Yes, the carnage caused by miscreants in the ranks of law enforcement sworn to protect and serve the public continues unabated. Obviously using a Taser is appropriate in instances where a gun need not be used, but as we can see, this device can be a lethal weapon, and its use in some situations is highly questionable. From Taser of the Day, which monitors news stories about the device’s use.
Given the number of these incidents, tasing in many cases becomes a first resort rather than a next-to-last resort, even when the number of officers outnumbers the alleged perpetrator by a large margin.
- Jan 4th: Brandon Smiley, 27, Mobile County, Alabama, after becoming violent with the crew of an ambulance taking him to the hospital for treatment for a suspected drug overdose.
- Jan 4th: Ryan Rich, 33, Las Vegas, Nevada (unidentified in original article), after driving erratically, crashing into a wall, and trying to resist police removing him from his vehicle.
- Jan 9th: Otis C. Anderson, 36, Fayetteville, North Carolina, asked police for help, then ran, encountered police again, become combatitive, was shocked, then stopped breathing during his arrest.
- Jan 11th: Xavier Jones, 29, Coral Gables, Florida, “became unresponsive” after police responding to calls about a man at a party being disruptive shocked him for resisting arrest.
- Jan 15th: Mark C. Backlund, 29, Fridley, Minnesota, unidentified in the original article, shocked after he “became uncooperative” with police after a car accident.
Our friends north of the border are experiencing plenty of unnerving events like this:
A Halifax Youth Court judge criticized three police officers Tuesday for their arrest of a teenage girl, who was tackled in her own bed and shocked twice with a stun gun last February.But wait, back here in the States, we now have civilians using Tasers as a discipline device. Here’s parenting skilz for you:“The spectacle of a 17-year-old girl being Tasered in her bedroom is a very disturbing and disconcerting one,” Halifax Youth Court Judge Anne Derrick said in her ruling on the charges of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer.
“I find the police acted outside the scope of their authority in arresting [the girl] and that she was entitled to resist and committed no offence in doing so, and I acquit her of the charges before the court.”
A former Albany man has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for using a high-voltage stun gun on his 18-month-old son. Rian Wittman was arrested in February and agreed to a plea bargain last year. The sentence was imposed Friday.Related:Prosecutor Reed Dinsmore said the stun gun delivered 30,000 volts during testing. “This is a case of a father torturing his 18-month-old son,” prosecutor Reed Dinsmore said. “Why? We can’t tell.” He said it’s not yet known whether the child will suffer long-term nerve or neurological damage.
* Pennsylvania man tased in his own home
* Out of control tasing continues
* Taser sadism on tape
* More out-of-control tasing - Ohio
* Police taser parties
* Taser of the Day blog
* Tasered While Black blog
Hat tip, Electronic Village.
39 Responses to “January body count: five men die after being Tasered”
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The really scary thing about this is that we already know that cops don’t recognize an epileptic seizure when it happens in front of them and decide that the guy is resisting arrest when he’s seizing uncontrollably.
How many people with medical problems have died because the cops were too lazy to figure out why they were convulsing?
I’m at a loss for words. Again.
BTW, reading about the girl of 17, I assumed immediately that the cops were on trial for innapropriate use of the taser, but no, it was her up on charges, for resisting arrest.
I was watching television the other morning and saw a promo for some guest on one of the morning shows who represented a group that is urging women to carry tasers. Now, I’m all for women being able to defend themselves. However, if we can’t count on trained police officers to use the taser effectively, do we want untrained civilians to be running around with them?
They made Anne Derrick (here, http://www.courts.ns.ca/images_05/campbell_curran_derrick.jpg on the right) a judge? Holy Crap! I am amazed and very impressed. Lifelong social justice advocates very very very rarely get appointed to the bench! Even the liberal judges tend to move in the correct social circles. Well done, Nova Scotia!
Tasers work by causing involutary contractions to the skeletal muscles. The actual amount of power is tiny. In the cases cited there was other trauma to the individual such as having crashed a car or O.D.ing on drugs. You have to remember that stress causes heart attacks all the time when no Taser is present. So do drugs and blut-force trauma.
When an ME lists being tasered as the cause of death; I’ll believe it. Of course this doesn’t address the issue of using the device inappropriately as a device for coercion and not a defensive device.
Mnemosyne-When I worked at the bank I had a customer with epilepsy who had been arrested several times for drunk and disorderly while having a seizure. And he wore a prominent medical alert pendant. The last time I saw him, he was fighting charges in court. Poiice are often first responders in medical emergencies and if they can’t be trained to recognize medical conditions like epilepsy, then they shouldn’t be first responders.
Jesus.
Chicago just announced that we’re going to buy lots more tasers. We currently have 650, but we want 2300 more for ALL of our cops. It’s going to be standard equipment.
Shit.
As I’ve said before, my inlaws are all cops, so I know more of the good and bad than most. Unless there is strong regulation, training, and consequences for misues it is going to turn out very very badly for some people.
I think a lot of people are going to have to die before any regulations/enforcement happens.
but hey! it’ll keep us safe, right? It’s all good if it stops the islamofascists!
What the heck did they do before tasers? Whatever it was, they should return to it.
So if a guy uses a taser to discipline his son, it’s torture and he gets 48 months, but the police can use them whenever someone is resisting arrest? There need to be civil and criminal penalties for cops inappropriately assessing the threat of someone ‘resisting arrest’.
There need to be civil and criminal penalties for cops inappropriately assessing the threat of someone ‘resisting arrest’.
That’s what gets me — IIRC, in most jurisdictions, you can be prosecuted for resisting arrest even if you didn’t commit any crime. The mere resistance to being arrested is a crime in and of itself.
And that’s just fucked up.
It’s sad that I have to cling to the sliver of good news that society can still recognize that using a Taser(tm) is torture when it’s a civilian using it on a baby. And that there’s a glimmer of fear in my heart that our justice system might forget even that.
Chicago just announced that we’re going to buy lots more tasers. We currently have 650, but we want 2300 more for ALL of our cops. It’s going to be standard equipment.
Hey, if a nightstick was good enough to beat up my grandfather, it should be good enough to be me up!
I’m joshin’ you because I’m from the North Shore, and all of us suburban kids were rightfully scared shitless of Chicago cops. As I always said, Chicago cops didn’t discriminate — they’d beat you down no matter what color you were.
The 18 month old child will be okay. Why? Because his parents were straight, together, and his father was present in the home, that’s why!
Wingnut logic, of course … kids are only damaged by gay parents and mothers who exhibit sexuality of any sort!
Yup, and Tasers don’t cause stress on a person, nooooooooooooooo sir! Why, they’re perfectly harmless, no matter how many people die because they’re used in an inappropriate (and often wholly unwarrantred) manner!Tell me, if being Tasered is no big thing, why don’t you let someone do it to you?
(New record: five comments before an authoritarian came along to defend these actions.)
When an ME lists being tasered as the cause of death; I’ll believe it.
Here ya go.
According to the article, it’s been listed as the direct cause of death 4 times and cited as a contributing factor at least 30 times. Of course, these statistics depend on the Taser Corp., which only started gathering them a couple of years ago.
“When an ME lists being tasered as the cause of death; I’ll believe it.”
So, Magis, believe it now? And what does “I’ll believe it” mean to you anyway? Does it mean you support firing/arresting/disciplining cops, or does it turn into a “ya gotta break some eggs to make an omelet” excuse?
“Of course this doesn’t address the issue of using the device inappropriately as a device for coercion and not a defensive device.”
Well, no it doesn’t. And the problem is the cops will always pull the old “I thought I saw a gun/knife/brick/etc.!” when cornered. So only the most obviously egregious cases ever come to light. Who knows how much “street justice” is being handed out by cops who want to act as judge/jury/punisher?
I don’t know if this is covered by current rules (which I’m sure vary by department), but I think every use of a taser should be documented, just as every use of the officer’s firearm is now.
I’m sure it won’t stop all of the abuse, or even most of it, but maybe a message will be sent that’s harder to ignore…
BTW, where the hell is cookie, anyway?…
It’s a real shame that his father tazered him rather than his mother. Then we could have called it a post-birth abortion.
Nutroot logic, of course…
seroj, that was just so funny I forgot to laugh.
Damian,
I was looking for satire rather than belly laughs.
Let’s just say I am more than a little disgusted that Ms. Kate chose to use the torture of a 18 month old to take a cheap shot for gay adoption.
That wasn’t very funny either, really.
So in a thread about police brutality and people being killed by supposedly “non-lethal” weapons, what seroj is really upset about is gay adoption.
Nice priorities there, pal.
Mnemosyne,
Nice reading comprehension.
Knowing Ms Kate, hers was satire too, seroj- she is a pretty nice gal and a big supporter of gay rights…
Jeez, I’ve been awake too long when I start to answer w/o thinking like that- these 4:45 am days are killing me.
seroj, nice trolling. Now kindly shut up so the adults can talk.
I have. Very weird feeling; you just sort of turn to rubber. By the way, at least in our jurisdiction, you can’t carry one until you’ve been hit by one.
Rhea:
What did they do before? It was called a .357 Magnum or 12 gauge buckshot.
I personally know an officer who had to use deadly force. The department had Tasers but they weren’t certified to carry them yet. The “if only” had a terrible effect on him.
Mnemosyne,
Nice reading comprehension.
We have an entire thread about people dying because of police overusing Tasers, and yet your only comment is to get upset that Ms. Kate would make a grim joke about gay adoption.
The only evidence I can go by is what you post here, and from that evidence, you’re far more concerned about gay adoption than people being killed in police custody. Sorry, whose priorities are out of whack here?
I personally know an officer who had to use deadly force. The department had Tasers but they weren’t certified to carry them yet. The “if only” had a terrible effect on him.
So if the guy had died from being Tasered instead of being shot, the cop would have felt no remorse and wouldn’t have questioned his actions that led to the death?
Frankly, I’d worry about the cop who doesn’t worry about the “if onlys” in any violent confrontation, because it means that s/he wasn’t interested in defusing the situation, only in being able to legally open a can of whupass on some poor citizen.
Well, there’s a little good news. Chicago plans to shell out for the $1000 tasers equipped with video cameras.seroj, gimme a break. This isn’t the first time you’ve posted here. You’re not being accused of being insensitive for just the one insensitive post.
More on the 18-month-old:
wtf is wrong with these people??If people who have just been in an accident are at higher risk for heart attack (and frankly, I would have been thinking more about broken bones, torn ligaments, and other injuries that could be worsened through electric-induced convulsions), shouldn’t the police be especially careful not to tase them unless they are definitely pointing guns?
Not getting out of your car after a crash is NOT dangerous behavior. It IS however, a indicator that you may be in need of medical assistance. Concussion, neck injury, broken bones, bleeding– or just plain damage to the car making you unable to get out are the things the police should be thinking about.
And teenage girls tend to freeze and pull up the covers when their are strange men in their bedroom. The correct response to *that* is to talk her down from her panic. If you need to search the room, hand her a robe or something to put on so she can cooperate. Did NONE of the cops have daughters?
The other cases sound bizarre. A man asked cops for help before his erratic behavior prompted a tasering? Wouldn’t that suggest that whatever the cause of his behavior, he wasn’t looking for a fight?
TaserDad got less than five years? I hope TaserDad’s cellmates know exactly what he’s in for.
Why is it always the false dichotomy of “It’s either tasers or deadly force in the form of nightsticks and bullets.”? Why is it that instead of demanding a higher standard of conduct with greater consequences for wrongdoing, we have people making excuses for the police?
I can’t really explain it any more clearly: police officers have the ability to do things no regular citizen can which gives them a greater level of power over other citizens along with a vastly increased ability to do harm to other citizens. They can investigate, arrest, detain, conduct surveillance on, imprison and utilize lethal force against other citizens. They do not need to be cut any slack on top of that.
If they can’t do their job under scrutiny, under certain penalty of wrongdoing and under the stricture of remembering that they’re not knights in a feudal kingdom where the serfs can be dealt with as they please if said serfs don’t show enough respect (or fear), they need to get another fucking job.
Mike, I am here, just sitting here reading all these idiotic posts. It is amazing to me how ignorant and misinformed some people are! Everyone knows my position on tasers. I carry one everyday and will continue to carry it and use it when I need it. I am just tired of arguing with stupid people!
cookie, thank god you’re here!
I was getting worried there. In order for Pandagon to present all views, as any good lefty blog would do, we need your insane, fascist rantings too.
seroj just isn’t a good substitute.
NOW this thread can be considered complete…
A few years back, I was in a car accident and cracked the windshield good with my head. While I sat in the passenger’s seat, dazed and unsure of what had just happened, a police officer started asking questions. What year is it? How many fingers am I holding up? In my state of confusion and pain, I thought the questions were stupid and annoying, and got quite cranky with the cop. Guess if that happened now, I’d get tased.
It seems blindingly obvious that people who have just been in car accidents don’t act normally.
I used to work for government and I’ll tell you that nearly every sane one has a piece within easy distance. “I may be charged but I’ll be alive.” is the thought process. After being threatened with bodily harm and death by a co-worker, I felt it necessary to procure a carry permit. A Taser would have been preferable as my gun training is for fatal or near-fatal wounds. A Taser might kill, my shooting would.
Given the option of being shot or Tased, I’ll pick Tased as my morbidity/mortality is less. On the other hand, I don’t f**k with police.
And nobody knows idiocy like cookie.
So, Internet Tough Guy, just how tough are you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkVmj-pzNc
more than a few sadists are attrated to professions where tehy hold physical power over people, and the top profession that attracts these kinds is police enforcement. add to that fact that most of the sadists are misogynistic. the taser is a perfect toy for them: they can have ultimate control over a woman’s body, make her do things like convulse (in itself, looking orgasmic), & hurt her of course.
You’ve just handed them the perfect tool.
Of course, these statistics depend on the Taser Corp., which only started gathering them a couple of years ago.
The Taser Corp. has also falsely claimed that they have never lost a lawsuit against them. Turns out that isn’t quite true; there are a number of cases where they have settled “out of court”. When confronted with that information, Taser simply said they counted those cases as having “won” because no verdict was entered against them.
Wouldn’t want to mess with the share price, y’know.