Texas Police Tase Overweight Asthmatic to Death in Drug Raid That Uncovers No Drugs

[marmar]

May 28, 2013 |


On May 16th, Fort Worth police entered the home of Jarmaine Darden, 34, in search of cocaine. The raid, which does not appear to have uncovered any cocaine, ended with the 34-year-old father dead after police tased him multiple times.

Family members told CBS 11 that the 350-pound man, who'd been asleep on the couch when police came in, couldn't drop to the ground on his stomach as officers commanded because he suffered from asthma.

“They physically pulled him off the couch because, like I said, he was asleep. They pulled him off the couch and they tried to put him on his stomach. He can’t breathe on his stomach. He don’t even lie on the bed on his stomach,” said Donna Randle, the mother of victim Jarmaine Darden, 34.

According to what witnesses told CBS 11, Darden stopped breathing and died after police tased him the second time. An investigation into the incident is underway.

Tasers are supposed to save lives by allowing police to de-escalate dangerous situations without using their guns. But critics say they are over-used and can prove deadly, most often by causing cardiac arrhythmia and cardiac arrest, including in otherwise healthy individuals. Hundreds of incidents of death or injury have been reported, leading to multiple lawsuits against police departments and Taser International, a manufacturer of the weapon. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/texas-police-tase-overweight-asthmatic-death-drug-raid-uncovers-no-drugs

[DakotaLady]

1. At the risk of ...

of overusing this phrase ... 'I have no words'.

[RC]

14. I have a few words.

"Second degree murder." A few of these trials and the excess tasing would stop.

[Demo_Chris]

36. Exactly. This is beyond outrageous now. nt

[malaise]

15. I do - he was LWB

Fuck fuck fuck!

[Eleanors38]

27. Respectfully, I do: The W.O.D. is punk, corrupt and sadistic. eom

[MagickMuffin]

2. That should be Fort Worth as there is no H at the end

Just thought you should know!

There really is a disconnect with the crazy Enforcers and their misperceptions on what upholding the law means.

The Drug War has made everything and anyone a possible reason to violate the 4th Amendment.

To me the 4th Amendment is more sacred than some of the other ones. And yet there is never an outrage over it being abused, which has been going on for a few decades now.

Jarmaine Darden I hope you will receive the justice you deserve, however, it won't!

[marmar]

4. Sorry. I just copied and pasted it. I didn't check the spelling.

[Rex]

3. Another innocent bystander dies in the governments War on Drugs.

I wish they cared about human life, like they care about seizing drugs. Oh well, just a dream.

[redqueen]

10. Seizing drugs + seizing assets = $$$$$$$$ for police departments.

Where's the profit motive for caring about human lives?

Maybe it will kick in after enough successful lawsuits.

It's all about $$$$$$

[Rex]

11. How many lawsuits does it take to change the law?

Plus those private prisons have quotas to met and non-violent drug offenders are such easy money!

[AnotherMcIntosh]

5. "An investigation into the incident is underway." Why bother?

At most, they'll give the cops a paid vacation by suspending them with pay.

[Eleanors38]

28. The legal expression: "The police were acting within the scope of their duties."

[Pragdem]

6. Drugs will ruin or end your life...

But mostly because of the war on them.

[Turbineguy]

7. Why didn't they just shoot him?

[Harmony Blue]

8. War on Drugs is a joke

Waste of tax payer money.

[90-percent]

9. Taser mortality stats

If I'm not mistaken, in the time they've been used, perhaps over 100 "suspects" have been killed by their use?

Correct me if I'm wrong.

It must mess up cops something awful when the weapon they were told is harmless ends up killing people.

Tasers seem a lot more lethal than non.

-90% Jimmy

[SamKnause]

16. Tasers

As of April 21st, 2013 the number of deaths by tasers in the U.S. is 538.

Sources; Electronic Village and Amnesty International.

[Hissyspit]

17. Tasers are a safe alternative to killing people.

Despite all the dead people.




Yes->

[MannyGoldstein]

20. Seems like if they're used when a gun would otherwise be needed, they are better than guns

But when used because "we'll teach that #%^*er a lesson", they're a disaster.

[Vinnie From Indy]

41. And that is exactly what is happening!

I have seen it firsthand. Many cops use their tasers as "street justice". Happens everyday!

[KamaAina]

12. Let me take a flying guess...

...he was black?

[99th_Monkey]

13. Was his name Tuttle or Buttle?

Prophetic 1985 Terry Gilliam movie, dystopian satire, exposing the "terrorist" meme for the complete sham that it is, where a key piece of the plot involves this kind of "Oppsie, we killed the wrong guy" by an intrusive draconian government.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brazil-film/157353579978#
Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) is a low-level government employee who has frequent daydreams of saving a damsel in distress. One day he is assigned the task of trying to rectify an error caused by a fly getting jammed in a printer, which caused it to misprint a file, resulting in the incarceration and death during interrogation of Mr. Archibald Buttle instead of the suspected "terrorist", Archibald Tuttle. When Sam visits Buttle's widow, he discovers Jill Layton (Kim Greist), the upstairs neighbour of the Buttles, and is astonished to see that she has the face of the woman from his recurring dreams. Jill is trying to help Mrs. Buttle find out what happened to her husband, but has become sick of dealing with the bureaucracy. Unbeknownst to her, she is now considered a terrorist friend of Tuttle for attempting to report the mistake of Buttle's arrest in Tuttle's place to a bureaucracy that would not admit such an error.

Well worth a watch, if you haven't seen it.

[mckara]

18. OMG! This Story is Nothing Short of Disgusting

I agree with an earlier post, the war on drugs is a joke!

[Shrike47]

19. I am sooo tired of police tasing people.

I would ban them.

[VA_Jill]

21. The worst thing

that's ever happened to police in this country is giving them military-style equipment and letting them think they know how and when to use it. The second worst is the so-called war on drugs.

[Bay Boy]

31. I would re-order your

two 'things'. Knock of the useless war on drugs and the militarized police would not be needed.

[VA_Jill]

42. They

would want the toys anyway and still would not care where they used them or on whom.

[Egalitarian Thug]

22. But cops are our friends...

or so I'm told by people that have perfect records of being wrong about everything.
& R

[Arcanetrance]

23. Sick of these out of control cops

Yes I know there are good ones I know a couple but even they'll openly tell you. Most cops are out of control with their egos and they enjoy being feared.

[RainDog]

24. The war on drugs in action

It's a war on the American people.

[frylock]

25. fuck tha police

[Bay Boy]

32. said the horny policeman

(sorry)

[SoapBox]

26. The Militia murdered him.

[Bay Boy]

29. He couldn't roll off of the couch...

...because of his asthma? That all by itself is pretty sad.

[Yo_Mama]

33. No, he was asleep

So they pulled him off the couch and I guess tried to make him lie on his stomach, which he could not do and still breathe.

So then, when he "resisted", they killed him with a taser. Unintentionally, but the man is still dead.

Smash and bash raids can kill a lot of people.

[Yo_Mama]

30. Charming

I hope the family sues and gets a mint. It won't bring the dad back, but maybe it will make the police think twice.

I realize that illegal drugs can cause much damage, but the effort to combat them is also causing much damage, and it doesn't appear to be working very well.

I've had it with this type of policing.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

34. One blog identifying some 538 taser-related deaths in the US since 2001 can be found here:

http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/2009/05/taser-related-deaths-in-united-states.html

As noted on DU in 2010, taser-related deaths in the US is accelerating:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9080905

[Eddie Haskell]

35. As a law abiding citizen,

do you consider the police to be protectors or protagonists?

[Doc Holliday]

37. The penalty for

being overweight now is, apparently, death.

[sulphurdunn]

38. The Bart cop

who executed a defenseless kid in San Francisco got 2 years for involuntary manslaughter. His defense was that he thought his gun was a taser. I am not making this up. Had not dozens of people witnessed and photographed the incident, it is almost certain he would have been cleared after an internal investigation.

http://reason.com/blog/2012/05/10/bart-cop-who-shot-oscar-grant-in-the-bac

[RainDog]

40. OMG. they executed him

this makes me sick to my stomach to see.

[eppur_se_muova]

39. "To Serve and Protect" um, yeah right. nt