GOLD BAR, Wash. – A Sultan man died early Saturday morning after he was tased by Snohomish County Sheriff's deputies.
Neighbors who called 911 reported that 25-year-old Adam Colliers was running up and down the street yelling and causing problems in the middle of the night. Two Snohomish County Sheriff's Deputies responded and say Colliers immediately charged them and fought them to the ground.
The sheriff's office says a stun gun was used on Colliers. He stopped breathing. Deputies began CPR, but it was too late.
Family said on the weekends, Colliers stayed at a house where he was a caretaker for a paraplegic family friend.
"He was like family," said Sharon Williams. Colliers stayed with Williams and her paraplegic brother. "I can't believe this happened."
Williams described Colliers as small and about 120 pounds.
"If two deputies can't get control of a kid that sized, there is something wrong," she said. "This isn't right."
Colliers' sister said her brother was a gentle man who was well loved. She says she doesn't understand why her brother would be running up and down the street yelling.
"This doesn't sound like him. My brother is a quiet person," said Heidi Colliers. "Now I don't have a brother anymore."
Sgt. Robert Goetz with Everett Police and the Snohomish Multiple Agency Response team investigating the incident says the taser is a standard tool to subdue an unruly person and it's considered the lowest level of force available.
"In this particular case they were charged by this individual and they were the ones who were being attacked, if you will," he said.
The incident is the sixth violent encounter for police in as many days.
Late Friday night, Seattle police wounded an armed man in West Seattle, while Tacoma police fatally shot a man with a knife earlier in the day. Deaths also occurred Tuesday in Federal Way and in Spanaway, south of Tacoma, and on Monday in Seattle.
