17 Year Old Teen Dies After Shot With Taser Gun

[Popol Vuh]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A teenager died after being hit with a police Taser gun for 37 seconds, and the whole thing was caught on tape by surveillance cameras.

-snip-

When Officer Jerry Dawson arrived, he fired his Taser gun at the 17-year-old and struck him in the sternum. "The initial use of the (Taser gun) is not in question," said Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Ken Miller. However, for 37 seconds, Dawson continued to use the Taser gun against the teen. An autopsy revealed that Darryl Turner died of a heart attack, authorities said.

NBC Charlotte affiliate WCNC reported that Dawson was given a five-day suspension for firing the Taser gun too long.

"I wouldn't want to be (hit with a Taser gun) for 37 seconds, I can assure you of that," said Joe Kuhns, a professor of criminal justice at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "It's a lengthy period of time."


http://www.knbc.com/news/16919904/detail.html#

[Rex]

1. 37 Seconds?

So can you roast a person with those things!? Geez, I had no idea.

[geomon666]

2. These things really need to be categorized as lethal devices.

That's 50,000 volts going into somebody's heart.

[lonestarnot]

3. Jerry Dawson may you rot in hell.

[KansDem]

4. Goddamnit! How much more of this?!!

NBC Charlotte affiliate WCNC reported that Dawson was given a five-day suspension for firing the Taser gun too long.

This thug commits murder and receives a "five-day suspension?"

[Bright Eyes]

5. Why isn't Officer Dawson in jail?

[screembloodymurder]

6. !st degree murder!

Lock him up.

[Vinca]

9. Exactly. That's murder - at the very least manslaughter. nt

[SeattleGirl]

7. What in the hell is it with police going nutso with the tasers?

I swear, not a day goes by any more without another story of someone being seriously harmed, or killed, by tasers.

:grr:

[applegrove]

8. A teenager died in Canada last week because of a taser. We need to rethink them.

[enlightenment]

10. Well, they're not going to get rid of Tasers, so maybe

the company that makes the damn things should be required to put some sort of governor on them. Something to prevent these idiots who figure that if a "little is good, a lot is better" from keeping the juice running for that long.

I thought the idea was to incapacitate, not fry someone's innards.

And yes, I know - I know - all those 300 lb. PCP addicts with the strength of 10 men won't be brought down by less than the equivalent of a lightning bolt through their chest.

But the skinny high school kids, the diabetics who missed their insulin, and the 75 year old grannys who left their hearing aids at home and can't understand what the cop is screaming at them . . . maybe they will survive their encounter with modern law enforcement.

[AsherHeimermann]

11. Comment from Asher Heimermann

What was the teenager doing that the police used a taser for such a period of time? My prayers and thoughts are with the family.

[rasputin1952]

12. 5 day suspension...

After WWII, people were hanged for less torment they brought upon others.

He should be fired, his credentials marked to keep him out of Law Enforcement, and Civil Litigation should be brought to bear.

37 seconds became a lifetime for one 17 yo. How many more incidents like this must happen before these things are finally banned? At the very least, training must be upgraded.

This is the second Taser story I've read today. Both of them equate to sadistic use of an item designed to incapacitate a violent individual, not kill or cripple them.

[DeSwiss]

13. Tasers Must Go!!!! - K&R!!!

[Gold Metal Flake]

14. Murder.

Sick, sadistic murderer.