Documents obtained on Vets Home incident
Witness statements and initial police reports shed some light on the incident last year at the Montana Veterans Home where a Columbia Falls police officer used a Taser on an elderly resident with dementia.
Stan Downen, 77, hit his head on the asphalt roadway when he fell on June 1, 2012. He died 23 days later. His granddaughter, Tamara Downen, filed a complaint in Helena District Court on April 5 against the Columbia Falls Police Department, the Vets Home, and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services alleging negligence and wrongful death.
According to documents provided by the Columbia Falls city attorney, Downen, a Korean War veteran, was brought to the Vets Home on May 31. Suffering from Alzheimer’s, he was described by Vets Home staff as agitated and aggressive.
A male nurse’s aide said he was told to stay with Downen continuously and provide one-on-one care. He said Downen tried to leave the building four times the morning he arrived.
The aide also noted that, based on information provided by Pathways Treatment Center in Kalispell, Expressions Assisted Living Home in Columbia Falls, and Downen’s granddaughter, Vets Home staff were concerned Downen might harm residents or staff members.
There were no major problems that first day, the aide reported, but around 4:15 p.m. on June 1, Downen got up from the dinner table and began walking around other residents in wheelchairs in an aggressive, confrontational and menacing manner.
The aide reported that staff members scrambled to calm him down, and a registered nurse made several attempts to administer an oral sedative, but Downen shoved her away. The aide and other staff tried to keep Downen inside the building, but he made his way out to the “smoke shack.”
After the staff got Downen back inside the building, they cornered him and a licensed practical nurse gave Downen a 0.4 mg shot of Haldol, an older antipsychotic used in the treatment of schizophrenia and acute psychotic states and delirium. It was around 4:45 p.m.
Shortly afterwards, Downen made his way outside when an electric door lock failed and the alarm didn’t sound. The nurse’s aide, two certified nurse’s assistants and the nurse who had administered the Haldol shot followed Downen, who picked up several baseball-sized landscaping rocks and headed north up Veteran Drive toward the baseball fields.
According to Columbia Falls Police Officer Gary Stanberry, he received a call about 4:54 p.m. for help with a disorderly male at the Vets Home who was cursing and carrying a large rock. Officer Mike Johnson offered to come along.
The officers arrived about 5:10 p.m. Stanberry said he and Johnson maintained a safe distance and asked Downen to drop the rocks. Downen failed to comply and then “drew his right hand back as to throw the rocks at Officer Johnson,” Stanberry reported.
Johnson then fired his Taser at the 5-foot 11-inch, 165-pound resident. One barb hit Downen’s left buttock. The second hit the back of his left arm. According to Stanberry and Johnson, Downen fell onto his stomach and left side and hit his head on the asphalt, but he never lost consciousness and continued to curse the officers and resist them.
After handcuffing Downen, the officers checked his injuries. They applied 4-by-4 gauze bandages over his facial lacerations and attempted to calm him down until the ambulance arrived at 5:15 p.m. and transported Downen to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
Johnson later advised Police Chief Dave Perry that people at the nearby baseball fields had recorded the incident on their cell phones. Downen was later charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing a peace officer.
A social worker who ran down Veterans Drive and arrived after Downen had been handcuffed said Downen complained of being cold and asked for the handcuffs to be removed. He also noted that people at the baseball field were upset and yelling “He didn’t do anything” and “I am so mad that they Tased an elderly man.”
The social worker concluded that the Vets Home staff had acted in a professional manner and had done everything they could to de-escalate the situation. The male nurse’s aide said he was too emotionally upset to return after being sent to the Vets Home for medical supplies.