TBI TO REVIEW VIDEO IN INVESTIGATION OF JAILERS' USE OF TASER

Hand-Held Camera Was Used, Family's Lawyer Says

CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has a video
to review as part of the investigation of jailers who used a Taser to
restrain a prisoner who then lapsed into a coma, agency spokeswoman
Jennifer Johnson said yesterday.

Christopher McCargo, 42, remains in a coma at a Cleveland hospital,
where he was taken by ambulance several hours after his Feb. 24
arrest on a public intoxication charge.

Bradley County Sheriff Dan Gilley asked the TBI to investigate after
McCargo's relatives complained when county officers initially said
the jail's digital video surveillance equipment erased the segment
that showed officers using the Taser to restrain McCargo.

A lawyer for McCargo's family said the new video came from a
hand-held camera used by a jailer.Johnson confirmed that agents had
received a video.

"We don't know what is on it at this point," Johnson said. Johnson
said the investigation report would be turned over to District
Attorney General Jerry Estes."He will make a decision on what kind of
action is appropriate, if any," Johnson said.

Sheriff's Department officials
previously said McCargo had been shocked with a Taser at the jail when
he became combative during booking, and that he suffered seizures and
lost consciousness several hours later.

Arrest reports show that he told Cleveland police he had been
drinking and smoking crack and marijuana.

The Taser manufacturer warned in June 2005 that use of its weapons
should be kept to a minimum on people who may have a drug-induced
condition known as excited delirium.

A statement from Gilley after the arrest said an internal
investigation found that officers had followed department policy.

John Wolfe, a Chattanooga attorney for the McCargo family, said the
sheriff had "denied any film existing of this incident" and that no
one mentioned that a corrections officer used a hand-held video
camera to record the events. "It became apparent eventually through
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation sources that (there are) hours of
film recording the many events that! occurre d during Chris'
custody," Wolfe told the Cleveland Daily Banner.

Bradley County Chief Deputy Bill Griffith said the department was
"simply working and letting them (TBI) do their job." "At this point
nothing has come forth in the investigation of any wrongdoing," he said.

Wolfe said the McCargo family "is concerned with the investigation of
the Taser assault, which has left their son in a coma for 40 days
now. With the lack of a meaningful official investigation, the family
had to do their own.

"Wolfe said the family wanted to know why no law enforcement agency
photographed "obvious Taser wounds" on McCargo's neck. He said the
family also raised questions about why blood or urine samples were
discarded by law enforcement and not kept for analysis. "Now law
enforcement claims the Taser use to Chris' neck at close range has
nothing to do with him being in a coma, but everything has to do with
what he ingested," Wolfe said.