EXERTION, DRUGS CAUSED MAN'S DEATH

40-YEAR-OLD STRUGGLED WITH S.J. POLICE IN JULY

Drugs and exertion led to the death of a San Jose man who stopped breathing
while police struggled to subdue him at his home in July, the Santa Clara
County coroner has ruled.

``Excited delirium due to acute cocaine and methamphetamine toxicity'' was
listed as the primary cause of death for 40-year-old Shaheed J. Daniels,
according to a final autopsy report signed Monday by Dr. Gregory Schmunk,
the county's medical examiner-coroner. In addition, Daniels had a blood
alcohol level of 0.04 to 0.05 percent, according to two laboratory tests.

The report also gave a contributing cause: the exertion expended by Daniels
while grappling with officers who had come to his Canoas Garden Avenue home
after a neighbor reported a disturbance.

During a brief interview Thursday, Schmunk said medical research shows the
two drugs in concert abnormally raise people's blood pressure and body heat,
leaving them ``highly agitated.'' Schmunk characterized the levels of drugs
in Daniels' blood as being ``fairly substantial.''

He also noted that the combination of cocaine and alcohol could have been
lethal even for a person who was lying in bed, let alone for someone who was
struggling with seven officers.

Days after Daniels died, his wife, Gwen Daniels, said allegations that her
husband died from a drug overdose were ``bogus.''

Attempts to reach Gwen Daniels, who has moved to Redwood City, were
unsuccessful Friday.

The events leading to Daniels' death unfolded July 1 when one of his
neighbors called police to report an argument and a woman screaming in
Daniels' home. Police had Daniels' wife and two children leave the home
while officers and a crisis-intervention team tried to coax him out of a
locked bathroom.

After 30 minutes, he surrendered but began resisting when officers tried to
place handcuffs on him, police said. When officers tried to immobilize him,
he stopped breathing. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

``It was an unfortunate happening,'' police spokesman Rubens Dalaison said
Thursday.

But, he said, the coroner's findings were ``a relief'' to the officers.
``They always second-guess themselves -- `Was it something I did or not do?'
'' said Dalaison.