Posted on 09/19/2007 8:44:43 AM PDT by Cagey
CLAY COUNTY, Fla. -- A Clay County woman's family said it's seeking justice after their loved one died shortly after being shocked 10 times with Taser guns during a confrontation with police.
The family of 56-year-old Emily Delafield said it would take the Green Cove Springs Police Department to court, according to a WJXT-TV report.
In April 2006, officers with the police department said they were called to a disturbance at a home in the 400 block of Harrison Street just before 5 p.m.
In a 911 call made to the Green Cove Springs, Delafield can be heard telling a dispatcher that she believed she was in danger:
Dispatcher: And what's the problem?
Delafield: My sister is waiting on my property.
Dispatcher: Your what?
Delafield: My sister (inaudible) is on my property trying to harm me.
Officers said they arrived to find Delafield in a wheelchair, armed with two knives and a hammer. Police said the woman was swinging the weapons at family members and police.
Within an hour of her call to 911, Delafield, a wheelchair-bound woman documented to have mental illness, was dead.
Family attorney Rick Alexander said Delafield's death could have been prevented and that there are four things that jump out at him about the case.
"One, she's in a wheelchair. Two, she's schizophrenic. Three, they're using a Taser on a person that's in a wheelchair, and then four is that they tasered her 10 times for a period of like two minutes," Alexander said.
According to a police report, one of the officers used her Taser gun nine times for a total of 160 seconds and the other officer discharged his Taser gun once for a total of no more than five seconds.
A medical examiner found Delafield died from hypertensive heart disease and cited the Taser gun shock as a contributing factor, the report said. On her death certificate, the medical examiner ruled Delafield's death a homicide.
The family said it plans to sue the Green Coves Springs Police Department now that it has all the reports regarding their loved one's death.
"We're going to try to compensate the estate and the family and try to get justice," Alexander said.
He said he believes the evidence weighs heavily in favor of Delafield's family and that justice will be served.
"I think that this evidence is going to show, along with some of the evidence we've collected outside of here, that there is no reason Emily Delafield should have died that day," Alexander said.
He said he plans to file a notice to sue sometime before the end of the year.
Oh yeah, whacking an elderly Alzheimer's patient with a hard object and then lying about it is really hilarious isn't it? Too bad that the patient's next of kin wasn't also there to enjoy the fun.
My father and my aunt both died with advanced Alzheimer's disease. I saw first hand how helpless AD patients are mistreated, neglected, and abused in nursing homes when the staff thinks no one is around to see. I got my dad out of all 3 nursing homes we tried because of the mistreatment and neglect I personally witnessed other AD patients getting when their family members were not around. I quit my job and cared for him like a baby for a year before he died just to keep him out of the hellish nursing homes that are getting vastly rich off of government funded Medicare and Medicaid while giving the patients the least possible care they can get by with.
Commercial nursing homes are a shame and disgrace to the US. The only decent ones are usually operated by either Catholic or Jewish charities, but the waiting list is years long at practically all of those.
Try reading
“Schizos off their meds move in odd directions. I remember we found one out on the floor. “
I’m guessing the female cop isn’t really qualified to be a cop and was in fear. How cops can’t distract, wait-out or talk the lady out of her rage is beyond me.
Sometimes, actually lots of times, the best thing one can do is nothing. Of course the cops don’t have time for that AND the paperwork.
It only takes a few to tarnish the rest. These cops tarnished themselves.
You should see some of the cops in central FL. I've seen orange county sheriff women, with uniforms, squad cars, the whole bit, weigh in around 190 lbs., and standing about 5'4". What the hell are they going to do, order take-out?
More to the point, where do they find orb shaped bullet proof vests????
LOL!!
They are in the trunk of their police vehicles with their road flares.
Not that I am advocating dropping a blanket over somebody's head. I doubt it would have resolved this situation. In fact, it might have caused her to hurt herself with the knives.
Not that the tasering was much better. Death by taser or self-inflicted knife wounds. It's a toss up.
That's your f'ing job. I guess "Serve and protect" has become "Serve unless it's an inconvenience, and protect my own ass even if I kill a sick old woman."
Nice. Real nice.
L
That is so beneath our overlords in blue, in fact what is your address so that a squad car can be dispatched for your re-education????
Florida: The Taser State
I remember a FR thread that was about a study of gender/racial make up of police forces versus the number of times force had to be used. If I am remembering right, the more female cops, the more force used by that police force. The more black male cops, the less force used by that police force.
Freegards
Screw her. Drive off and let the family deal with her. No, she’ll just call the cops again.
She’s waving a knife around and calling the cops. I say tazer the old bag.
L
Simple solutions are never the answer for LEO's. They have to show you that they are "supreme".
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into allegations that a local corrections deputy bragged about using a Taser gun on people in an Internet chat room.
FOX 12’s news partner, the Portland Tribune, was the first to break this story. Now, authorities at the Justice Center Jail want to know if the same deputy, identified as David B. Thompson, also filed a false police report to cover up the beating of an inmate.
Lt. Jason Gates of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said he is appalled at the alleged online comments of thecounty corrections officer.
According to Gates, Thompson used a county work computer to play the online video game “City of Heroes” while on the job and then boasted about the joy he gets hurting people in jail in the chat room.
According to the Portland Tribune article in Friday’s newspaper, the deputy, using the screen name Trafalgar, said, “Seeing someone get Tasered is second only to pulling the trigger. That is money – puts a smile on your face.”
In another chat, the Tribune article claimed the deputy said, “I crushed a dude’s eye socket from repeatedly punching him in it and then I charged him with menacing and harassment (of me). He took a plea to get away from me. He shoulda picked somebody else to try and fight.”
“All we have is public trust. What does that do to our public trust? It destroys it,” said Lt. Jason Gates.
Others who may or may not have the right to be on her property.
The only person I see that lives at her address is a 36 year old man with the same last name - probably her son.
What about repeatedly tasering a wheelchair-bound lady in her own home makes for a good deed?
I say turn in your badge and your weapon and go into the insurance business.
L
You are a sick bootlicker. She deserved it?
The cops overreacted. I'm sorry you're sick of the police getting a bad name, but it's because for the most part they are stupid individuals. They are the types of meatheads that were bullies in school and need to be in a position of authority to satisfy their egos.
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