LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council on Wednesday approved a $40,000 request to retain special counsel to defend the county in a lawsuit against a mixed martial arts fighter Tased by a Kaua‘i Police Department officer two years ago. LeBeau
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council on Wednesday approved a $40,000 request to retain special counsel to defend the county in a lawsuit against a mixed martial arts fighter Tased by a Kaua‘i Police Department officer two years ago.
LeBeau Lagmay, 27, of Kapa‘a, was arrested Nov. 20, 2009, in the parking lot of Wilcox Memorial Hospital in Lihu‘e. He claims he put his hands in the air, yet was shot three times with an electronic stun gun by KPD officer Eric Caspillo. Each of the shots delivered 50,000 volts for five seconds.
Lagmay claims he fell to ground unconsciously after the first shot and was jumped on by KPD officers Paddy Ramson and Marnie Fernandez. He was then shot two more times by Caspillo, according to the lawsuit.
KPD maintains that he was resisting arrest and the use of force was necessary.
On Aug. 19, 2010, Lagmay was sentenced to one year in prison on terroristic-threatening and drunken-driving charges, after he had his public defender Edmund Acoba change his not-guilty pleas to guilty on lesser charges.
He had been charged with 18 crimes, including 11 counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, for allegedly threatening to kill or harm several Kaua‘i Police Department officers during his arrest.
During his sentencing last year, Lagmay said he was being “injusticed in a lot of ways,” and that he never said what the police officer wrote in the report.
County Attorney Al Castillo said Wednesday that the appropriated funds will be used to hire special counsel to represent the county, and that three deputy county attorneys will also represent the county. The lawsuit names the three police officers, KPD and the county.
The lawsuit claims Caspillo, who may have had a relationship with Lagmay’s ex-girlfriend, had previously promised to use the Taser on Lagmay, and after the incident called the MMA fighter’s ex-girlfriend to inform her he had followed up on his promise. The lawsuit names Melissa Peahu, niece of KPD officer Roland Peahu, as Lagmay’s ex-girlfriend.
The lawsuit seeks undisclosed amounts for general compensatory damages, special damages, exemplary and punitive damages, and reasonable attorneys fees.
Lagmay has a felony record and was sentenced in October 2008 to one year in jail and five years probation for first-degree terroristic threatening, firearms, and second-degree reckless endangerment, which were violations of his HOPE probation. He was found not guilty of third-degree assault by a jury in April 2009.
• The Garden Island staff writer Tom LaVenture contributed to this report.
