Brent & Fiol and Altair Law Partner to Represent Epileptic Man in Civil Rights against Hercules, CA Police
On February 7, 2025, Brent & Fiol partner David Fiol, in partnership with co-counsel Craig Peters of Altair Law, LLP, filed a civil rights complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of Jack Bruce, a 21 year old man beginning a career in the building trades and against the Hercules Police Department and three of its officers, Angel Garcia, Michael Thompson and Joshua Goldstein.
The case arises out of events that occurred on April 1, 2024, when Mr. Bruce suffered a grand mal seizure while driving on a local road near his home. It was his first seizure, although not his last; he has since been diagnosed with epilepsy. At least two other drivers witnessed Mr. Bruce convulsing behind the wheel and recognized he was having a seizure, and after his car slowly rolled into a shallow ditch they entered his car to turn it off and remove the keys. They also called 911 and told the dispatcher that Mr. Bruce was having a seizure. This was conveyed to first responders, first through dispatch, and again by the witnesses when officers and paramedics arrived at the scene.
Fortunately, Mr. Bruce suffered no serious injuries as a result of the accident; indeed the only damage to his car was to the front bumper. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of his ordeal that day.
Officers from the Hercules Police Department (HPD) and paramedics from the Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District responded to the scene, and after initially acknowledging the need to give Mr. Bruce time to recover from the seizure, they inexplicably decided to remove him from the car, willingly or not. Mr. Bruce alleges that decision violated training that both paramedics and police officers receive as rookies: they are counseled to avoid restraining seizure victims, and that any combative conduct should not be mistaken for conscious criminal activity.
Despite that training, defendants Garcia, Thompson and Goldstein forcibly removed Mr. Bruce from his car, pulling him out by his hair and his limbs, tasing him three times, punching him in the face at least twice, and leaving him blooded and bruised and with back injuries that continue to impair him almost a year after the event.
The complaint also alleges that in order to cover up their misconduct, the officers submitted false reports to the Contra Costa District Attorney, accusing Plaintiff of driving under the influence and interfering with a police officer (a felony) even after Mr. Bruce provided them with medical records memorializing his epilepsy diagnosis. Throughout their accounts of the incident, the defendants untruthfully claimed that Mr. Bruce was combative upon their arrival, when their own BWC videos make clear that Mr. Bruce was docile until they began their pointless and improper attempts to force him out of his car.
The District Attorney refused to file charges.
Download the Complaint here 
Links to Media Coverage of the Lawsuit
San Francisco Chronicle
Lawsuit: East Bay man tased, arrested by police after having seizure
KTVU FOX 2
VIDEO: Hercules police shock man, 21, with Taser 3x while he was experiencing medical emergency
NBC Bay Area
Hercules man beaten by police while having seizure sues department
CBS San Francisco
Man tasered by Hercules police after crashing his car during seizure files lawsuit
Law & Crime
Lawsuit accuses cops of excessive force on man with seizure
Courthouse News Service
Man who suffered seizure while driving claims police brutality
Daily Mail Online
Moment California cops TASER man having a seizure after crashing down 20ft cliff