I can’t believe I’m writing about even more Taser horrors so soon. Stop the f*cking madness. I just can’t take it any more. Via African American Political Pundit:
As reported by many News Outlets and USA: Amnesty International Nine months after Emily Delafield, 56, died after being tased by police, her family has few answers about the events that led to her death. “This has been a very tragic and sad situation,” nephew Ryan Delafield said… Ryan Delafield says he is his aunt’s personal representative. In the weeks after her death he needed a death certificate for matters of her estate. “May, June, July… it was three months before we got the death certificate,” Delafield said.The officers have been cleared in the case - big surprise. From First Coast News (which has audio recordings from the 911 call).
Delafield, a schizophrenic, sounds calm at first on the audio tape. Police say when they got to her, she was armed with two knives and a hammer. Police say the wheelchair-bound woman was threatening to hurt herself and others.Let’s just wind the clock back before the advent of Tasers. Certainly the officers would have been able to subdue this woman without resorting to quasi-lethal methods. And when these officers drew out the devices, they applied the Tasing with gusto. Read in disbelief below the fold.Delafield is heard on the tape saying, “You better get back.” Police debated what to do and then used their tasers. In the audio recording, you can hear Delafield screaming.
“My aunt was basically tortured like an animal or something,” Delafield’s nephew, Ryan Delafield, told First Coast News months ago.
What on earth is happening in this country? But wait, there’s more.New records detail just how long the officers used the tasers on Delafield. “I thought this all happened at once. This is all happening over a period of three to four minutes,” says the family’s attorney, Rick Alexander.
A lab found one taser struck for 16 seconds, then 25 seconds, then 13 seconds. Those are just a few of the hits.Alexander says reports also show both tasers were used on Delafield 10 times.
Vermont: man tased while having a seizure files suit
“I think it’s one of the most severe ‘tasing’ cases I’ve seen in Vermont. It’s truly excessive force. It’s one thing when you have unruly criminals and police come to the scene. This guy was seeking medical attention. … Treat it like a medical situation. I’m not an expert on procedure on medical calls, but I’m pretty sure it’s not handcuff, wrestle to the ground, ‘tase.’ ”Good god. When will this barbaric insanity stop? This time we have the sadism of the Vermont State Police to explore, as resident Lawrence Fairbrother had a seizure, and the police Tased first and asked questions later.
– Kelly Green, attorney for Lawrence Fairbrother, the man tased in the back by state troopers while in a grand mal seizure.
The 911 call came shortly before 11 p.m. for a medical emergency outside a Fairlee mobile home. The dispatcher told Vermont State Police troopers that Lawrence Fairbrother was having a seizure, and that he had consumed alcohol. No crime had been reported, court records show, but first responders reported Fairbrother was drunk and requested police assistance. Three troopers arrived on the scene to assist emergency medical workers.This is bullsh*t, the man was already in the throes of an electrical disturbance in his brain. The Vermont Assistant Attorney General, David Groff, said “the officers acted in good faith.”They found Fairbrother, who had suffered seizures for years, underneath a parked truck, flailing. His medication lay on the ground and Fairbrother, 56, was clawing at the dirt and pulling himself farther under the vehicle. Troopers repeatedly asked Fairbrother to come out from under the pickup, but Fairbrother did not emerge. Troopers dragged him out by his feet and, while he was lying down and seizing, ordered him to put his hands behind his back.
They pulled his left arm behind his back, but when Fairbrother, still shaking, did not respond to an order to move his right arm, Trooper Hugh O’Donnell shot him between the shoulder blades with a Taser stun gun.
“What did I do?” Fairbrother asked, according to court documents.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” one of the troopers replied.
Hat tip, Barbie Ann.
Related:
* The Blend Taser files.
37 Responses to “Florida: Wheelchair-bound woman Tased to death; Vermont: man Tased during seizure”
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Spin and relatives. Wonder why the courts didn’t allow statements by families. They are biased. I would be too. You can’t split your grief and rage away.
Oh people lie like rugs during stops, site visits, and investigations. ‘Oh no, they never do drugs, have sex with children, beat their spouse’…Safety first then we sort it out.
If you’d like we can have you visit the locked wards to calm down schizophrenics. I’ll close the door behind you and pick up your remains later.
These tales are artifacts, anecdotes, spin. I prefer Tasers to guns because most officers are mil trained. That means shoot-to-kill. A Taser beats that anyday.
You just never know when some wheelchair-bound woman having an epileptic siezure while talking incoherently might just turn out to be bin Laden’s sister. Just tase them right up front. It’s better to tase 1000 innocent people who look/act/sound funny than to take a chance that one guilty person didn’t get a little “street justice”.
I get the feeling that if somebody could come up with an easy and portable way for cops to waterboard people, there would be incidents every day across the whole country. And the majority of Americans would laugh in response.
I’m SO proud to be an American…
Fuck those things. My friend is a State Trooper and he had to be “tased” as part of his training and he has said that he would never use it on anyone.
“…and he has said that he would never use it on anyone.”
Well, he’s obviously not cut out for police work in the modern age. Just having any degree of sympathy makes him unsuitable.
Now if you could just find somebody with the temperament to make a good concentration camp guard…
If Gitmo ever gets shut down, there’ll be a whole bunch of “trained” and experienced people available for management positions in law enforcement. I bet the prospect is making some drool in anticipation…
It’s just too bad that in Mold’s world we don’t all have a “taser chip” implanted at birth.
That way The Authorities can just type in your SSN and zap you by remote control.
Hell, zap everybody once in a while - just to make sure we all know our place. You just never know when somebody might have an independent thought, and we just can’t take the chance…
America v2.0
Land of the Free, Home of the BraveDo As You’re Told - Or Else…There’s a reason they’re called “pigs,” people. About one in four or five cops — one in three, maybe, if you’re lucky — is a professional public servant doing a dangerous job. The rest are socially stunted sadists with little-dick syndrome … same basic profile as the “robbers,” which should come as little surprise. They’re opposing players in the same game.
So is Mold suggesting that these situations (woman in wheelchair, guy having seizure) are ones in which the cops would/should have SHOT the person if they didn’t have tasers???!!!!
That’s the problem, people keep comparing tasers to guns, but they are not remotely being used only in situations where the cops would have otherwise been shooting; they’re used any time someone doesn’t comply with a barked order within five seconds. Traffic stop where someone doesn’t get out of the car fast enough? Tase! Unruly participant at a lecture? Tase! Shouted insult at a cop? Tase! Don’t comply because you’re having a seizure? Tase! Don’t comply fast enough b/c the cop’s in plain clothes and didn’t identify himself so you think you’re just being mugged? Tase tase tase!!!
I simply refuse to believe all these tasings are situations where firearms would have been used if the tasers weren’t available. And if Mold is arguing that these ARE situations where the cops would just start shooting, then he clearly believes more than anyone else here that cops are totally sick fucks.
Mold -
I have a question for you. An honest question, not rhetorical: is there anything, anything at all, that police officers could do that you wouldn’t support? Anything that would stop you from saying “they must have had a good reason, the perps/friends/family/bystanders must be lying”, or even get you to say “They went too far”?
Is there even such a thing as excessive force, in your opinion? If so, what would qualify?
Delurking because these stories are really scary.
I’m not sure if my dad would still be around if tasers were used 20 years ago. He’s 70 now but has lived with epilepsy his whole life. And when I was a kid they had not yet been able to control his seizures with medication. So, his seizures were at least a part of our lives, if not daily, definitely weekly. And not able to drive, of course, he took the city bus. I really don’t know how many times he was kicked off the bus for “drunkenness”. I can imagine the cops today arriving to deal with his “disorderliness”. It really does scare me.
Which means, using Mold’s terminology, the Use of Force guidelines really should be reviewed and revised, and perhaps training of officers. Because, for a “non-lethal” instrument, there are way too many lethal incidents to be comfortable with.
Shut the fuck up, Donny.
So is Mold suggesting that these situations (woman in wheelchair, guy having seizure) are ones in which the cops would/should have SHOT the person if they didn’t have tasers???!!!!
In the case of Fairbrother — probably. If they had perceived a threat at all — if he’d had a hammer, or screwdriver, for instance — they’d have shot first and worried about details later.
i’m glad Mold is finally with us on the whole “lots of cops are borderline psychotics with no business handling police work” thing.
oh wait…he thinks that’s a good thing…
Person in wheelchair with weapons that require very close range… the threat to herself was the only significant threat. So rather than risk her committing suicide, they committed homicide. Hitting her 10 times with tasers is 9 times more than they could *possibly* have been able to justify.
And given how shocked the relative sounded at getting the report, he is so not lying.
It’s tragic that people trusted the police only to have it turn into horrific abuse.
Here’s a suggestion Mildew Brain: test the system yourself.
Mimic a seizure and call 911 in one of these decrepit rural areas where all the competent members of the local constabulary and emergency medical services have been sent to Iraq.
Go ahead - see what “good faith” means when it comes to “bad or stupid cops”. I double dog dare you!
No, no, Ms Kate, Mold would never get tased! He explained it on the other thread - if you don’t do anything threatening, the poor, innocent cops would never dream of tasing you! Also, unicorns are real, and if you forward this message to all your friends, Bill Gates will send you a check for $10,000!
10 times, on a wheelchair bound, 56 year old woman. I am so fucking sickened by the inhumanity of some people.
The Other Will, that made my day.
I remember taking a school trip to the local police station in junior high during which the officer who showed us around spent 80% of the time intimidating us with talk about tasers. Other than that I’ve only had one experience with the police, which was not precipitated by illegal activity, and where I felt fairly harassed afterward. Any one else tend to feel like lowly cattle around the police, what with the threat of being electrically prodded into submission at any moment, for any reason?
Mold? It was a real question. I’m trying to understand you, here. What do you think would qualify as excessive force?
As far as I’m concerned, Tasers are a tool of torture and nothing more. if cops ONLY ever used them situations where they would otherwise shoot to kill and also ONLY ever used them the minimum numbers of times needed, then this might be different. But its clear that actual usage patterns show that cops like to use them indiscriminately, stupidly, and sadistically.
It also says something REALLY scary about our society’s attitude towards chronic illnesses, epilepsy, and disability when cops perceived a person in the middle of a grand fucking mal seizure as being disorderly or disobedient.
And a man in Minneapolis died yesterday as a result of being tazed. Jesus.
http://wcco.com/local/fridley.driver.tased.2.631113.html
Just thought you all should know that the term “wheelchair-bound” is deprecated by people with disabilities (see, e.g. here. “Wheelchair user” is the preferred term.
Hitting her 10 times with tasers is 9 times more than they could *possibly* have been able to justify.
I bet it was friggin’ funny. Just like Jackass, except, you know, with a corpse at the end of the fun.
I wonder what that first little moment of realisation that she was not moving any more felt like for the cops?
“I wonder what that first little moment of realisation that she was not moving any more felt like for the cops?”
Probably nothing like the feelings her relatives and friends had when they found out…
I’m thinking the cops felt something along the lines of “We better make sure we can get out of this unscathed…”
Seraph..yes..depends on the situation. The Baltimore cop is one.
Most of you have no clue about calls and what you find when you show up. We have the advantage of the ‘gods view’. We have time, distance, and hindsight. Most officers don’t. They make the call based on what is there.
Most of the Taser use that I have observed has been acceptable use of force. And, in the land of positive spin for the Iraq Occupation, I really question the media.
It appears that I am not a TrueBeleever about Tasers. Maybe it’s the nut cases with knives next to their throat..which they slit. Maybe it’s the spouse with multiple injuries ‘protecting’ the skel that beat her. Maybe it’s holding an officer that shot a kid, to save her life. Maybe it’s actually doing the work.
There is risk all around us. Driving kills far more. Yet you accept that risk. To me, the option of a non-lethal Taser is besser than clubs or guns. Clubs used with discretion can still involve coup and countre-coup (brain damage) and guns are tricky…most are designed to be lethal. Only in the movies do you disarm with a handgun. Most shots are to the trunk and once you start…you’ve already decided on deadly force.
Given the choices, I’ll take being polite to the nice officer and letting my attorney be an @ss if necessary. After that, Tase me bro.
You should ask what your job does to you. Officers spend a lot of time at risk and dealing with unpleasantness. This changes you. You begin to take control immediately. You find intimidation useful to maintain order. You get really, really really tired of liars. Literally only you and your mates can be trusted.
Keep in mind that most encounters go better if you don’t expect police to be subserviant. Maybe you should leave the entitled attitude at home and act like an adult. Call the wahhmbulance later.
Mold - when you call 911 with a medical emergency, you generally expect the ambulance to show up, not the police.
Not to mention the minor fact that a person having a seizure is frequently physically unable to comply with commands, or to respond appropriately.
So either give the police some basic information about medical situations, such that they can figure out it’s a bad idea to taze someone having a seizure - or stop sending them out on medical calls!
I’m thinking the cops felt something along the lines of “We better make sure we can get out of this unscathed…”
Well, think of the poor hard-working cops caught for an excuse. I mean, they can’t say she was threatening them with a gun because, you know, if that was really the case, they wouldn’t have used tasers.
Perhaps they can start carrying a clean cattle prod or something to plant besides awkward to explain corpses. Admittedly, the fact that she was in a wheelchair makes it more difficult.
But, hey, police complaints authorities have swallowed stupider stories before. I had a friend who was charged with assaulting a police officer after complaining about them spraining a wrist while arresting him at a protest. The video was a bit more difficult for them to explain, but they got away with it.
I’m not sure I’ve heard of that case. Please elaborate.
You make that argument often, Mold. My question then becomes: are only other cops allowed to judge cops’ actions? That can’t be. Those who enforce the law have to answer to the law.
What’s more, the fact that cops often have to make instantaneous, life-or-death decisions, doesn’t mean we should extend them the same leeway in all situations.
Again, does that mean that only cops can judge other cops? Not acceptable. Not in a democracy.
Irrelevant. Risks we choose to accept on our own are entirely different than risks imposed on us by authority figures.
Yes, Mold, but the whole point is that Tasers are turning out to be much less “non-lethal” than advertised, in no small part because they’re being misused. Whether through poor training or deliberate abuse, police are killing people in situations that don’t call for deadly force.
I think you and I might have different definitions of “being polite”. If by “being polite” you mean unquestioning obedience, that’s not the only option to being tased. Not in a democracy. The enforcers of the law must answer to the law - citizens have rights when dealing with the police: orders they don’t have to obey, and treatment they don’t have to accept.
Accepting that the police have the right to give any command (not just “any lawful command”), and to answer with any level of violence they choose if not obeyed, is to accept totalitarianism. It’s not just un-American, it’s anti-American.
…at which point, you and your mates are no longer police officers, but a gang with badges. This is why cops can’t be the only ones to judge cops’ actions.
Interesting. I remember this attitude from the thread about PDA. Something about “entitled little lordlings”.
From what I can see, you define the world by dominance and subservience, obedience to Authority. Anyone who fails to obey Authority is getting uppity and must be put back in their place.
Textbook authoritarianism, in other words.
“But, hey, police complaints authorities have swallowed stupider stories before. I had a friend who was charged with assaulting a police officer after complaining about them spraining a wrist while arresting him at a protest. The video was a bit more difficult for them to explain, but they got away with it.”
Some of us are still trying to figure out how four LAPD cops who were videotaped beating the living hell out of some guy managed to get off. And that arrest happened in 1991, followed by some interesting hijinks in 1992.
We can only wonder how much more fun the cops would have had if they used tasers…
“What did I do?” Fairbrother asked, according to court documents.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” one of the troopers replied.
Fuck.
Did you even read this part, Moldy?
The trooper admits he did not have any reason to suspect the guy of any actual wrongdoing, other than his seeming unwillingness to put his hand behind his back. While having a seizure. A seizure the troopers had been informed of by their dispatcher.
so, i may just be spouting priledge here, but…
the FUCKING COPS ARE TO PROTECT AND SERVE THE CITIZENS. the people THEY WORK FOR.
like the poor bastards they are tazing to death.
fuck that, mold, PUBLIC SERVENTS (like COPS) work for the PUBLIC
Seraph, loved your post. Thoughtful and used my own words. Anyway, having oversight by the general public is wonderful. I always welcomed it. It is not that authority may not be questioned. It is more how one questions. Treat me like I’m your underling/subordinant/slave and I’m not likely to listen to your whine. I’ll look for your illegal substances. I’ll watch you far more closely as your demeanor is wrong. Respect me and the work I do and we’ll get along famously. If you need to challenge my findings, take the route our society provides.
To others, officers are not servants..treating them in that manner is wrong. Sorry, but in the US slavery has been outlawed for years. If you wonder how to respond to an officer may I suggest Emily Post or Dear Abby.
I have worked for the public and still do. But, I ain’t your servant and you can keep that attitude to your own ignorant self.
i think perhaps you are confused. a public servant, as i called cops (and many others, like teachers or postal workers) are not, say, maids. they are servants of the public. there was a time when calling someone a servant wasn’t bad - when people were introduced, for instance, one would say “your servant” or “at your service”
if you dont understand this, but tell us to look up Emily Post on how to treat a public servant… well, it all seems a bit disengenious of you. typically.
Mold,
Might I suggest you take a long walk off a short pier? I don’t think you offer the world much.
OH, and officers ARE public servants. you protect and serve US. THAT’S YOUR FUCKING JOB, YOU LITTLE DADDY-SUCKER PUNK.
“To others, officers are not servants..treating them in that manner is wrong. Sorry, but in the US slavery has been outlawed for years.”
1. Servant =/= Slave. Servants are usually PAID or otherwise compensated for their work. Which leads to…
2. Yes, police ARE servants, as are EMS and firefighters. They are called PUBLIC SERVANTS for a reason. Namely, because PUBLIC TAX DOLLARS pay their wages, so they are (or, at least, should be) accountable to the public for their behavior. You know, just like YOU would be held accountable by YOUR boss for YOUR behavior at work.
Of course, I doubt you’ve ever even HAD a job, since you don’t seem to comprehend the basic FACT that employees can and SHOULD BE held accountable for poor performance/behavior by their employers, the people who pay their wages.
There’s one thing which gave me the WTFery. The idea that if you go into a locked ward with schizophrenics they will obviously kill you and the brave, sensible copper will come to pick up your remains. If only you had a taser, this would never have happened.
Clue! Mentally ill people aren’t wild animals. People with schizophrenia, even in locked wards, aren’t automatically homicidal (any more than the vast majority of humanity is.) “Calming down schizophrenics” doesn’t equal “tasing them repeatedly”.
One wouldn’t have thought that in the 21st century it would be necessary to explain such concepts. But that’s coppers for you, in all their unbiased glory.