dont know about switchplayer, but what you could do if respawn group is on, is
1) save players group
2) have player join grpnull
3) createunit in uniform you want
4) createunit join group player
5) setdammage 1 to player
6) when player is alive again, have player rejoin his initial group
and hide the change in a cutscene
I believe there are issues with switch player, but not exaclty sure what these are