Shocking video shows the moment an epilepsy patient is Tasered as he suffers a seizure in front of his horrified fiancé, then handcuffed by police officers as he lies in his hospital bed.
Bruce Frankel, 61, sued police after an officer stunned and handcuffed him, claiming he was resisting arrest, all while the San Anselmo resident suffered a grand mal seizure.
His lawsuit alleges assault, false arrest and defamation, according to KTVUand suggests that police constructed a cover-up story by falsely arresting him on trumped-up charges to justify what he describes as their use of excessive force.
The distressing events began when Alice, the financial advisor’s fiancee, called 911 at 2.51 a.m. on August 29, 2022 and reportedly said her husband was not breathing.
I expected the paramedics to arrive, but it was the police officers who were the first to arrive on the scene, with their body cameras recording the entire encounter between Mr. Frankel and police officer Kevin Sinnott, while Alice is seen watching helplessly in the background.
Bruce Frankel, 61, sued police after an officer stunned and handcuffed him at his home in 2022.
Frankel appears in police body camera footage expressing disbelief while handcuffed in his hospital bed.
Bruce Frankel, 61, and his wife Alice spoke about their experience in August 2022.
Body camera footage shows Mr. Frankel’s son opening the door for Sinnott, who then enters the man’s bedroom.
Frankel was coming out of his attack when the images show him semi-naked, only in his underwear. He is seen stumbling and then falls onto the bed.
Sinnott wrongly assessed that Frankel was drunk shortly after entering the room, and officers reportedly said he was displaying symptoms that “mimicked someone under the influence.” He was irrational, unstable and violent.
But Frankel appears helpless when the officers enter and approach him directly, without asking his partner what was happening, it is alleged.
‘If the police had asked (my wife) Alice two questions: ‘What’s going on?’ and ‘Has this happened before?’ We wouldn’t be here today,” Frankel told KTVU. But that officer didn’t do that at all. He assumed he knew what was going on and attacked me.
Sinnott reportedly wrote in his police report that Frankel had actively resisted for more than two minutes during the encounter and that he had used the Taser to force him to comply.
The officer also reportedly claimed he feared for his safety and warned Frankel twice that he was going to Tase him.
Mr. Frankel is seen stumbling around his room when the police enter, and his wife appears to support him.
Officers are seen restraining Mr. Frankel during the encounter. One told him to ‘stop fighting’
Sinnott appears to feel threatened in the footage and tells Mr Frankel to “stop resisting”.
‘Stop fighting. Get on your stomach. I want to help you. Stop fighting or they will shoot you. Do you want to be Tasered?
Frankel tells him to “leave me alone” several times. She is not seen actively pushing the officer at any point, rather she appears to be trying to get away from him.
‘Arrest. Baby. “They are trying to help you,” Alice Frankel repeatedly tells her partner.
Frankel screams and moans as he continues to protest his treatment, before Sinnott pulls out his Taser and shocks him in the back.
The 61-year-old man then falls to the floor and hits his head on some furniture.
Minutes later, at 3:03 am, more police and three paramedics appear, helping to handcuff Frankel and lift him to bed.
In his police report, Sinnott allegedly wrote that Frankel pushed his wife during the incident, although such pushing cannot be seen on camera.
Frankel’s attorneys say the allegations are part of a cover-up and allege that Sinnott “submitted a false statement to the Marin County District Attorney in the hopes that plaintiff would be charged with a felony he did not commit.”
Frankel reportedly spent more than $10,000 on a criminal defense attorney to fight the charges, and ultimately the Marin County prosecutor did not file any against him.
Police are said to have prohibited Alice from going to the hospital with her partner, meaning she was unable to explain the background of her condition, the lawsuit claims.
‘The agents not only deprived plaintiff’s doctors of relevant information; filled the void with false information,” the report alleges.
Frankel appears exhausted in his hospital bed after being admitted the night he was Tasered.
He was later discharged from the hospital and taken out in handcuffs again, clearly distraught.
Frankel was given hospital clothes and placed in a room, where separate police body camera footage shows him handcuffed to the bed.
He seems drained of energy and expresses disbelief that he is being handcuffed again.
They tell him ‘you’re arrested for what happened at the house’, to which he protests and asks how they can arrest someone who ‘had no idea what he was doing’.
He was later discharged from the hospital and taken out in handcuffs again, clearly distraught, even though a neurologist determined that he had suffered a grand mal seizure.
He was booked into the Marin County Jail. When he left, he did not remember his wife’s phone number and allegedly had to walk in slippers half a mile to a gas station, where employees helped him get a taxi home.
Police Chief Michael Norton told KTVU that his department “regrets that Bruce Frankel has decided to pursue litigation against us for an alleged inadequate emergency medical response to him.”
Attorney Alison Berry Wilkinson, who represents four of the officers involved, said an internal review found the use of force justified.
“The allegations in the lawsuit against these officers bear no resemblance to reality and are outrageous,” he told KTVU.
“The officers who arrived on scene to assist in response to the medical call did an extraordinary job under very difficult circumstances.”