Fla. Man Dead After Deputies Tase Him

A Florida man died yesterday after Broward County deputies Tased him for being "naked and belligerent" in public, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Paramedics said James Garland, 41, was too violent to treat after being zapped, so deputies drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Family members say they may file suit against the sheriff's office.

Garland had a history of drug-related arrests and was nabbed for cocaine possession just 2 weeks ago, a sheriff's spokesman said. He was also convicted of child molestation in 1991. His apparent death by Taser is not unusual: Since 2001, at least 290 people have died in the US after being zapped, six of them in South Florida. (More Taser stories.)