Police killings
2013-2020

William Sage Berger

Male, White

Date of the incident: 6/13/2013

Spokane, Spokane, WA
5501 S. Regal St

When answering a call on Berger being disorderly in a gym, Deputy Steve Paynter approached him in the street and tasered him. Berger ran and resisted. Deputy Shawn Audie arrived and Berger was tasered 2-4 times. While the three struggled, Audie put him in two lateral vascular neck restraints (sleeper holds). "Berger stopped resisting, at which time deputies noticed that he had stopped breathing,” according to Washington State Patrol Trooper Jeff Sevigny. Although the cause of White's death was initially reported as taser, the autopsy report showed asphyxiation. In June 2014, White's father filed a claim for $100m and started www.willbfund.org.