On the heels of news that the city of Pasadena will settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man killed while in Pasadena police custody, a recently released report offers new details into what happened the night of Reginald Thomas Jr.’s death on Sept. 30, 2016.

Written by Roger Clark, a retired deputy sheriff and consultant hired by the attorney representing Thomas family, the 40-page report claims Thomas’ death was a direct result of the officers’ actions, which Clark said were not in line with nationally accepted protocols. He also asserted Thomas never posed a risk to the officers.

Clark worked at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department between 1965 and 1993. According to the report, he’s been hired as a consultant to review more than 1,500 cases involving law enforcement, including in the case of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old Cleveland police shot and killed in 2014.

In the Pasadena case, Clark said that evidence of “multiple baton blows, Taser use, … kicks, punches, hobbling extreme weight on (Thomas’) body, and blows to his head were excessive and unreasonable.”

In response to Clark’s report, Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said in a statement: “The city disagrees with the opinions of retired sheriffs’ deputy Roger Clark, who served as the plaintiffs’ expert witness,” one that a judge already determined couldn’t testify in court about Taser use or the manner of “cause and manner of Mr. Thomas’ death.”

She added that Clark never received Taser training, nor did he ever use a Taser in the line of duty.

In the $1.5 million settlement struck between the city and the family, Pasadena does not admit any fault or liability on the city’s or police officers’ behalf. While the settlement is tentative, pending court approval, Derderian said city officials “convey condolences to Mr. Thomas’ family and friends.”

Clark’s report relays a thorough account of what happened in the 11-minute window from 2:44 a.m., when Thomas’ 15-year-old son spoke with a 911 dispatcher, to 2:55 a.m., when officers removed 35-year-old Thomas’ restraints because they noticed he was unresponsive. It cites numerous records, including:

The police report from the incident;

The sheriff’s department’s homicide report;

Six 911 calls from that night;

Video surveillance from the apartment complex;

Police audio recordings from the incident;

Data from the Tasers used;

Interviews with the officers involved;

Witness and police depositions.

The most revealing details come from a police officer’s own words to Pasadena police’s Internal Affairs. Officer Aaron Villicana was interviewed Oct. 4, 2016, four days after Thomas’ death.

According to the report, the events that led to Thomas’ death began late that night, after his girlfriend Shainie Lindsey and their four children went to bed. The report notes that Thomas “exhibited signs of intoxication, but never uttered a threat or aggressed on any officer.”

Family attorney Caree Harper said in a phone interview her clients are not disputing that Thomas “clearly had some intoxicating substances in his body.”

At some point, the report notes, Thomas acquired a handheld fire extinguisher and tucked a knife under his armpit. Thomas then “began deploying the fire extinguisher, into Shainie’s apartment, and also into (her 15-year-old son) Shane’s, face.”

Thomas himself then called 911 six times, the report said, although he “never explained why he called, and what he needed help with.”

According to the report, Shane spoke to the dispatcher in Thomas’ final call, reporting that Thomas was holding the knife in his armpit, not his hand. The operator asked if Thomas had threatened anyone with the knife, and Shane said he had not.

That final 911 call ended at 2:44 a.m., and six officers arrived three minutes later to find Thomas standing in the doorway, holding the fire extinguisher in both hands, a knife in his armpit. Officers reported ordering Thomas to drop the knife, but he did not.

Officer Thomas Butler then used a Taser on Thomas, at which point Thomas “appeared to fall/retreat from the front door into the apartment living room,” the report said. Data from the Taser itself indicates Butler used it six times for a total of 26 seconds over a 64-second period, according to the report.

Lt. Mike Rosson of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau has previously said that officers used a Taser on Thomas three times throughout the altercation, but only one of the shocks was effective. The report said firefighters who responded to officers’ call for backup after Thomas became unresponsive found “no less than three different Taser lines emanating from Mr. Thomas’ body.”

Quoting a 2011 report by the Police Executive Research Forum and the U.S. Justice Department, Clark said Tasers can be a cause or contributing factor in someone’s death, especially if there are multiple applications, shocks that exceed 15 seconds — whether consecutive or cumulative — and simultaneous strikes.

In Villicana’s interview, he said he came upon the scene cold.

“I don’t know the extent of the call — I wasn’t following the history of the call,” he said. “All I got was, ‘Hey go assist these guys. This is basically what they have, a man armed with a knife and there’s a lot of screaming.’ So I don’t know if he even belongs there at that point. I don’t know if he’s family.”

Villicana described Thomas as incoherently yelling throughout his interactions with police and unresponsive to police commands.

Upon his arrival, Villicana was behind other officers and had to stand on a retaining wall to get a good view of the situation. He said Thomas was holding the fire extinguisher in a way that could be used as a weapon, but Villicana said he could not see a knife.

“As he had it at both of its ends, I’m thinkin’, okay, this guy could possibly throw this at me,” Villicana said, and another officer deployed a Taser. Villicana did not say who used the Taser the second time, but data from each officers’ stun gun show that in addition to Butler’s deployments, Officer Michael Orosco deployed his Taser six times for a total of 31 seconds over a 44-second period.

Villicana said Thomas continued “fighting through this (Taser) deployment.” At one point, Villicana said he asked where the knife was, and somebody said Thomas didn’t have it anymore. After that, Villicana said he unholstered his gun because he said he thought, “If this guy can fight through (the Taser), this is gonna be a potentially deadly encounter because he’s not stopping.”

He said he ordered an officer to use a baton to get Thomas to drop the fire extinguisher, and Orosco obeyed. Villicana said Orosco hit Thomas near his left arm, but Villicana was “not satisfied with the way, uh, Officer (Orosco) is hitting him with the baton because I wanted it to be harder.”

Villicana then said that even though the baton strikes and Taser deployments “did not work,” he decided he would not shoot Thomas, telling himself he didn’t want to end up “in the news tomorrow.”

More tasering and more struggling ensued. Villicana struck Thomas with his baton below his shoulder. “I can’t tell you how many times I — I officially hit him,” Villicana said. “But I hit him two to three times with my baton.”

Villicana said Thomas looked at him with a gaze that is typical of “people that are under the influence of controlled substances, that they have this thousand-yard stare,” and Thomas then grabbed for the officer’s baton.

“The only way I could defend myself and (my fellow officers), and also protect him from being harmed further, was to deliver two strikes, uh, kicks to his head to retrieve my baton,” Villicana said, adding he kicked Thomas to avoid shooting him.

“I delivered two to three strikes,” Villicana said. “I don’t remember. I can’t tell you the official amount of strikes. I kept with those strikes until I was able to retrieve my baton.”

As this happened, Villicana said another officer used a stun gun on Thomas, “and he’s still fighting.”

Meanwhile, the family, still nearby, watched the incident unfold. Villicana reported Lindsey, Thomas’ then-pregnant girlfriend, as yelling: “Why are you kicking him? Why are you hitting him with the baton? Why are you kicking him?”

Villicana told the family to leave, and they did. He then felt “the urgency to re-engage this suspect,” so he used his left knee to secure Thomas’ chest in what Villicana described as “a catcher’s stance.” In that position, Villicana said Thomas continued to scream and at one point appeared as if he might try to bite Villicana’s hand, so Villicana said he punched Thomas twice.

The first was “like a hammer first,” Villicana said, and the second was “a straight punch down.” Villicana later learned the second punch broke his hand.

At some point, Thomas was flipped on his stomach to cuff him, Villicana said.

Clark wrote that this series of actions by police did not live up to the Peace Officer Standards and Training, the protocols police officers nationwide are trained to follow. According to Clark, “officers are trained that they must act quickly to return the subject to an upright position” once restrained, due to the risk of asphyxiation. He also said officers are trained to know blows to the head can lead to death.

Clark said officers are also trained to not to put their body weight on suspects. They know not to place a restrained person in a position “with their face, chest, and/or stomach down” because of risk factors that could lead to death.

According to Villicana, after Thomas was cuffed, he continued to fight with his legs. Officers then secured his ankles with a hobble restraint. The police report indicates this happened at 2:50 a.m. They then put him on his side to check his waistband, when Villicana noticed “something odd.”

He realized Thomas had stopped fighting and stopped screaming. He looked at Thomas’ face and saw his eyelids and mouth drooping. Another officer detected a faint pulse. According to the police report, Thomas’ restraints came off at 2:55 a.m.

They checked his pulse again and found none. Despite CPR performed by officers and Pasadena Fire Department personnel, Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene.

Clark said it is clear to him the officers’ actions, “an overreaction driven by ‘subjective fear,'” led to Thomas’ death even though Thomas never posed a risk to the officers.

“It would have been apparent to any reasonably trained officer that multiple baton blows, Taser use, the kicks, punches, hobbling extreme weight on his body, and blows to his head were excessive and unreasonable,” Clark wrote.

Derderian said an internal review of the incident is ongoing. The city has also retained the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Police Foundation for an independent investigation in response to community concerns.

“The Police Department will complete its Internal Affairs review, at which time there may be recommendations made which will be considered,” she said, adding the Police Foundation’s review “may also result in recommendations that will be considered.”