Dad having diabetic emergency was tased, had arm broken by cop in CA, suit says
After a trip to the mall and a stop at McDonald’s to get his daughter a Happy Meal and ice cream, a man began having a diabetic emergency while driving her to a California park.
What started as a father-daughter day for Jeffrey Callaghan, then 45, of Sonoma County, ended with a Sebastopol officer suspecting him of driving drunk, tasing him in front of his 6-year-old, taking his daughter away and booking him into jail after Callaghan crashed his truck into a ditch, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit.
When the officer learned Callaghan is diabetic and experienced a true medical crisis on July 24, 2024, he worked with two fellow officers to implicate him in crimes he did not commit, including felony child endangerment, to cover up his use of excessive force, the lawsuit says.
“It was not enough to have brutalized an innocent man in front of his six-year-old daughter,” attorneys for Callaghan, who has type 1 diabetes, wrote in a complaint. “They did everything in their power to have him jailed,humiliated, and separated from his child, the most important person in his life, all so they could avoid getting sued.”
In detaining Callaghan, Officer Forrest Whitehall broke Callaghan’s arm and bloodied his face, according to the complaint.
Callaghan wears a glucose monitor, which stopped working the day of his arrest, the complaint filed July 24 says. As a result, the device never notified him that he was becoming hypoglycemic as he drove with his daughter.
“They could have killed me in front of my daughter,” Callaghan told The Press Democrat.
Callaghan’s encounter with Whitehall was captured by police body camera footage published by the newspaper.
Callaghan is suing Whitehall for excessive force and on eight other causes of action which he is also bringing against Sebastopol officers Cameron Fenske and James Hickey. The city of Sebastopol is named as a defendant in the filing, too.
“While the City generally does not issue public statements about pending litigation, it looks forward to defending its officers in court and responding to all allegations through the legal process,” Sebastopol Interim City Manager Mary C. Gourley said in an emailed statement to McClatchy News on Aug. 14.
Sebastopol Police Chief Sean McDonagh did not return McClatchy News’ request for comment.
Whitehall now works for the Petaluma Police Department, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, and did not return a request for comment from McClatchy News.
The crash and use of force
Earlier in the day on July 24, 2024, Callaghan set out to find a specific toy his daughter wanted, according to the lawsuit.
They went shopping in Santa Rosa and ate lunch at McDonald’s, where Callaghan had given himself an insulin dose, the complaint says. Then they headed to the park.
“Somewhere along the way to Sebastopol, Jeffrey began to lose consciousness,” his attorneys wrote in the filing.
A person saw Callaghan swerving on the road and called 911 at around 4:49 p.m., reporting him as an erratic drunk driver, leading to Whitehall responding and pursuing Callaghan into another town, the complaint says.
After Callaghan crashed, Whitehall approached his pick uptruck, aimed his gun at the vehicle, and ordered him to get out, according to the complaint.
Callaghan’s blood sugar was “falling dangerously low,” and he appeared “slow to move or to acknowledge (Whitehall),” the filing reads.
After Callaghan began to move, Whitehall demanded he get down on his stomach, threatening to tase him while pointing the taser at him, according to the complaint.
Callaghan put his hands up and Whitehall tased him twice, “sending Jeffrey tumbling to the ground as his daughter screamed hysterically, the complaint says.
“Whitehall tased him a third time when Callaghan began to sit up,” attorneys said in the complaint, adding that Whitehall threatened to deploy the weapon again.
That is when Callaghan’s daughter screamed: “Daddy! I don’t want you to hurt my Daddy!”
Whitehall ordered Callaghan to put his hands behind his back as he was lying on the ground, the complaint says.
Then Whitehall “grabbed him by the back of the head and pushed his face into the blacktop,” then “knelt on Jeffrey’s shoulder and forced his right arm behind his back with enough force to break Jeffrey’s arm,” Callaghan’s attorneys wrote.
Whitehall went on to handcuff Callaghan, who remained in handcuffs for hours, according to the complaint.
Afterward, Hickey, Fenske and medical personnel from a local fire department arrived, the complaint says.
The medics examined Callaghan and gave him glucose, according to the filing.
Callaghan was then put in the back of Whitehall’s patrol car, where he was questioned by Whitehall and told him he was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 10 years old, the complaint says.
‘They should be in jail’
Following questioning, Whitehall had Callaghan take a field sobriety test even though Callaghan was not intoxicated, according to the filing.
This was confirmed at a hospital, where Callaghan agreed to a breathalyzer test and a blood test, the lawsuit says.
Despite knowing his medical situation and that he was not drunk, Whitehall schemed with Fenske and Hickey to arrest Callaghan on charges of felony vehicular evading, felony child endangerment and resisting arrest, the complaint says.
Fenske also filed a suspected child abuse report, according to the complaint.
The Sonoma County District Attorney “refused” to prosecute Callaghan on Feb. 10, the complaint says.
Now, Callaghan seeks an unspecified amount in damages with his lawsuit. He demands a jury trial.
“Knowing beyond all doubt that Mr. Callaghan was innocent and that they had brutalized a man having a medical emergency, these officers conspired to have him jailed and prosecuted for crimes they know he did not commit in order to cover for their own crimes against him,”civil rights attorney Izaak Schwaiger, who represents Callaghan, said in a statement to McClatchy News.
“These men have no business wearing a badge,” Schwaiger added. “They should be in jail themselves.”
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