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Taser incidents renew debate over usage
Yahoo!News ^ | August 23, 2007 | John Curran

Posted on 08/23/2007 5:39:49 AM PDT by period end of story

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. - Chained to a 55-gallon drum to protest the proposed development of a vacant lot, Jonathan Crowell wasn't threatening anyone. But he refused police orders to unshackle himself and leave, so they zapped him with a Taser, then charged him with trespassing.

"It wasn't just a short burst," said Crowell, 32, of Dummerston, recalling the July 24 incident. "Five seconds is a long time to be electrocuted. My whole body was contorting and flapping around. You can't think of anything else but that pain. It's really scary. I felt like I was being tortured."

Increasingly, police facing stubborn lawbreakers, belligerent drunks or violent suspects are reaching for stun guns to shock them into submission. In one recent incident, a hospital security guard in Houston used a Taser on a defiant father trying to take his newborn home, sending father and daughter to the floor.

Police say Tasers are valuable tools for avoiding hand-to-hand struggles that can injure officers and citizens. Small, portable and often effective even when merely brandished, Tasers — which fire tiny, tethered cartridges that transmit electrical currents — have become common in law enforcement in recent years, with some 11,500 police agencies using them

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: moregunslesscrime; taser

1 posted on 08/23/2007 5:39:50 AM PDT by period end of story
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To: period end of story
Five seconds is a long time to be electrocuted.

Electrocuted and lived to tell about it. Kind of like jumbo shrimp...

2 posted on 08/23/2007 5:42:15 AM PDT by frithguild (The Freepers moved as a group, like a school of sharks sweeping toward an unaware and unarmed victim)
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To: period end of story

It’s not that difficult. When the police tell you to _______. You do it. End of story, no electrocution. This guy needs to get a copy of Chris Rock’s video on how not to get your a** kicked by the po-leece.


3 posted on 08/23/2007 5:45:32 AM PDT by TheRake (Still Taxed to death in Michigan....it's getting worse.....and worse)
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To: period end of story

Where’s the video? Wanted to see him contorted and flopping around, being “electrocuted”,


4 posted on 08/23/2007 5:47:24 AM PDT by Probus
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To: TheRake

This dude who chained himself to a 55-gallon drum was basically asking for it, and he got it. I don’t think he’s smart enough to heed Rock’s message.


5 posted on 08/23/2007 5:52:19 AM PDT by period end of story (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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To: TheRake
That is a hilarious video.
6 posted on 08/23/2007 6:08:05 AM PDT by jimmango
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To: period end of story

And he was clearly a danger to the police.


7 posted on 08/23/2007 6:14:54 AM PDT by sopwith (don't tread on me)
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To: period end of story
I want to hear more about hte father trying to take his own child the property of the State home from the hospital.
8 posted on 08/23/2007 6:20:23 AM PDT by PinkDolphin
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To: period end of story

Idiot hippie.


9 posted on 08/23/2007 7:05:55 AM PDT by Havok (FRED THOMPSON 2008!)
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To: period end of story

I guess the cops have set up a boom box and played that old classic

Do you wanna Dance?


10 posted on 08/23/2007 9:00:24 AM PDT by ASOC (Yeah, well, maybe - but can you *prove* it?)
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To: period end of story

“In one recent incident, a hospital security guard in Houston used a Taser on a defiant father trying to take his newborn home, sending father and daughter to the floor.”

sheesh.... That security guard is lucky the newborn wasn’t injured. That family would now own the hospital.


11 posted on 08/23/2007 12:35:34 PM PDT by monday
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To: period end of story

I suppose if I had to choose between a taser, a baton to the head, a choke hold or a bullet, I’d probably still choose the taser.


12 posted on 08/23/2007 12:38:01 PM PDT by Polonius (It's called logic, it'll help you.)
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To: monday
That security guard is lucky the newborn wasn’t injured. That family would now own the hospital.

He's going to own the hospital anyway.

13 posted on 08/23/2007 1:59:23 PM PDT by Centurion2000 (“Jesus Saves. Moses Delivers. Cthulu Reposesses...”)
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