Man Subdued With Taser Gun, Later Dies of Heart Attack

An east Pasadena man who allegedly threatened sheriff’s deputies with a knife died of a heart attack Sunday after being subdued with an electric shock from a Taser gun, authorities said.

Doug L. Danville, 47, suffered a heart attack at his apartment in the 300 block of South Sierra Madre Boulevard, but paramedics resuscitated him and took him to St. Luke Medical Center in Pasadena where he died just after 2 p.m., Sgt. Lee Smith said.

Deputies had gone to Danville’s apartment after receiving a complaint that a man was yelling, screaming and banging something inside, Smith said. When no one opened the door after deputies knocked and identified themselves, the officers broke into the residence to see if anyone needed assistance, the sergeant said.

Danville was “irrational and bleeding from self-inflicted wounds,” Smith said, and deputies called paramedics. Meanwhile, deputies “attempted to placate Danville, who was armed with a butcher knife” and a piece of porcelain broken from a toilet. Danville did not quiet down and threw the piece of the toilet at the deputies, Smith said. A sergeant fired the Taser “to quell the assault,” and Danville was detained without further incident, Smith said.

As Danville was being treated for his self-inflicted wounds, he went into cardiac arrest, the sergeant said. Paramedics revived him and took him to the medical center where he died, Smith said. He added that preliminary information indicated that Danville has a history of drug problems and mental instability.