Sebastopol has agreed to pay $1.95 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by a Sonoma County man who says police tased him and broke his arm while he was in the middle of a diabetic emergency on July 24, 2024. The incident, captured on police body-worn camera and described in court filings, also left the man separated from his then 6-year-old daughter, his attorneys say. City officials and lawyers reached the deal this week to resolve claims of excessive force, false arrest and unlawful detention.
Settlement terms and who’s named
The city signed off on the agreement yesterday, committing to pay $1.95 million to resolve the federal complaint, according to The Press Democrat. The suit identifies Officer Forrest Whitehall as the officer who deployed a Taser and lists Sgt. Cameron Fenske and Capt. James Hickey, among the other defendants, is the outlet that reports. The newspaper published its story on July 3, after the parties notified the court that they had reached a deal.
What the lawsuit alleges
According to The Sacramento Bee, the complaint says Callaghan, who has Type 1 diabetes, began losing consciousness while driving with his daughter and crashed near Gravenstein Highway. Body-camera footage described in the filings allegedly shows Officer Whitehall threatening to tase Callaghan, then using the stun device multiple times as the child screamed. Lawyers further allege that a sheriff’s deputy knelt on Callaghan’s shoulder, fracturing his right forearm, and that he remained handcuffed for nearly five hours before receiving medical care.
Court timeline
Callaghan filed the federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on July 24, 2025. The case is docketed as 3:25-cv-06225, according to Justia. The docket shows the case was sent to settlement conferences and moved through pretrial scheduling before the parties told the court in early July that they had reached an agreement. The filings and timeline are available in the court docket linked above.
Local response and legal implications
Callaghan’s attorney, Izaak Schwaiger, called the officers' conduct unacceptable and said the settlement represents a step toward accountability, according to press statements cited by The Sacramento Bee. The complaint also states that the Sonoma County District Attorney declined to prosecute the matter in February, and it argues that officers pushed for charges in an effort to cover up excessive force. City officials have not yet given details on how the payout will be funded and have previously said the city handles pending litigation through the legal process.
Why it matters locally
Civil rights attorneys note that cases where medical crises are mistaken for intoxication have led to costly settlements and uncomfortable questions about training, de-escalation and Taser use. For example, the San Anselmo tasing payout covered by Hoodline involved a multimillion-dollar settlement after officers stunned a man during a seizure. The Sebastopol payout fits into a broader pattern that has pushed smaller agencies and their insurers to re-examine how they respond to people in medical distress.
The settlement takes the immediate threat of a jury trial off the table, but legal observers say it could still prompt policy changes and added scrutiny of how local officers handle medical emergencies. City and police officials did not respond to requests for comment about the terms beyond confirming that a settlement had been reached, as reported by The Press Democrat.
