Hercules responds to Taser lawsuit filed by young man who suffered brain seizure

WARNING DISTURBING: Hercules police use Taser on man suffering medical emergency

Hercules body camera video, obtained by KTVU, shows Hercules police officers using a Taser on Jack Bruce, then 21, in April 2024. He had just suffered an epileptic seizure.

HERCULES, Calif. - The city of Hercules has responded officially to a lawsuit filed by a young man who was stunned with a police Taser three times while he was suffering from a brain seizure and not following officers' commands to immediately exit his car.

Richard Osman, one of the attorneys representing the city and the officers, denied the allegations made by Jack Bruce, who filed a federal lawsuit in February, alleging excessive force, battery, false arrest, negligence, defamation and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Last week, Osman and his team specifically filed court documents denying that the city and police officers are legally responsible for the injuries and damages alleged in the complaint. They also deny that any of the officers were negligent or breached their duty, as alleged in the complaint. 

At the same time, the city of Hercules and the officers also don't dispute many of the facts of the case, including the fact that one of the officers used a taser on Bruce and another officer struck him in the face while he was having a seizure. 

"The video proves our case," Bruce's attorney, David Fiol, said in an interview on Monday. "We're confident the facts we alleged are true."

The video shows what happened to Bruce, then 22, on April 1, 2024.

Bruce, a tradesman in the Local 38 of the Plumbers, Steamfitters and HVAC-Refrigeration union, was driving home in his Toyota Camry after visiting his grandmother.

Jack Bruce's face is bloodied after he had a seizure and encounter with Hercules police on April 1, 2024. Photo: Bodycamera video 

As he was driving on Refugio Valley Road in Hercules, the young man suffered from a tonic-clonic seizure, previously known as a grand mal seizure, which he had never had before. 

His car ended up rolling off the road, down a little embankment.

Two witnesses saw what happened, called 911 and went over to help.

At first, officers tried to talk to Bruce about what was going on, but when he didn't obey them to get out of the car, the officers ended up shocking him, striking him and yelling a string of profanities at him, the video shows. 

While the two sides both said they want a jury trial in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, both sides also said they would try to mediate the case first. 

Public outrage over the story, first reported by KTVU and the San Francisco Chronicle, has been swift and loud, prompting the city to cancel one event and then host a town hall in the hopes of easing the community's ire over what happened. 

Osman, Sheila Crawford and Ana Sanderson of the Bertrand, Fox, Elliot, Osman and Wenzel firm in San Francisco are representing the city of Hercules, officers Angel Garcia, Michael Thompson, Joshua Goldstein and Daniel Collyer, a paramedic with the Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District. 

Collyer was added as a defendant in an amended complaint against Hercules.

On Monday, his attorneys, Contra Costa County counsel Thomas Geiger and Deputy County Counsel Sean Rodriguez filed a motion to dismiss the case. The lawyers argued that Bruce did not "comply with multiple requests to exit his vehicle," preventing Collyer from evaluating him. 

Collyer's attorneys also argued that the paramedic was "not grossly negligent" in providing emergency services and did not cause Bruce's "alleged harm." 

"Plaintiff's attempts to impose liability on Collyer for the actions of the Hercules police officers is unavailing," the lawyers wrote. 

Bruce is being represented by attorneys David Fiol in San Rafael and Craig Peters at Altair Law in San Francisco.