Bible-Wielding Teen Killed With Stun Gun

[The Straight Story]

Bible-Wielding Teen Killed With Stun Gun

JERSEYVILLE, Ill. -- Illinois authorities said a teenager holding a Bible and shouting "I want Jesus" died after being shot by a police stun gun.

In a statement obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, police in Jerseyville, about 40 miles north of St. Louis, said 17-year-old Roger Holyfield would not acknowledge officers who approached him and he continued yelling, "I want Jesus."

Police said the 17-year-old was shot twice with a stun gun after he became combative with officers trying to subdue him. He died Sunday night at a St. Louis hospital.

An investigation is under way in the town of Jerseyville, about 40 miles north of St. Louis. A police statement said the department has been using stun guns for about five months.

http://www.local6.com/news/10202173/detail.html

[Beelzebud]

1. Enough is enough with these stun guns...

Wimp cops that can't do their jobs without them, need to be fired.

How many deaths must we have, until these are outlawed?

[Deep13]

9. I know it.

They are supposed to be a non-lethal alternative to a firearm. If it is a situation that does not warrant a gun, then it does not warrant a stun gun.

[qanda]

2. That's so sad

[MissB]

3. ,

Must.resist.

[judaspriestess]

4. hopefully, he got Jesus

RIP

[jarab]

6. You couldn't resist!

...O...

[Ezlivin]

5. Too bad he didn't pick up science and history books to read

Then he wouldn't have wasted his time trying to please an invisible superbeing of someone else's creation.

He may as well died shouting "I want Zeus."

Regardless of his supernatural predilections, the young man did NOT deserve to be shot with a stun gun. That is horribly wrong.

It's amazing that whole generations of unruly people were able to be subdued by the police without the use of a stun gun. Now they can't apparently operate without them.

[mike_c]

7. they knocked them on the head-- folks died from those injuries, too....

eom

[Ezlivin]

10. True.

Yes, the police have "mishandled" people before. But I fear that the condoned, widespread use of these stun guns goes beyond the pale.

Don't you suspect that far more people will die with the application of the stun gun as opposed to the application of the night stick?

[survivor999]

8. Well, the teenage is now with Jesus.

As he/she asked for. What else can I say?

[Rosemary2205]

11. WTF is WRONG with people??

This is AMERICA. A 17 yr old should be able to stand in the street and scream "I want Jesus" as long as he damn well pleases. What was the point of calling the cops in the first place let alone tasering his ass dead or beating him over the head?

[Fovea]

12. Back in the day

when I was working evenings/nights in an ER, and teaching weapons forms on the side, I was the go-to guy at restraining (or supervising the group restraint strategy of) psychotic or simply violent patients.

I took, over the course of 5 years, only one beating, and that from a sixty some year old woman who put a hole in my left eardrum when I stopped paying attention. So I am not very sympathetic with the current strategy of frying your assailant.
With training, and enough hands, what is the teenager with a book going to do to you?

Now these guys are going to have to deal with it, and will probably be little use in these sorts of confrontations again, because once fubaring something like this, you have to make a serious effort think dispassionately about it. And trust me, your lizard brain is no good at that kind of job.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Cue the Taser Defense League. -nt

[kestrel91316]

14. Well, sadly, I guess he GOT his Jesus.