Ward, 52, led Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies and Sebastopol police on a five-mile car chase after an officer spotted a suspected stolen car. It turned out Ward was driving his own vehicle that he’d just recovered after reporting it stolen.
The chase ended at a dead-end in Bloomfield. Ward raised his hands, then lowered them as deputies shouted commands for him to get out of the vehicle. When the driver’s side door wouldn’t open, Deputy Charles Blount reached in through the window and tried to drag Ward out, who screamed that his legs were pinned under the steering wheel. Both Blount and Deputy Jason Little say Ward is biting them during the struggle. Then Blount grabbed Ward by the head and smashed it into the car door frame as Little shocked him with a Taser.
Officers eventually removed Ward from the passenger side of the car. He stopped breathing and later died. The lawsuit filed Tuesday says Ward had been in a car accident years earlier. He had steel plates in his neck and spine, limited mobility and relied on supplemental oxygen.
The coroner found methamphetamine in Ward’s system, as well as pre-existing physical and mental health conditions.
The lawsuit alleges excessive force, failure to intervene, wrongful death and negligent supervision, among other claims.
Sheriff Mark Essick announced he was moving to fire Blount when the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office made body camera video public late last year. The lawsuit says the sheriff then quietly allowed Blount to retire on Feb. 7. Internal and criminal investigations in the case are ongoing.
Sgt. Juan Valencia, a spokesman for the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, said his office has not yet received the filing and that it’s their policy not to comment on pending litigation.
Blount’s lawyer said he hadn’t yet reviewed the lawsuit in detail. Ward’s death “was tragic and unfortunate but certainly complicated,” attorney Harry Stern wrote in an emailed statement, referencing Ward’s “extreme methamphetamine intoxication.”