Lawsuit filed against Vets Home, police
Family claims veteran died as a result of being Tased by police
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The granddaughter of a Korean War veteran has filed a complaint in Helena District Court against the Columbia Falls Police Department alleging negligence and wrongful death following an incident last year.
The complaint and demand for a jury trial, filed April 5, also names the Montana Veterans Home and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. The complaint charges the Vets Home with malpractice and the police department with assault and battery. It seeks unspecified damages, including punitive damages against the police department.
According to police records, two officers responded to the Vets Home on June 1, 2012, around 5 p.m. for a report of an agitated 77-year-old patient who had wandered away. The officers reported that the patient would not cooperate and threatened to throw a rock he held at them, so they deployed their Tasers.
Stanley Downen, suffering from Alzheimer’s, had been admitted to the Vets Home one day earlier. The complaint says he had “a history of behavioral issues,” and when he wandered off, Vets Home staff tried to bring him back. Instead, the complaint alleges, the staff’s actions “agitated Stanley and escalated the situation.”
According to the complaint, Downen fell face-first onto the pavement and struck his head after he was shocked by the Taser.
“An ambulance arrived at approximately 5:20 p.m. to find Stanley handcuffed and lying face down in the middle of the street,” the complaint states. “Care providers noted several abrasions to Stanley’s hand and forehead, and extensive injuries over his left eye, with swelling and an abrasion on his scalp.”
Downen was transported by ambulance to Kalispell Regional Medical Center. He died 23 days later, on June 24, 2012. The complaint alleges he died from injuries caused by the fall when he was Tased. It also alleges the Vets Home personnel lied about the incident.
“Nursing staff from the Montana Veterans Home called to inform Stanley’s family that he had tripped and fallen while running,” the complaint states. “It was not until two days later that Stanley’s family discovered Stanley had been Tased by the police.”
The lawsuit was brought by Tamara Downen. She said she had taken care of her grandfather for three years before a judge ordered he be placed in a home. With a family of her own to raise, she said it was difficult to take care of someone with severe dementia, but it also was difficult to put her grandfather in a home.
The Missoula law firm Milodragovich, Dale and Steinbrenner is handling the case. Tamara Downen said she hopes police officers, nursing home staff and others learn from this case so other Alzheimer’s patients don’t suffer a similar fate.
Stanley Downen was well known in Columbia Falls. After a 30-year career as an ironworker, including working in South Africa and at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. smelter, Downen volunteered his time with other ironworkers to erect playground equipment for parks and schools in Columbia Falls. He served on the USS Newport News during the Korean War and was a charter member of the North Valley Search and Rescue organization, where he participated in numerous rescues.