Family of veteran killed by stun-gun files lawsuit

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Relatives of a 77-year-old Korean War veteran with Alzheimer's disease have filed a lawsuit after the family says he died from injuries sustained when shocked by a police stun gun after wandering away from the Montana Veterans Home.

The Independent Record reports (http://bit.ly/158fzcZ) the lawsuit filed April 5 in Helena District Court names the veterans home, Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, and the Columbia Falls Police Department.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, including punitive damages against the police department.

The family said Stanley L. "Stan" Downen was hit with the stun gun on June 1, 2012, and died three weeks later from injuries resulting from the fall.

The entities being sued declined to comment.

Downen, the lawsuit said, was admitted to the state-run home on May 31, 2012, "with a history of behavioral issues and advanced dementia resulting from severe progressive Alzheimer's disease."

The complaint said that Downen wandered off the next day, and that staff rather than solving the problem "agitated Stanley and escalated the situation."

The lawsuit said the staff called 911 and Columbia Falls police responded and, when Downen refused to cooperate, used a stun gun and Downen fell face-first on the pavement and struck his head.

"An ambulance arrived . to find Stanley handcuffed and lying face down in the middle of the street," the lawsuit says. "Care providers noted several abrasions to Stanley's hands and forehead, and extensive injuries over his left eye with swelling and an abrasion on his scalp."

He was transported to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, the complaint said.

"Nursing staff from the Montana Veteran's Home called to inform Stanley's family that he had tripped and fallen while running, and that he was taken to the hospital," the complaint said. "It was not until two days later that Stanley's family discovered" a stun gun had been used by police.

Downen served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He was an ironworker for nearly 30 years before retiring in 1998. Along with other iron workers, he helped build playgrounds in the Flathead Valley.