A 37-year-old man who was Tasered by a deputy while allegedly violently resisting arrest at Honeymoon Island on Saturday has died.

James Clifton Barnes had been on a ventilator in critical condition. A candlelight vigil was held for him Monday night.

His family and friends say he was having a religious experience and baptizing himself.  

“I know my brother and my brother would not fight with police or anyone,” said his brother, Mike Barnes.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri painted a very different picture. 

Gualtieri said Department of Environmental Protection officer Joseph Tactuk was passing by on an ATV when he saw an altercation in the water between Barnes and his aunt, Paula Yount. Tactuk entered the water to arrest Barnes and a fight broke out between the men.

"It was a very violent struggle, which may have lasted as long as five minutes in the water, which is a huge amount of time," Gualtieri said.

The sheriff said Tactuk was able to get Barnes onto the beach and apply at least one handcuff. At that point, a call for backup brought sheriff's marine deputy Kenneth Kubler and ground units to the scene. Before Barnes was subdued, Kubler used his Taser on him repeatedly, Gualtieri said.

"As (the deputies) were responding and officer Tactuk was struggling with Mr. Barnes, ... (Tactuk) was able to get ... a second handcuff applied," Gualtieri said. "But it wasn't in the proper or traditional way. "It was in a very tangled way that the handcuffs were applied. And, I understand one of the handcuffs was behind Mr. Barnes' head, one was up his back, and Mr. Barnes was able to use his elbows and use his head. He was still lashing out at the officers. He was kicking violently as well."

Gualtieri said Kubler warned Barnes before discharging the Taser for three seconds - "less than the normal cycle of five seconds," the sheriff said.

But Barnes continued kicking violently, Gualtieri said, citing the accounts of law enforcement officers and witnesses, and Kubler discharged the Taser two more times.

Gultiari said the third discharge stopped Barnes, but that when officers removed the handcuffs to apply them properly, they saw that Barnes was not breathing.

A physician and an off-duty paramedic who were present provided medical assistance, and Pinellas County emergency medical crews continued revival attempts.

Barnes was then taken to Bayfront Medical Center in critical condition. He died Monday afternoon. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause and manner of death.

According to the sheriff’s office’s policy on Taser use, the only time an officer is permitted to use the weapon is during active resistance.

If he had recovered, Barnes would've face felony charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence, the sheriff said.

Tests on Barnes were negative for alcohol consumption, but he did have some marijuana in his system.

Gualtieri said there is no indication Kubler, who has been with the sheriff's office since 1982, crossed any line in the arrest.

But Barnes’s family said the Taser was unnecessary and cost Barnes his life.
 
“It’s terrible what human hands can do to another.  And a Taser on top of that.  It’s not a non-lethal weapon,” Mike Barnes said.

Neither Kubler nor Tactuk, who was hired by the DEP in 2010, were placed on leave.

Detectives are asking that anyone who may have been on Honeymoon Island on Saturday at the time of the incident and has information that may assist them in this investigation to contact Detective Jeff Capra of the Robbery Homicide Unit at 727-582-6200.