Just days after Long Beach agreed to pay $325,000 to the family of a 25-year-old man who died after a confrontation with security officers in the Downtown jail, newly obtained details reveal he was Tasered at least seven times and left handcuffed and face down in the minutes before his death.

Police officials say that in the aftermath of the November 2018, death of Alan Ramos, more than a dozen changes were implemented in the jail, including retraining some officers on the use of Tasers and on the suffocation dangers of keeping an individual handcuffed and prone.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner did not, however, conclude that Ramos’ face-down position for some 15 minutes or the numerous shocks administered by multiple officers influenced his death.

Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. J. Daniel Augustine said in his autopsy report that Ramos was “at risk for sudden cardiac death” because of an enlarged heart. He said Ramos’ prone position, the use of Tasers and evidence of methamphetamine in his system merely reflect “the circumstances under which the death occurred” and could not be considered contributory factors.

Michael Carrillo, the attorney for Ramos’ mother and 10-year-old son, said the coroner’s determination effectively undermined their civil lawsuit. It also likely put an end to any possible criminal culpability for the officers.

“Once a coroner does that, it’s like it’s an uphill battle for us,” said Carrillo, who negotiated the out-of-court settlement approved by the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday.

Ramos, Carrillo argued, was overweight and his heart condition left him vulnerable to the effects of “positional asphyxia,” the medical term for when body positioning prevents a person from breathing adequately.

He contended that jail security personnel, who are not fully empowered police officers, were inadequately trained on the fatal risks of the prone position. “They just thought they could leave him like that,” Carrillo said of Ramos, “and it results in people’s death.”

The events leading up to Ramos’ fatality are detailed in the coroner’s report, which was initially kept confidential, as well as in legal filings connected to the family’s suit, filed in September, 2019. In addition, Long Beach police officials, responding Thursday to questions from the Post, provided additional details and context.

Police arrested Ramos on Nov. 10, 2018, during an alleged family dispute. Officers suspected  he was under the influence of methamphetamine and discovered he had a warrant out for his arrest on assault charges.

After about 36 hours in a Downtown Long Beach holding cell, Ramos attacked another inmate, who responded by briefly putting Ramos in a chokehold.

A group of jail security officers rushed to break up the fight. When Ramos resisted, three fired their Tasers.

The lawsuit alleges Ramos was hit a total of nine times over the span of about two minutes, “in some cases for as long as 12 seconds.” Police, in their account at the time, said he was Tasered “at least” seven times.

In their statement to the Post Thursday, police said jail security officers eventually handcuffed Ramos on the cell floor, where they left him prone for about five minutes before pulling him into an open area. There, he was kept face down for about another 10 minutes, with officers and a jailhouse nurse periodically checking on him.

At some point during that brief time, Ramos became unresponsive and paramedics were summoned. They found Ramos without a pulse and not breathing, still handcuffed in a prone position. Ramos was transported to St. Mary Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 3:41 p.m.—roughly 40 minutes after the initial jail fight began.

The lawsuit filed by the Ramos family accused officers of being negligent for even putting Ramos with other inmates. In 2017, according to the suit, he’d gotten into an earlier jail fight and exhibited “serious mental health issues,” including “paranoid ideations and delusions of grandeur.”

Carrillo said the case’s medical aspects—and  the importance of a coroner’s cause-of-death determination—has echoes of the George Floyd case in Minnesota.

Floyd, like Ramos, had an enlarged heart, was kept in a prone position and had traces of methamphetamine in his system, according to the Hennepin County medical examiner. But the doctor there made a key distinction, concluding that the knee restraint applied to Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes by Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was the primary trigger for his heart and lung failure.

In Ramos’ case, the medical examiner, “went out of his way” to emphasize heart disease as the primary cause of death as opposed to anyone’s actions, Carrillo said.

Long Beach police know the risks of keeping an individual in a prone position. The department bars officers from leaving restrained prisoners face down for any extended period. Once under control and handcuffed, an individual should be placed in a seated position “as soon as reasonably possible,” according to the department’s manual.

Police department policy also prohibits officers from putting prisoners in a “hog-tied” position with their feet bound to their handcuffs, which Carrillo alleges was done to Ramos.

In their statement Thursday, police administrators said Ramos’ death prompted “an extensive review” of what happened and whether officers’ actions were justified.

They concluded that jail security officers failed to follow department policy on keeping individuals handcuffed and prone for longer than absolutely necessary.

Although the involved officers weren’t disciplined, the department said, they were ordered to be retrained on their deficiencies—including on how and when to use their Tasers.

In addition, 18 projects were initiated “to enhance operations in our Jail,” according to police officials. Some of those included equipment purchases, equipment training and updated camera equipment for the facility.

The department also emphasized that it has successfully worked hard to reduce unnecessary use of force in all areas of officers’ work by stressing the importance of de-escalating tense encounters.

“While any loss of life under any circumstance is tragic,” the department said, “we have only observed one in-custody death in the last five years.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated to show it’s unclear if Ramos was ever shocked by multiple Tasers simultaneously. Police say he was not.