Posted on 05/07/2006 12:43:59 PM PDT by seowulf
REDMOND - The Redmond Police Department is facing a $1 million lawsuit after a woman says an officer used his Taser on her during a medical emergency.
Video from the police car camera shows that something was wrong with Leila Fuchs last July when police pulled her out of her car. For nearly 10 minutes when officers first pulled up, they say she remained unresponsive.
"She's just gotten into this collision at Redmond Way and 145th -- small accident," said defense attorney James Egan.
But he says it's the decisions an officer made when Fuchs wouldn't unlock her door that has them suing the department.
Egan says his client was suffering from a diabetic episode when medics tried to get her attention.
"So the medic brings a window hammer here," Egan says, pointing to the video.
Then, Egan says an officer took matters into his own hands.
"He bashed in the passenger side window, opened the door, and immediately ordered her to open her driver side door," Egan said. "Even according to (the officer), she was dazed, catatonic, and non-responsive. At that point, he pulls his Taser out, and says if she doesn't open it, he will shoot her."
Egan says the officer used his gun and hit Fuchs with 50,000 volts of electricity.
"He didn't shoot her for one second," Egan said. "He shot her for the full five seconds… and caused her to stiffen and scream, according to his police report as this happened, and here she was suffering a medical emergency."
Police reports claim officers could initially smell the odor of alcohol in the car, but after they got Fuchs out and did a breath test, they determined there was no trace of alcohol found.
"He jumped the gun... literally," Egan said. "And that's when he tried to electrocute someone he apparently thought was intoxicated."
Calls to the Redmond Police about the video and the lawsuit were not immediately returned Saturday evening. Police records, though, back up the fact that the Taser was used and that Fuchs did not have any traces of alcohol in her system.
I would check to see what the department use of force policy is. This officer may have very well been following his departmental procedure TO THE LETTER.
And still get sued.
Because, some police departments do not want their officers putting their hands on people. They want them tazered after verbal commands do not work.
The way things are going, police officers will not be able to use any force at all, of any kind, for fear of lawsuits.
Even in this case, if the woman is having a medical emergency, she was in the car, refusing to open the door. The window was broken and she had to be taken out of the car forcefully.
Regardless if it was a tazer or an arm bar or tickling her tootsies with a feather, she had to be taken out, either for arrest or for medical treatment.
In my opinion, this is a lawyer looking for money on something which at first glance looks heinous.
But it wasn't.
Naw this cop ain't stupid. He just has shows his contempt for the public more openly. The Public will end up getting screwed, and if this cop gets any time off his union brothers will make sure he gets back pay. The cop ain't stupid, the people paying for him are.
Jackbooted thugs are becoming more and more evident in Police work.
Having worked with city and county police departments for almost 30 years, I have seen what snotty nosed police kids have become...Obnoxious fools that felt insecure and had to become cops.
We are loosing the old policemen that use to serve and protect.
The Mayor of Redmond is this anti Police Queen named Rosemary Ives,she treats the PD as a nuisance. I know a LT there, Patrol Officers Flee in droves when the opportunity arrives.
I'm a nobody and I've known about the effects of blood sugar on a persons actions for at least the last 15 years. There is no excuse for any professional person to not know about Diabetic reactions.
The jerk who tased this poor lady probably wouldn't make much of a dog catcher either.
The issue of concern to me is that this will be used as a means to ban tasers.
What is left? Saying pretty please with honey on it?
Well, I was never told about diabetic reactions.
And, people with low blood sugar will smell like alcohol, they will (sometimes) be argumentive and combative.
I've experienced that.
I have also arrested countless drunks who act the same way.
My point still stands.
This officer may very well have been following his departments Use of force policy and procedure.
And, the woman had to be taken out of the car, either for arrest or medical treatment.
There is no way to know until tests are given. For a cop, 999 time out of 1,000, it's a drunk.
This cop is going to get burned, most likely, because this time the 1 was having a problem with low blood sugar.
Well yeah, there's that. Let's all focus on the cop rather than the fact that she shouldn't have been driving to begin with.
Wanna bet the accident was her fault also? She's lucky she didn't kill anyone.
Don't put me on that jury.
A person with low blood sugar can show signs that someone under the influence can.
Who' the governor out there in Washington state? When someone who is a federal officer does something wrong, it is blamed on Bush. In this instance we must blame the governor, who controls the state of Washington. Given that we are talking about police misbehavior, I assume the governor is Republican (/sarcasm). Let the chips fall where they may.
hahahaha...
I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at departmental policy.
When I got on, the use of black jacks was commonplace. If someone resisted, you pulled out a jack and gave them stitches.
If you sent them to the hospital with 1 to 3 stitches, your co-workers thought you effeminate.
4 to 7 stitches was acceptable, 8 to 10 and you knew how to use a jack.
Then black jacks were considered inhumane and were put to pasture. That gave way to "pepper spray" which soon was a killer of minorities, along with the evil "choke hold."
We did have a brief appearance of the 'Stun Gun', which was anemic and was the predecessor of the taser.
Now, I predict, the taser will soon be gone from the police duty belt.
I carry one but I have never used it.
I am a firm believer in judo. It has never failed me and I have never harmed one person using it, including the 'choke.'
All cops should be trained in judo. No fuss, no muss.
Fine, lets just ban every diabetic from driving. Problem solved. Even if the woman was wrong to drive, it does not make the un-named cop innocent of electrocuting a defenseless woman. I know she challenged his super-cop ego, and she had to be taught a lesson, but he shouldn't leave the taxpayers on the hook.
Well, I figure she had to be doing something, either verbal or physical to get tasered. If the cop tasered her and she was just sitting there, unresponsive, then shame on him.
But, like I say, some departments want their officers to use the taser if people are uncooperative with verbal commands.
Our use of taser is a little further down the use of force line. Verbal commands, soft empty hand, then depending on circumstances, stick, spray, hard empty hand or taser.
I sat on a jury once for an assault on a corrections officer. The accused threw a cup of milk on the officer and called him some bad names.
The prosecuter decided to go for it and brought assault charges.
In a more common sense era, this would have never made it out of the jailhouse. A little tough love would have corrected the milk tosser and made the guard feel better. It also would have save thousands in court costs.
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