda County. Such claims typically lay the groundwork for lawsuits against government entities.
“It’s sad. The fact that this continues to happen shows that there’s issues with policing,” the family’s attorney, Jamir Davis, said. “The fact that you have officers who were bold enough to tase a man in the back while in water — and not be brave or trained enough to jump in and save him — is pretty outrageous.”
A call by this news organization to the East Bay Regional Park District Police Department was not returned by Friday afternoon.
Davis said the encounter on April 5 began when an officer with the East Bay Regional Park District told Faison to sit on the bumper of his vehicle after discovering that his tags were expired. Faison had been eating lunch with a friend at the park not far from the Oakland International Airport.
The officer called for backup after running Faison’s criminal record, and at one point “attempted to grab” Faison, Davis said. Faison ran over a series of rocks and entered a channel leading to San Leandro Bay — at which point an officer fired a taser into Faison’s back, causing him to fall forward, the attorney said.
Faison then spent more than 30 minutes struggling in the water and “yelling for help,” a statement from his family said, adding that “only when Deontae became unconscious and floated closer to land, did the officers enter, pull him to shore and render aid.”
Once out of the water, he was given CPR and taken to a nearby hospital, where clinicians were able to revive him. He has been in a coma ever since, Davis said.
“Doctors are saying that he could potentially survive, but if he does, he’s not going to be the same,” Davis said.
It was not immediately clear why the officer allegedly called for backup. Court records show Faison was on probation after pleading no contest in a 2021 robbery case. That probation appears to have been revoked in early 2023, though it was not immediately clear whether that continued to be the case when officers contacted him earlier this month.
Davis said the incident raises questions about how well the department’s officers are trained to deal with people in the water, and why they allegedly didn’t get him out sooner.
“We’re not saying all officers are bad, but this was uncalled for and it was reckless,” Davis said. “The family needs answers. We need answers now.”
