BEND, Ore. -- The wife of a Bend man who died nine days after police used a Taser to subdue him at a hospital says her husband suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the Vietnam War.
Barbara Nichols told KTVZ her husband Jerry was a kind and caring man who "wouldn't hurt a fly."
Bend police say the 64-year-old was combative with staff at the St. Charles Medical Center on Aug. 12.
Nichols went outside the hospital and threatened an officer. Police say the officer deployed a Taser. When that failed, he used an "open hand strike."
Police and a deputy district attorney declined further comment until the medical examiner releases a report.
Nichols says her husband was ill that day because he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
