General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGeorgia Police Used Taser Like A Cattle Prod To Force Black Man To Walk Until He Died
Gregory Towns ran from police and was so tired after they caught up to him that he could no longer walk as police officers Marcus Eberhart and Howard Weems demanded. So what did these officers do? They used their Tasers to shock Towns into getting up and walking with them. The two officers fired their Tasers 13 times at the handcuffed man until he died, with Eberhart firing 10 of the 13 shots.
On Tuesday, Towns attorney Chris Stewart blasted police for violating their own rules and regulations on Taser usage, telling the press that officers basically used their weapons as cattle prods.
This is a direct violation of their own rules, Stewart said. You cannot use a Taser to escort or prod a subject. They used their Tasers as a cattle prod on Mr. Towns.
Furthermore, Towns did nothing to deserve being treated the way he was by police. According to Stewart, He wasnt cursing. He wasnt being abusive. He was saying, Im tired.
Of course, police deny that the Tasers had anything to do with Towns death. But the autopsy report contradicts their denial. The death has been ruled a homicide caused by the Taser shocks and the physical weakness Towns incurred by running.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/08/27/georgia-police-used-taser-like-a-cattle-prod-to-force-black-man-to-walk-until-he-died-video/
riversedge
(69,727 posts)intaglio
(8,170 posts)Burge and Byrne in Chicago would have loved tazers as would the Apartheid era South African police
quadrature
(2,049 posts)paulkienitz
(1,295 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)These cops engaged in torture.
Volaris
(10,260 posts)Uncle Sam and his patriotic nephews from PNAC taught them how to do it, and then (of course) told them it was ok.
Patriot Act, baby.
And if I need a sarcasm tag, you will NEVER understand why War Criminals need imprisionment.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)And patriots!
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)Lately there are many videos of people being maced or sprayed in the eyes and then not being allowed to get the spray out. The UC Davis pepper spray incident was abuse of pepper spray to physically punish taxpayers who were no threat to the sprayer.
Even non-weapons are used as weapons. A common use for the big 5 D-Cell Maglite flashlights is to hit people in the head.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Of the students who were at that UC Davis protest are still in prison!
The penalties for being a protester have been ratcheted up beyond belief while the penalties for being a murderous cop do not even exist.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)there were on going protests, 39 arrested at one on Nov 9, 2011:
10 more arrests on Nov 18, the day the military grade pepper spray was used. Langan and others were release after about 6 hours of BS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UC_Davis_pepper-spray_incident
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)and getting some attention.
Cal33
(7,018 posts)inmates are treated miserably, and they can do nothing about it. This would be a
a job attractive to sadists, who would be able to inflict pain on the helpless and
get away with it. What a place this world of ours is!
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)which are staffed by poorly qualified, poorly paid, poorly trained personnel.
christx30
(6,241 posts)for the stockholders.
That's why I think prisons shouldn't be private at all. With any other business, if they're cheap and hire shitty employees or have bad facilities, you can take your business elsewhere. In a prison, you're stuck there for 5, 10, 20 years.
And bad training can kill in those places. No one should make a profit on confining humans.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)For one thing, a lot of states have contracts in which they guarantee high levels of occupancy, which is one of the driving forces behind our insanely high incarceration rate, and behind ever-harsher penalties for more and more minor crimes. Legalize pot? No way. It'll empty prison beds, which the state will then have to pay for anyway.
christx30
(6,241 posts)but I know it'll never happen. These terrible excuses for people would rather ruin 10's of thousands of lives than see their bank balances go below $100 million.
Cal33
(7,018 posts)not something to feel proud about. In fact, it's a damned disgrace.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)bullwinkle428
(20,627 posts)the 1800s and being plantation owners.
LiberalArkie
(15,686 posts)incapacitate a slave. But the 1950's - 1960's. Oh yea. Fire hoses, cattle prods, anything the police could use they did use on protesters and generally anyone not white who didn't say yes masser.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)as an example to the others? You can't possibly be saying that.
LiberalArkie
(15,686 posts)slaves not to do it. My great-great grand father had slaves in the south. Generally if a slave was a problem they would sell the slave to another owner. The beast my grand father explained it to me was like a tractor that was going bad. You did not throw it away, you sold it for the best price you could and buy another better tractor. Slaves back then were mainly farm implements. The richer farmers could afford house slaves and such, but poorer ones like my great-great-grand father could not afford house slaves or to really hurt or kill a slave. But he told me that the rich angry plantation owners would whip a profitable slave to death to show off to fellow owners.
Hosnon
(7,800 posts)Racism? Yes. But the actual Civil War (and its social institutions) is no more thought about in the South than anywhere else (perhaps less so actually).
LiberalArkie
(15,686 posts)In business it works with the employer having the attitude of "If you quit this job, I will see that you never work around here again and neither will your family".
Hosnon
(7,800 posts)There are some awful racists around but I don't think I've ever heard anyone claim that they want to reinstate slavery.
LiberalArkie
(15,686 posts)because racism is hardly ever present in the large cities.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)knightmaar
(748 posts)What did they kill him for? Unpaid library fines? Jaywalking? Looking like a vague "black male suspect"?
Ah, "after a domestic dispute". So, for all we know, and the cops know, he and his wife were yelling at each other and attracted the attention of neighbours who called the cops.
But even if, worst case, he had assaulted his wife, you still don't get to electrocute him to death.
lpbk2713
(42,696 posts)Throw the book at them.
Would love to see these guys in lock-up with their own kind.
christx30
(6,241 posts)No cop prison for them. They act like sadistic animals, they don't deserve any protections not afforded to the rest of the prisoners.
Stonepounder
(4,033 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)samsingh
(17,571 posts)groundloop
(11,488 posts)Absolutely put those bastards in prison for the rest of their miserable lives, but more murders don't make anything right.
navarth
(5,927 posts)Brigid
(17,621 posts)Where are the lawsuits and criminal charges against thugs like this? And no, I don't mean Towns.
840high
(17,196 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Hosnon
(7,800 posts)I 100% support Sen. McCaskill's proposal to deny federal funds to law enforcement agencies unless their cops have cameras.
Faux pas
(14,583 posts)assholes would chill for awhile. Pitifully sickening.
Rex
(65,616 posts)I can't believe the police are pretending otherwise.
tosh
(4,422 posts)Mr. Towns killing is not about race, Stewart said, noting that Towns and both officers were black. Its about police brutality
going to the extreme.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/attorney-east-point-police-used-tasers-as-cattle-p/ng9Rh/
From an earlier story, published Tuesday.
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)Sorry, not a time to mince words. Using a taser as a prod is sadistic.
chknltl
(10,558 posts)Thank you for your keeping this conversation on the front burner Mr. Scorpio, it is one our nation needs to be having.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Props to our very own Mr. Scorpio!!
MrScorpio
(73,626 posts)SunSeeker
(51,377 posts)yuiyoshida
(41,763 posts)In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Ilsa
(61,675 posts)KansDem
(28,498 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Initech
(99,915 posts)Seriously what the fucking hell is wrong with the police that they have to resort to this?
muriel_volestrangler
(101,154 posts)While the medical examiners haves said Towns death was a homicide, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard is still waiting on evidence before decided if he will present the matter to a grand jury for possible criminal charges.
...
Eberhart, who resigned rather than be terminated, has not responded to telephone messages left at his home.
An attorney representing Weems, who was fired, said the former officer followed the orders of his supervisor, Eberhart, to drive stun gun Towns, which involves placing the prongs of the device directly on the skin to deliver the charge. Weems lawyer also said in a written statement provided to Channel 2 Action News that Towns medical problems caused his death and not the shocks from the Taser.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/attorney-east-point-police-used-tasers-as-cattle-p/ng9Rh/
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)a storm is brewing.
chknltl
(10,558 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)will the White Community support them? For sure the Tea Baggers will be willing to side with law enforcement against the Black Community.
Before you say this isn't about Black and White, it surely is. The Black Community is being targeted. They are going to prison, private prisons that want them to work for slave wages. They are being murdered routinely. The Powers That Be would love nothing more than to see the Black Community revolt.
If we have a revolution in this country, it won't be the lower classes vs. the Aristocracy, it will be the left vs. the right.
SunSeeker
(51,377 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)For more and more and more exposure of police brutality. And I don't think "police brutality" is even what it is. It's WORSE than police brutality: It's murder by cop.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)summary execution such as this is getting real old. I was talking to a young black man yesterday. I'm 66 he was late 20's. He was ANGRY about what executioner wilson did to Michael Brown. He said a lot of his companions are ready to fight. I understand their anger. This type of daily occurance just reinforces that anger. Some white people may want a race war and that's why they continue to support white murder of unarmed black males..............but a lot of them better wake the fuck up to the reality of that.
These young black males are as angry as I was in the 60's fighting for my right to vote in this corrupt system and for the right NOT to have fire hoses directed toward me and police dogs not taking chunks out me.
CatWoman
(79,283 posts)she and her lawyer were just on Rev. Al's show.
JEB
(4,748 posts)WCLinolVir
(951 posts)How sadistic. I do hope a homicide charge sticks.
malaise
(267,823 posts)This has to stop!! Throw away the keys
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)1963
It's been a long, long time coming but I know a change is gonna come.
salin
(48,954 posts)another piece of society (esp once aware - if stay immune) losing it's humanity.
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)This is cruel and unusual punishment. Better to just unload your clip so the poor guy doesn't suffer.
Yes, that was sarcasm and would be funny if it that argument wasn't going to be used to dissuade police from using tasers.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)cbayer
(146,218 posts)You have been sorely missed in C & B and have some serious catching up to do in your pinned thread.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)I always come back in August for the annual porn and Nagasaki threads.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)Great OP. Thanks.
I hate to listen to the news anymore, the bodies are piling up so fast.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)or to release pent up frustrations. Why is that so hard for some officers to understand?
BainsBane
(53,003 posts)It's just all too awful. The state of humanity. It's so hard to understand. There is a deep sickness in our country that can allow this sort of thing. I just read the most heart-breaking story of a DUer who went hungry to feed his/her dogs, but they were still malnourished and the police threatened to take them away. Injustices compound one another. How do people get buy? I am so blessed not to have to face these things but I feel so badly for people who do. Surely we have to do something. We have to make our society better. This cannot continue.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)aikoaiko
(34,127 posts)Hopefully there will be charges or civil penalties
DireStrike
(6,452 posts)I'm so sick of this shit.
RKP5637
(67,032 posts)federal priority. I don't even think the states are capable of cleaning up their rogue police forces, For one example, Ferguson.
Gothmog
(144,005 posts)These idiots need to be charged with Federal civil rights charges