SHERIFF'S OFFICE: DRUGS, NOT TASER, CAUSED PORT SALERNO MAN'S DEATH

STUART - Cocaine toxicity and not a Taser caused the death of man who
fled sheriff's deputies last week, the chief Treasure Coast medical
examiner said Monday.

A history of drug use, the wild behavior that caused deputies to chase
him and a positive cocaine test led Dr. Roger Mittleman to find Port
Salerno resident Brian Lichtenstein, 31, died from the drug use, the
examiner said.

Martin County sheriff's deputies said Lichtenstein ran naked into the
woods when they arrived at the Riverland Mobile Home Park on Kanner
Highway about 11:50 p.m. Friday, after scared residents reported the
man was lying in their yard.

Sgt. Shane King fired his Taser at the man when he refused to come out
of the woods and became aggressive, according to officials and
sheriff's reports.

Lichtenstein, who was finally wrestled into custody by deputies, died
about 5:46 a.m. Saturday at the hospital.

Typical Of Drug Psychosis

"No, the Taser did not in any way contribute to the death," Mittleman
said. "The finding was so typical of cocaine psychosis."

The examiner said Lichtenstein had multiple organ failure because of
low-blood pressure attributed to the cocaine.

The man's wife said she and her husband had been smoking crack cocaine
for the previous three days, deputies reported.

Mittleman said he also found numerous bruises and scratches consistent
with a man running through the woods and into other objects in a
drug-induced frenzy. He said he found nothing to raise any other suspicions.

No Link To Deaths

Sheriff's spokeswoman Sgt. Jenell Atlas said Monday the agency would
continue its use of Tasers.

"The sheriff (Robert Crowder) has said, if and when someone proves to
him Tasers are linked to deaths ... then he'll re-evaluate the use of
Tasers," Atlas said. "No one has proven that to him yet."

She said King, the sergeant who fired the Taser, did "everything
right." An internal inquiry will still be completed as a standard
procedure for an "in-custody" death.

Examiner: Taser Appropriate

Mittleman, who has seen the results of numerous cocaine binges, said
he, too, believed in the use of the weapon in general.

"To me, the Taser is appropriate to this type of situation because
you're preventing him from hurting himself," he said.