While one of the deputies placed Booker in a choke hold, others sat on his back because they believed he was ignoring their instructions to sit down, according to fellow inmates. They added, however, that Booker was only trying to get his shoes which he had taken off for comfort.
When the 5-foot, 135 pound Booker still continued to struggle, the deputies then decided that he needed to be tasered for at least eight seconds. The result of the onslaught was that the handcuffed inmate died due to cardio-respiratory arrest, according to Denver’s medical examiner, ruling the death a homicide.
Booker’s family consequently took the city to court and received at least some form of justice this week when a federal jury awarded them $4.6 million in damages.
Since the medical examiner also ruled that other factors surrounding Booker’s death were that he had emphysema, an enlarged heart, and had recently taken cocaine, Thomas Rice, a lawyer for the city, said that a healthier man would have survived. He added that Booker had been shouting abuse to the deputies, would not cooperate with them, and continued resisting even though they had to use increasing force.