A man died early Thursday in Fife after Puyallup tribal police shocked him with a Taser in a hotel room at the Emerald Queen Casino, tribal spokesman John Weymer said.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man as Sampson Castellane, 29, of Tacoma.
The casino security team patroling the building’s parking garage looked through a hotel room window and saw two men fighting about 1:30 a.m., Weymer said. The security personnel called tribal police, and two officers arrived and knocked on the hotel room door.
One of the men in the room attacked the officers, who tried to subdue him and used a Taser, Weymer said. The man was handcuffed and shortly thereafter stopped breathing, Weymer said. CPR was performed, and the man was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The incident was under investigation, and the officers involved are on paid administrative leave per departmental policy, Weymer said.
