Investigators find no drugs in home of man who died after Spokane Sheriff’s deputies subdued him

Investigators found no drugs in the home of a man who a 911 caller said was high on an unknown substance when he died after Spokane Sheriff’s deputies used a stun gun to subdue him Saturday night.

Deputies responded to a home in Newman Lake after a family member reported a man was screaming, out of control and breaking items in the house, according to the sheriff’s office.

The caller told deputies they were scared to go down to the basement, where the man was high on an unknown drug and barricaded in a room, according a news release. The man continued to break items and exhibit out of control behavior when several deputies and a Liberty Lake Police Officer arrived.

Deputies used a stun gun to subdue the man, but it took several deputies to restrain him, according to a news release. After the man was handcuffed, he stopped breathing and died at the scene, despite medical attention.

Upon searching the home, deputies found a large amount of alcohol and multiple barricaded doors but no illegal drugs, according to a news release.

Results from a toxicology analysis, which screens for selected medications and commonly abused drugs, will take several weeks to process, according to Washington State Patrol Trooper Jeff Sevigney, the spokesman for the Spokane Investigative Regional Response Team that’s investigating the man’s death.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office has not identified the man who died.

Three sheriff’s deputies were placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a SIRR Team investigation. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has not released their names.