BORING, Ore. (AP) — A medical examiner says a frail 87-year-old woman died of heart disease after an officer used a stun gun on her, but the post-mortem investigation isn’t finished.
Clackamas County officers say they used the stun gun Thursday after Phyllis Owens pointed a handgun at a ditch digger and then, as officers approached, picked up the weapon again.
Dr. Larry Lewman of the medical examiner’s office said Friday that Owens had a history of heart disease, and a healthy person wouldn’t have died in similar circumstances. He said he has yet to determine what effect the stun gun had on the woman’s pacemaker.
Officers say Owens lived alone in a rural housing development near Boring, had recently been in the hospital and apparently suffered from dementia.
