$50M wrongful death suit against Suffolk police

Suffolk police denied a bipolar man with a heart condition his medications, then fatally beat him and zapped him with Tasers after he flooded his cell with toilet water during a psychological breakdown in May, his family claims in a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit.

The department, which had no comment Tuesday, said at the time its officers fired the Tasers after the man, Daniel McDonnell, 40, of Lindenhurst, charged at them naked while standing in a quarter-inch of the water.

But his family's attorney, Stephen Civardi of Freeport, said: "There can be no legal justification for using a Taser on a citizen multiple times . . . already in custody in a cell, and [who] was suffering from a mental disability."

The lawsuit says cops had ignored his parents' earlier pleas to get their son his needed medication. His mother, Bridget, was trying to get precinct officers to administer it, court papers said.

Asked last week about the 20-page suit, Suffolk police referred inquiries to the county attorney, who didn't return repeated calls for comment.

But in an interview after McDonnell's May 6 death, Suffolk Police Homicide Det. Sgt. Thomas Groneman said the department's general policy is to refuse to administer drugs that aren't properly labeled.

"If it's not in the proper prescription bottle, we don't administer it, because there could be any kind of drug in there," Groneman said at the time.

The suit was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on behalf of McDonnell's widow, Danielle, and his 9-year-old son, Devon. The litigation claims police also inflicted cruel and unusual punishment, used excessive force and were negligent.

Daniel McDonnell had been awaiting arraignment on a misdemeanor charge involving a dispute with a neighbor.

The suit alleges that in a holding cell after the May 5 arrest, cops struck McDonnell "with hands and fists and utilized multiple Taser strikes . . . causing him physical injury resulting in death."

Before the death, the suit said, Bridget McDonnell went to the precinct with the medication, but was repeatedly rebuffed. "Bridget McDonnell asked the desk officers to call CVS drugstore to confirm what the meds were and that they were extremely important and necessary to be given to her son. She was refused," the papers stated.

His mental condition deteriorated over 18 hours in custody and in the confrontation with police, he was struck in the chest with the Taser while standing in the water, the suit said.