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.
10 times???? Someone was having too much fun with his taser toy.
They didn't. The victim did.
In a 911 call made to the Green Cove Springs, Delafield can be heard telling a dispatcher that she believed she was in danger:
Apparently it wasnt, but one bullet would have been enough.
Should have just thrown a big blanket over the woman.
Just tip the chair over.
Hit the nail on the head.
Whether it is this case, the political stunt at the Kerry speach, or the kid at USC last year, lazy cops want to use their toys rather than muss their hair.
In this case, the wheelchair bound women could have been easily disarmed.
The real threat is the lowly standard of which populate the ranks of police.
That would have required actual thought and planning on the part of the patrol officers. Plus they aren't issued blankets and there are none hanging on their duty belts.
Besides that's just the sort of creative thinking we can't have on most police forces.
I'm wondering where the pepper spray was. That would have shut the old broad down.
L
Hit the nail on the head.
Whether it is this case, the political stunt at the Kerry speach, or the kid at USC last year, lazy cops want to use their toys rather than muss their hair.
In this case, the wheelchair bound women could have been easily disarmed.
The real threat is the lowly standard of which populate the ranks of police.
The facts. Didnt you read the whole article or just the headline?
The police in this country really need to be reined in. There’s just too many stories like this coming to the forefront.
My thoughts exactly.
I was thinking knock the wheel chair over but I like your idea better. No excuse on this one, cops were very much in the wrong and deserve to lose their badges.
The victim called the police. Her family did NOT.
From the article:In a 911 call made to the Green Cove Springs, Delafield can be heard telling a dispatcher that she believed she was in danger:
Within an hour of her call to 911, Delafield, a wheelchair-bound woman documented to have mental illness, was dead.
Calling John Edwards! Calling John Edwards!
It’s the militarization of the police going on. They all look like the army in iraq on our streets not the cops walking the beat they should be.
Whatever happened to community policing?
Sheesh...
Why didn’t they just shoot the tires out of the wheelchair.
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