Jury: Redwood City officer used excessive force

**Curt James** · 06-18-2011, 05:25 AM

Jury: Redwood City officer used excessive force

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, June 17, 2011

A policeman used excessive force against a diabetic bodybuilder by beating and pepper spraying him outside a Redwood City movie theater as he was slipping into insulin shock, which officers mistook for drunkenness, a federal court jury decided Thursday.

Doug Burns says Redwood City officers beat him as he suffered insulin shock, thinking he was drunk.
Photo: Mike Kepka / The Chronicle, File

The jury said Doug Burns suffered $217,000 in damages. But lawyers for Burns and the city disagreed on whether that amount must be reduced by 30 percent, to $152,000, because jurors also found that Burns' own negligence was a 30 percent cause of his injuries.

The jury didn't distinguish between damages caused by police negligence, which would be offset by Burns' degree of fault, and damages caused by excessive force, which would not be reduced. The damage assessment will be left up to U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg, who presided over the two-week trial.

Burns, 47, won a Mr. Universe bodybuilding contest in 2006. He was diagnosed with diabetes at age 7 and speaks at public events to raise awareness of the illness.

Police said a security guard called them to the downtown theater in April 2001 and said Burns appeared to be drunk or on drugs. They said he took a fighting stance when they approached, so one officer pepper sprayed him. The officers then wrestled Burns to the ground.

Burns said the officers beat him in the ribs with a baton, forced his forehead onto the concrete and continued to strike him as he lay on the ground. He said he wore a MedicAlert bracelet, identifying him as diabetic, and was suffering insulin shock that nearly became a life-threatening diabetic coma.

San Mateo County prosecutors initially charged Burns with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest, but dropped the case after deciding his medical condition left him unable to control his actions.

Burns' lawsuit said properly trained police would have recognized his condition, which is not unusual in cases of childhood-diagnosed Type 1 diabetes.

The eight-member jury deliberated for three days before finding that Officer Jaime Mateo had used excessive force and that both Mateo and Sgt. David Gough had acted negligently.

Burns said he hopes the verdict discourages police from finding people "guilty by appearance."

"It could have been somebody suffering an epileptic seizure, suffering a stroke," he said. "You can't just assume somebody is a criminal."

Joseph Howard, Redwood City's lawyer, said the city will appeal. He said the two officers, both 20-year veterans, testified Burns was not wearing a bracelet, they were unaware of his illness, and they used only reasonable force to subdue him.

From Jury: Redwood City officer used excessive force

**Curt James** · 06-18-2011, 05:26 AM

Doug Burns' Competitive Bodybuilding Record

1986 Mr America - AAU, Medium, 7th
2004 US Natural Championships - ABA, Masters, 1st
2006 Natural Universe - INBA, Medium, 1st

**Curt James** · 06-18-2011, 05:26 AM

Burns (with Denny Dressman) has a book available as well:

Amazon.com: The Diabetes Antidote An Exercise Prescription To Prevent Type 2, To Combat Type 1 (9780977428311): Denny Dressman: Books

**Curt James** · 06-18-2011, 05:29 AM

Here's also an article on Burns from 2007.

Doug Burns Pumps Weights and Insulin

Doug Burns, an athlete with type 1 diabetes, uses an insulin pump to manage his disease. Doug was diagnosed at the tender age of 7. At that time it was difficult to keep blood glucose in an acceptable range because home blood glucose meters were not available yet.

He remembers going to his doctor's office with a blood glucose as high as 1100 mg/dl. He was so thin from a number of occurrences of DKA his weight was only 53lbs at the age of 12!

Doug knew he needed to do something so he turned to lifting weights against his doctor's initial wishes. Having blood sugars that high and lifting weights would have been dangerous so the first step was trying to get better control. He lived in rural Mississippi with literally no gyms to follow his passion so he decided to make his own.

Using scrap metal for weights and a muscle magazine for guidance he started lifting weights to get away from his scrawny physique. He did not see results in the beginning perhaps due to his blood sugars being so out of whack. During this time home blood glucose meters became available giving him the added incentive to keep blood sugars within a safe range which also gave him more strength to lift weights.

Doug started to see positive results and began power lifting at age 16. Power lifting is weightlifting competition where individuals compete in three types of lifts, the squat, dead lift, and bench press. The winner is crowned by adding up the total amount of weight lifted on all three lifts.

Self-assured he entered his first competition but placed dead last. Ever the optimist, Doug was excited to say he entered his first show and within one year he won his first competition. He also began breaking state, regional, and national records.

Not satisfied with the status quo Doug decided to explore body building. This type of lifting is geared more towards how the body looks rather than increasing strength. Both types have challenges when it comes to monitoring blood sugar.

When lifting heavily for power lifting competitions high blood sugars were a concern due to increase adrenaline. Often times this high blood sugar came crashing down hours after heavy lifting. When training for a body building competition cutting weight was often a goal leading up to the event. Body builders typically want very low body fat to impress the judges. This type of training had its unique challenges with Doug's diabetes.

Doug found insulin pump therapy easier to handle these swings in blood sugar during training or competition. During a heavy lifting session if a high blood sugar came on his insulin pump could be programmed to give a little more insulin to help bring down a high blood sugar. He also was able to decrease the amount of insulin for hours afterwards to reduce the risk of low blood sugar too. One of the big advantages though was the ability to fine tune the basal rate on the pump to meet the decreasing insulin needs during training.

At the height of winning Mr. Universe, Doug began working on a new book on diabetes called the "The Diabetes Antidote" to be released early this summer. He is also to be hosting a fitness talk radio show for people with diabetes called SugarFitness. Finally he'll be on the cover of "Diabetes Explorer" this June available at your local Barnes & Noble. The goals are to spread the knowledge, excitement, tools and fitness coaching to millions of Americans who struggle with diabetes and obesity!

Whether it is power lifting or body building insulin pump therapy has made lifting sessions and competition easier for Doug to succeed without having diabetes get in the way. Doug credits insulin pump therapy and the folks at Animas as a big part of his plan leading up to a Mr. Universe contest that was far harder than he anticipated. He competed with very capable teams from Norway, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. In the end, Doug Burns, Type 1 diabetes, insulin pump user is the reigning 2006-2007 Mr. Universe!

Rick Philbin, MED, ATC, CSCS
National Board Member, Diabetes, Exercise & Sports Association
National Presenter, Children with Diabetes
Northeast Regional Manager, Animas Corporation
February 2007

2006-2007 INBA Natural Universe, Open Medium Class Champion
Doug Burns showing off his Animas IR-1250 insulin pump

From children with DIABETES - Doug Burns Pumps Weights and Insulin

**underdog5** · 06-19-2011, 10:23 PM

Thanks for the post, Curt. Good story.

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