Eight Santa Rosa Police Department officers and a sergeant were placed on paid leave over the death of a violent and armed suspect last week.
Shortly after 2:15 a.m. Thursday, authorities pronounced 40-year-old Jordan Pas dead at Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
Sgt. Matt Crosbie and Officers Frank Sedeno, David Lamb, Nick Madarus, Joe Richards, Jonathan Morgan, Robert Moore, Bradley Marweg, and Jerry Ellsworth were subsequently placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the Sheriff’s Office investigation.
The officers responded to reports of an armed Pas wandering in streets at 1:19 a.m. that night. Surveillance footage showed Pas firing shots into vacant cars before “holding a large landscaping rock in his right hand” threatening cops.
The suspect was “sweating profusely and pacing shirtless” in the cold weather as he refused to comply with police orders, prompting them to use a stun gun to hold him down.
As Pas tried to reach another rock and throw it at the officers, they used the Taser on him again, less than one minute before the first use, making the suspect fall unresponsive.
Thinking Pas had overdosed on opioids, the officers administered Narcan and requested medical health but Pas couldn’t be saved.
Police Spokesman Sgt. Juan Valencia said that an autopsy had been conducted to determine Pas’s actual cause of death, but wouldn’t reveal further details.
