What Do Illinois, New Mexico and New York Have in Common? Death by Taser

[marmar]

from AlterNet's PEEK:



What Do Illinois, New Mexico and New York Have in Common? Death by Taser

Posted by Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend at 8:26 AM on March 20, 2008.

And in the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not department, we’ve got a case of someone in Austrailia being tased for "aggressive language."




A couple of you emailed this one in for the Taser files — I’m sure there are plenty more where this came from.

A man died Tuesday night after Chicago police shocked him with a Taser stun gun because he was combative during an arrest on the West Side, authorities said Wednesday morning.

Police sources say the man was on drugs and “acting suspiciously,” walking away from police near the 2600 block of South Trumbull Avenue in the South Lawndale neighborhood. When police tried to stop him, he was combative, and was sprayed with a chemical spray and shocked with the gun, sources said.

…The Taser used was one of the department’s newer models, equipped with a camera that allows the incident to be videotaped. Investigators will be reviewing that tape, said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.

A new and improved model, you don’t say? Now the suspect had a rap sheet and was a known gang member, so we’re not talking about a choir boy. But the issue here is that a “non-lethal” weapon seems to be proving itself to be dangerous. In this case, the police would have been better off shooting the guy in the arm or leg in a non-fatal area than Tasing him, but because the device is being used at what seems like the drop of a hat, we’re seeing more incidents like this.

Like what happened in Roswell, New Mexico.

KOB.com:

A confrontation between officers and the suspect, Javiar Aguilar, ensued Thursday afternoon when Aguilar allegedly made threats to his health care providers. Police say Aguilar was mentally-ill.

…”When they responded and advised him that he was going to be taken to a mental health facility for treatment, he refused to go,” Roswell Deputy Police Chief Scott Douglass said.

Douglass said the confrontation turned physical and officers had to use pepper spray and a stun gun to subdue Aguilar. Authorities then took him to Eastern New Mexico Medical Center where he died 40 minutes later.

Or this incident in Clay, NY:

A 37-year-old man died Monday night after a Clay police officer used a Taser on the man, police said.

Christopher H. Jackson, of 4804 Norstar Blvd. Apartment 213D, was pronounced dead at St. Joseph’s Hospital Monday after he was hit by one cycle of a police Taser, Clay Police Commission Owen Honors said today.

…The Clay officer told Jackson “three or four times” that he was going to use his Taser on him, Honors said. Jackson was in his bedroom when he was Tasered.

Honors believes it took only one cycle of the Taser to get Jackson under control. That information is stored on a chip inside the X26 Taser model issued to police. Jackson was not carrying a weapon, but he was using his hands to assault the officer, Honors said.

Officers placed Jackson in handcuffs. Then they noticed Jackson, who was conscious and breathing at that time, was not responding to their questions, police said. At that point, police requested paramedics. The paramedics responded and began assessing Jackson, who went into cardiac arrest.

........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/80325/

[hootinholler]

1. You can add Maryland to that list.

There was a deaf kid tased to death in Frederick Md. The crowd was shouting "He can't hear you" to the cop who ordered the kid to submit.

-Hoot