The Nevada County District Attorney’s office has completed its investigation into the death of a man who died at the hospital after he was shot with a Tazer and arrested by Grass Valley Police on April 22nd  of this year.     The autopsy and Coroner’s final report indicate that  52-year-old Wayne Bruce Chrestensen of Smartsville  ultimately died from “acute methamphetamine intoxication.”   Nevada County District Attorney Cliff Newell who was charged with conducting the independent investigation,  says  it appears that the officers used appropriate force in taking the suspect into custody and further undertook reasonable lifesaving measures when the suspect exhibited distress after  his arrest.

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On April 22,  at about 2:45 p.m. Grass Valley Police responded to a 911 call about a subject yelling and screaming while standing in the roadway in Front of the Pine Creek Shopping Center on Freeman Lane .  He was partially naked and combative, and   punched a driver in the side of the head as the driver had slowed at the scene.    As  Chrestensen continued to ignore the officers commands  the officer deployed his Taser striking Chrestensen in the torso.
After Chrestensen was restrained the officers noted that he was struggling to breathe so the restraints were removed  and CPR was initiated by the officers.  Fire department arrived and rescue efforts were taken over by paramedics who transported Chrestensen to Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital,  where he died the next morning.