Meth's deadly influence

When Craig Von Dohlen charged at deputies responding to his father?s 911 call for help, pointed his rifle and then died in a storm of Sheriff?s Department bullets outside his Sonoma home in December, he became part of a disturbing trend that so far has no solution.

Von Dohlen, 37, was the 11th suspect under the influence of methamphetamine killed by officers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties since 2000.

Add in Luis Felipe Sanchez, 27, under the influence of cocaine when he died in a gun battle with deputies in May 2007, and the trend comes clearly into focus: Methamphetamine or stimulants were a contributing factor in half of the 24 officer-involved deaths during the past nine years.

That?s not a surprise to police officers on the streets, where meth, also known as crank, is believed to be a contributing factor in up to three-quarters of all violent confrontations between suspects and police, officers in several local departments said.

?We get blamed because a person dies, but it was their use of drugs that pushed them to it,? said former Santa Rosa Police Chief Tom Simms, who retired Thursday.

Among dangerous drugs, meth is the most often reported drug of choice in Sonoma County drug rehabilitation programs, said Gino Giannavola, Sonoma County director of alcohol and drug services.

Forty-five percent to 70 percent of all patients entering programs list meth as their primary drug, Giannavola said.

The lure of meth is strong because the drug, already desirable because of its comparatively low price, alters brain chemistry to release dopamine, a chemical related to motivation and pleasure, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

But that chemical change also can intensify or change a person?s behavior.

?It increases aggression and decreases fear. It increases feelings of physical fitness and leads to paranoia and anxiety,? said Dr. Anthony Boyce, a chemical dependency specialist at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa. ?For someone strung out on crank, they don?t feel pain.?

That combination of emotions and physiological symptoms can lead to violence, Boyce said. For officers, confrontations become dangerous.

?Things like Tasers may not have an effect on them,? Boyce said. ?In my opinion, it is a cop?s worst nightmare.?

Of the 24 people killed by officers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties since 2000, a quarter of the victims suffered from documented mental illness.

Another three were drunk when they confronted officers, and two were fugitives with guns who threatened officers. One case, the Taser-related death of 39-year-old Nathan Vaughn, remains under investigation.

In Rohnert Park, where three of the meth-related deaths occurred, Sgt. Art Sweeney said the link between meth, law enforcement involvement and death is no coincidence.

?Meth alters the behavior of an individual so that they engage in behavior that requires a response by cops,? he said. ?Usually there is some physical altercation and from there to dead happens pretty fast.?

In autopsy reports of those killed by law enforcement the presence of meth is considered a ?significant condition,? said Mendocino County Sheriff?s Lt. Rusty Noe.

But the condition is considered more for its physiological dangers than any physical ones.

?Probably if (a suspect) was straight and sober, he wouldn?t have done this type of thing. But the excitement and chemical changes in his body then contribute to his death,? Noe said.

The similarities in the deaths of these victims are striking.

All but one are men, and half were in their 30s at the time of their deaths.

Two-thirds were armed with real or realistic guns, which they used to threaten family, neighbors or officers, reports indicate.

And all were aggressive in resisting arrest, a fact that authorities concluded in every circumstances originated with the use of meth.

Of the 12 suspects under the influence of meth or cocaine at the time of their deaths, nine were shot by officers. Three of the 12 were shot with Tasers, which deliver an electric shock through darts fired into a suspect?s skin.

?We have to escalate our force to deal with the level of resistance, which is going to be a baton or Taser or pepper spray and if someone is armed, we have to deal with deadly force,? said Santa Rosa Police Officer Tim Hughes. ?Meth seems to be a primer to a lot of that violence.?

Public watchdog groups have focused on officer-involved deaths, particularly those in which victims died after being hit with Tasers.

If drugs are behind the deaths, a more pragmatic solution than limiting use of force should be found, said Carl Patrick, coordinator of Impact, an activist group based in Petaluma.

?If the problem is drug abuse, and it clearly is, then the answer is not police intervention or increased use of force,? he said. ?The much more productive solution is increased treatment and programs.?

Help for meth users is available, but most drug abuse recovery services in Sonoma County are based in the criminal justice system, Giannavola said.

?The best way to get help is through the courts,? Giannavola said.

In Von Dohlen?s case, the autopsy report found that he had a near-lethal level of methamphetamine in his system. His father, in excerpts of a 911 call released by the Sheriff?s Department, said his son was suicidal and had threatened to ?blow? his head off.

The Von Dohlen?s family declined comment, directing questions to their attorney, Michael Fiumara. He said in regard to the deputies? response to Craig Van Dohlen, ?things could have been done differently.?

A doctor or therapist with experience in stimulant drugs could have been on hand to defuse the situation, cameras could have recorded the confrontation, an ambulance, which Fiumara maintains arrived after Von Dohlen was dead, could have arrived sooner, he said.

As for the meth found in Von Dohlen?s blood during an autopsy, Fiumara said, ?It was a surprise to his parents and those who knew him. He kept his drug use from them.?

It boils down to training and experience, Sonoma County Sheriff?s Sgt. Chris Bertoli said.

?With other drugs you could find someone who is under the influence, and you can handcuff them right away and take them into custody. With (meth) they are already past that point, they are out of control,? Bertoli said. ?You?ve got to make that snap judgment.?

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@

pressdemocrat.com.