Moment California cops TASER man having a seizure after crashing down 20ft cliff
By Emma Richter
Daily Mail
Feb 9, 2025
Jack Bruce, 22, crashed his red Toyota sedan into a ditch on April 1, 2024 after suffering a seizure behind the wheel. He was then tasered multiple times by a Hercules Police officer
Bruce (pictured) has since filed a civil rights lawsuit against the police department in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
A California man who plummeted down a 20ft cliff while suffering a seizure was tasered by cops, dramatic bodycam footage has revealed.
Jack Bruce, 22, crashed his red Toyota sedan into a ditch on April 1, 2024 after suffering a seizure behind the wheel.
Despite not remembering what happened that day, distressing police body cam footage revealed the moment a Hercules Police officer launched a taser at Bruce while other cops forced him out the car.
Bruce, then 21, appeared to be disoriented after the crash as police officers and firefighters approached him inside the vehicle.
Bruce was repeatedly asked by officers to step out of the vehicle and soon tased him multiple times during the altercation.
After he fell to the ground, Bruce screamed in agony and confusion as the officer continued to shock him with the bright yellow taser.
Bruce, who suffered his first epileptic seizure behind the wheel that day, was told he would be charged with resisting arrest and a DUI, but the case against him was eventually thrown out by the DA.
He has since filed a civil rights lawsuit against the police department in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that the three officers involved did not follow protocol even after acknowledging that he was seizing.
Bruce, who suffered his first epileptic seizure that day, was told he would be charged with resisting arrest and a DUI. The case against him was ultimately thrown out by the DA
'He was tased three times, not only that, he was punched in the face twice by the admission of one of the officers who did it,' his attorney David Fiol told NBC Bay Area.
'He was pulled by the hair, pulled by the limbs, cursed at, yelled out, shoved, poked, grabbed just about everything. You can imagine their effort to get him out of that car.'
The bodycam footage began as Officer Angel Garcia rushed to the crash site and ran down the hill to assess the situation.
As he got closer to the car, a man hopped out of the back seat and said: 'Oh my God, I don't know what's going on!'
The unnamed officer then crawled into the backseat of the car and tried to talk to Bruce who was slumped in the driver's seat, mumbling occasionally.
The cop repeatedly placed his hand on Bruce's chest and shook him as he spoke into his police radio.
Garcia asked Bruce: 'You ok? Stay with me buddy. Do you know your name?'
The officer then spoke to his colleague asking if it would be best to wait for the fire department to get him out, or if they should.
Officer Angel Garcia tases Bruce
Bruce is pictured being dragged out of the car
Bruce is seen covered and blood and mud after three police officers, Angel Garcia, Michael Thompson, and Joshua Goldstein dragged him out of the car that day
'Yeah, if he's having a seizure, just let him be,' the other officer, Joshua Goldstein, responded.
Bruce, dressed in a white t-shirt and shorts, breathed heavily in the front seat while his right leg rested on the dashboard of the car.
Soon, firefighters approached the vehicle and tried to get Bruce out of the car.
'He's conscious, breathing, looks like he's having a seizure. Doesn't smell like alcohol or anything like that. I don't see any drugs,' Garcia told the firefighter.
Bruce eventually popped up and tried to understand what was happening as law enforcement kept asking him to get out of the car.
'Stop trying to grab your seatbelt dude, listen to this guy,' Garcia said. 'If you keep pulling your seatbelt, I'm gonna rip your seatbelt, so listen to this firefighter,' he added.
At one point, the firefighter, who called Bruce 'a little aggressive,' stepped away as another officer took his place.
Both officers then tried to get Bruce out of the car, but when he questioned it, the incident quickly turned violent.
'Stop f***ing resisting bro,' an officer told Bruce as he, and two others held him down.
Garcia then grabbed Bruce by his neck with one hand, and in the other, he whipped out bright yellow taser.
'You're gonna get tased,' the officer threatened as he placed the taser on Bruce's back.
Bruce was in and out of consciousness behind the wheel, as many first responders acknowledged that he suffered a seizure
'We wanna help you, but do not f***ing fight us! You will get f***ing ripped out of this car,' another officer, Michael Thompson, screamed.
As all three tried to get him out, Bruce said: 'I'm gonna get out, I'm getting out,' but as he tried to do so, the officer in the back seat tased him.
'Ow!,' Bruce yelled as he fell to the ground. The officer then tased him a couple more times as he screamed.
'Stop fighting!,' the officers yelled at Bruce, who was left with a bloody mouth and mud all over his clothes.
The three officers then wrangled Bruce before slapping handcuffs on him, as one placed his knee on his neck.
'Dude, we do not wanna hurt you bro,' an officer said.
The officers then dragged him by his shirt up the hill before he was placed on a gurney.
A group of officers were also heard discussing what happened in the footage, as they were told that Bruce was the son of retired Richmond Police Detective John Bruce, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Garcia then checked the car, failing to find any illegal substances, telling Thompson that Bruce was 'high as f*** on something. I just don't know what it is.'
After hearing what happened to his son, John, who was out of town at the time, told the outlet: 'I was shocked. It took the wind out of my sails. I just couldn't see it happening.'
Bruce said he only remembers waking up at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center after regaining full consciousness.
'Tons of pain, I would say, the worst pain I've ever been in in my life,' he recalled. 'All busted up, it wasn't a pretty sight to look at. No one deserves to go through that.'
Bruce was left with multiple injuries after his encounter with the police officers, including a black eye, severe pain and lacerated lip. He was on bed rest for about a week to heal, and soon diagnosed with a seizure disorder, records show.
The lawsuit said that responding paramedics did not tell officers that getting Bruce out of the vehicle was necessary to avoid bodily injury or death.
The filing against the department alleges false arrest and excessive force among other actions, listing Garcia, Thompson and Goldstein as defendants.
The filing seeks unspecified damages for Bruce's distress and pain, along with punitive damages.
'Garcia and Thompson's conduct was despicable,' Fiol said in the lawsuit, adding that they 'acted toward Bruce with malice, oppression, fraud and with willful and conscious disregard for Bruce's rights, entitling him to recover punitive damages from those individual defendants.'
Bruce said he is still dealing with repercussions of the incident and hopes that he can get back to work soon once his seizures are under control.
'I've never had any runs with the police. My view doesn't change on the police. They're not trying to do something bad. They just did the wrong thing here,' he told NBC Bay Area.
DailyMail.com contacted the Hercules Police Department for comment.
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