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Tasers Used to Tame Best Buy Shopper! by Mary Neal

by duo | July 28, 2008 at 06:19 pm

804 views | 10 Recommendations | 4 comments

GOVERNORS! MAYORS! POLICE CHIEFS! Please do something about your police officers whom you have equipped with Taser guns! Evidently, they lack proper training, or these "non-lethal" weapons are malfunctioning - a lot! There are bodies of 290 folks to testify to this fact, and maybe more. Medical Examiners are being discouraged from attributing deaths of citizens to Taser guns. One Medical Examiner was even ordered by the court to remove Taser references from her autopsy reports. Please train your police force, re-train them, restrain them, or just TAKE AWAY THEIR TOYS!

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OpEdNews
July 27, 2008

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Tased-Until-Dead--The-Epid-by-Len-Hart-080727-352.html

Tased Until Dead: The Epidemic of Taser Crazy Cops
By Len Hart

Since 'Taser' use has become widespread more than 290 people have been killed, possibly murdered, by taser crazy cops. In response to this epidemic of violence, Amnesty International released a statement damning the use of "... tasers to subdue non-compliant or disturbed individuals who do not pose a serious danger to themselves or others." That --I daresay --describes most of the incidents.

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Consider these video reports:

Officer Uses Taser To Tame Best Buy Shopper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdCUdR8qNF4

Hospital Tasers 66-year-old over a joke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clVzQfCZSA0

11 Year Old Tasered at School as a "Last Resort"!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcWPT7Ec1kg

Taser Torture of an Ohio Woman 7 Times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ3GXLpClD4

Police Tase Suicidal Man on Bridge, Causing His Fall
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dvFsGmdndCE&feature=related

Police are busy tasing citizens in other countries, too!

Taser Torture of an Unarmed 78 yo Man in LAX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKzSHtYqQvo

66-year-old Edmondton lawyer tased for taking pictures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JP_zkJzpSk

Officers of the law are traditionally called "Peace Officers." Of course, a certain amount of rough stuff is a necessary part of their job. We appreciate all that our police departments do in the interest of law and order. None of us would want to live in a society without brave men and women who serve and protect citizens from culprits who would rape, rob, and kill liberally if they had no fear of apprehension and prosecution. However, our children, elders, and folks just out shopping (for God's sake!) don't need to live in fear of steroid-crazed, Taser-happy police officers who apparently believe that Tasers are non-lethal weapons.

How many more mentally ill citizens and even healthy people must die or suffer needlessly?

************
UPDATE ~ 7/29/08

Taser use questioned by ACLU
(http://www.columbia tribune.com/ 2008/Jul/ 20080727News001. asp)
By JOE MEYER of the Tribune’s staff

The condition of a man injured in a Taser-related fall improved yesterday as the Mid-Missouri chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement asking the Columbia Police Department to postpone a planned deployment of the stunning devices to more officers.

************

UPDATE ~ 7/29/08

Yet another Taser death may cause America to revisit the Jena, LA protests of 2007. Baron "Scooter " Pike, killed with nine jolts of Taser while he reportedly begged police officers to spare his life, was the cousin of one of the Jena 6 defendants, Michael Bell. People are beginning to meet regarding Pike's death.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/22/taser.death/index.html

For more information on the Jena 6 protests, which included demonstrations in Jena, LA by more than 20,000 protestors, see this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six

Mary Neal
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
Website: http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

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politisite

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 21:50 on July 28th, 2008

duo, I like this story. It's good stuff. What bothers me about Tazers and Police is when the gun was the primary weapon, the rule was dont remove it from you holster unless you have full intention to use it. The Tazer like the night stick is being used without reasonable acions to allow the indiidual to comply with a comand. Now you are rushed like a gang and beat into submission. I have back and leg problems. God forbid, I was accused of a crime. I couldn't get on the ground as fast as they wished. I would be Tazed or beaten because I am disabled. What if one cant hear? have mental illness?

There are being too many tazings by officers. Most police do a great job and put thier life on the line to give people a traffic ticket. When I first was pulled over by an officer for speeding, I shook like crazy, I was brought up to obey the law. Kids today will shoot you in a second.

I like the idea if they are going to use a tazer a camera goes on and the event is recorded.

Thanks for the story

duo

at 22:30 on July 28th, 2008

Thanks for the flag and your remarks, Politisite! The Tasers are being sold to our city commissioners as being non-lethal. Police officers are themselves tased during training to get an idea of the damage the weapons can do. However, what is one person's Kool-Aid is another person's arson, apparently.

How can we get them to stop?

One fear I have is that, just like guns, Tasers will soon be in the hands of your average citizen, including lots of criminals. Think about that for a moment. If this much damage is being done by police officers with Taser guns, what on earth will our world be like once the Taser becomes a street weapon?

Mary

duo

at 02:09 on July 29th, 2008

Please note the update - ACLU to the rescue!

Mary

duo

at 00:05 on August 7th, 2008

I apologize -- it appears that some of the links to the videos of citizens being tasered were no longer working. I found new links to the same incidents on YouTube and loaded those. Good thing videos of events are sometimes posted numerous times. Does this mean one needs to go back to other links of Taser videos and ensure they are still working? Interesting.

Mary