The family of a Jacksonville father who died after being struck with a Taser and strapped into a restraint chair at the Duval County jail has added 16 new names onto their wrongful death lawsuit.
The attorney for Paul Testa's family, Ted Pina, said the change is a result of what an Action News Jax investigation revealed last week.
The death investigation report that Action News Jax uncovered reveals the names of all the corrections officers involved in restraining Paul Testa.
On Wednesday, 16 of those officers were served court paperwork at the jail.
“It was very hard for (Testa’s son) Christian to read that report. He’s having a difficult time dealing with it,” said Pina. “Until last week, when your station ran its story, we did not know who the officers were involved. We did not know the actual details of what happened.”
The documents said Paul Testa fought with corrections officers, even trying to grab one officer's Taser.
Corrections officers deployed the Taser on Testa, then strapped him into a restraint chair.
In the report, one officer told investigators he saw Paul Testa “struggling and breathing heavily.”
After Testa was strapped in, officers say he stopped breathing.
“We chose the ones listed in the investigation report who were directly involved in restraining, or hands on, actually, with Mr. Testa,” said Pina.
Days after Action News Jax’s investigation aired and revealed that the corrections officers use the chair in half of all use of force incidents at the jail, the city of Jacksonville’s general counsel requested to move the case to federal court.
Pina said that’s going to turn this case into a lengthier process.
“Oh, this could be years,” said Pina.
Action News Jax asked the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s public information officers about the corrections officers being named individually in the lawsuit. A spokesperson said the agency does not comment on active lawsuits.
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