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.
lol. yup, he sure pedaled fast
I don’t know. I was not there and funny that we believe news articles when we want to but ignore them other times. I just know that the vast amount of cops are good.
Not necessarily. She was mentally ill and apparently having some kind of psychotic episode. That's why she called police. She thought her sister was "after" her.
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.
I wouldn't expect a mentally handicapped person to react normally.
Hopefully that court case will smooth out the details and if justice is necessary I am sure that it will be done. Don’t worry I won’t be on the jury. lol.
Good - lets get the facts out in the open.
LOL. You're right. That would have been a smart thing to do. It would have required them to use their brains though, to first realize they had a wheelchair bound woman with mental problems, and not a healthy gang banger.
And can't admit when a couple of them are stupid and overreact.
In that light, the sister may have been doing something as routine as trying to get her to take her medication.
Many homeless where I live are schizophrenic, and homeless because they don’t want the medicine.
Where does it say they were trying? The mentally ill, handicapped VICTIM called the police. She told them: Delafield: My sister (inaudible) is on my property trying to harm me.
Yup.
Might be misplaced nowadays. Ask Brett Darrow.
1:32
[I exit the vehicle]
Officer #1: Let me see your ID.
[I give him my valid Missouri License]
Officer #1: Let me see your insurance card for the vehicle.
Brett: Did I commit a moving violation?
Officer #1: Yeah you did, when you were coming in here.
Brett: Really? What was that?
Officer #1: Yeah, you wanna try me? You wanna try me tonight?
You think you've had a bad night? I will ruin your ****ing night.
[Officer starts to get close up to my face]
Officer #1 You want to try me?
[Officer is inches away from my face, screaming as I'm pinned between him and my vehicle]
Officer #1 Do you wanna try me young boy? Do you want to try me tonight young boy?
Brett: No I don't.
Officer #1: Do you want to go to jail for some ****ing reason I come up with?
Brett: No I don't.
Officer #1: Do you wanna see who knows the law better, me or you. My experience compared to your young ass. Huh? Don't ever get smart mouthed with a cop again. I show you what a cop does. Do you understand me?
Brett: Yes sir.
Officer #1: Try and talk back -- Talk back to me again. I bet I could say you resisted arrest or something. You want to come up with something? I come up with nine things. Do you wanna try something?
Brett: No I don't.
Officer #1: Wait here.
2:52
Officer #1 Oh, while you were coming towards me you were swerving back and forth within the roadway. Okay? I might give you a ticket for that. You want me to come up with some more? When you turned in, you failed to use your turn signal, your right turn signal [Turn signal was used, see video at 0:06]. You wanna try me some more? Huh? Come on smart ass. Gimmie an attitude a little bit more. I bet -- I guarantee I can tow this car by the time I'm done with you. You wanna try me now? Gimmie a little more lip. [officer gets back up in my face] Come on boy. Come on boy give me some more lip. You're done?
Brett: I don't want any problems officer.
Officer #1: You're about ready to get it. You already start your ****ing problems with your attitude. Did we have a bad night boy? Huh? Answer me or I'll lock you up for failure to comply with a police officer's commands.
Brett: Cause I'm not answering your questions about my personal business?
Officer #1: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You want me to show you? You want me to show you? You want me to lock you up to show you I'm right and you're wrong?
Brett: No I don't officer.
Officer #1: You want me to show you the ****ing law.
She was mentally ill. She did NOT deserve this. Her reality was very distorted from that of a well person. Schizophrenia is a sad and scary disease. Whether the police knew about this or not is an important issue. I am usually on the side of police but this seems very excessive and unreasonable. How about approaching her with a shield and baton? I know the police didn’t mean to kill her but come on it’s an old lady. Hit her hands with rubber bullets or something.
She was schizophrenic. She was very unlikely to behave on command from anybody. She needed everyone to step back and then deal with her as one deals with a mentally ill person, not to deal with her as if she were a young thug who wouldn’t follow instructions.
The first thing they should have done is remove what she perceived to be the threat, which apparently was her sister/other family on her property.
No good guys in this one. Cops overreacting (sure seems to be rampant these days, doesn’t it......) and a ‘family’ looking for an easy payday.
Many of these situations would not occur if the police had better training in dealing with the mentally ill.
Right. I hope the family is awarded enough compensation by a jury to bankrupt the city government, and also that they can get the responsible cops jailed or at least fired. Cops with tasers are running amok all over the US today, and innocent people are being injured and even dying for no other reason than some cop wants to try out his or her taser on an uncooperative subject who is p*****g him or her off.
I have a cardiac problem myself that would probably kill me if I were to be tasered 2 or 3 times in succession, so I will have to be extra careful to bow and scrape properly next time I'm approached by a cop who may be carrying a taser. Is this still the USA, or did I somehow move to Cuba without knowing it?
After reading numerous posts, I would have not given the police as much benefit of the doubt that I did. As I said to another FREEPER, sometimes I give authority too much respect. I would be interested though in seeing this court case and how it will be concluded. Hopefully more information will be brought to light.
Easy enough for you to say. In real life, you're likely to get cut
Which is the whole issue. The female officer (the one who used her Taser 9 times) was not willing to risk getting cut in order to disarm the crazy lady.
Cops have to deal with nutcases several times a day. If you put yourself in a situation where you have a 10% chance of getting hurt, and you do it ten times in one week -- guess what, you WILL get hurt
The Taser-happy officer seems like somebody who wanted to collect her paycheck with minimal risk of allowing anything bad to happen to herself
Did you all catch that it was a woman cop? Harder for a little lady to disarm a schizophrenic with a knife and hammer . . .
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.