Donald George Lewis

Less-than-lethal force

The "Cops" television crew filmed the police apprehension of Lewis, shirtless and distraught by the side of the road, attempting to flag down traffic. Ultimately five officers arrived and cuffed him, shackled his legs, hogtied him, and applied physical pressure on his shoulders and back. The medical examiner attributed his death to excited delirium. (No Taser was used.) An excessive-force civil rights suit rose to the Supreme Court where it was dismissed without comment.