[Charlespg]

What is with the cops and these things?

Mabey its time for congress to ban tasers in police use

[rabscuttle385]

...while handcuffed??? Wtf.

[6SJ7]

The police chief committed suicide three years ago after losing a close election marred by allegations of fraud and vote-buying. Just four months later, the district attorney killed himself after allegedly skimming $200,000 from his office budget and extorting payments from criminal defendants to make their cases go away.

The current police chief is a convicted drug offender pardoned by then-Gov. Edwin Edwards, who is in federal prison for corruption convictions.

Nice town.

[bubbacluck]

It happened outside, at a grocery store, with witnesses. He was tased twice while unconscious. I’m pro-cop but this is abhorrent and, based on what I’ve read, plain murder.

[AmusedBystander]

is spawning suspicions of a political cover-up

Not likely to be a cover-up when the coroner has ruled it a homicide.

[stylin19a]

It was after Pikes refused Nugent's command to stand up that the officer applied the first Taser shock in the middle of his back, Nugent wrote.

seems like being tased would make me fall down, not help me get up.

[packrat35]

Cops love to make us dance. Tasers are an effective tool when used properly but it is painfully clear to all but the cops-are-always-right crowd, that they are being misused on a massive scale.

[kittymyrib]

This is the cesspool that Gov. Jindal has promised to clean out. Good luck, Bobby.

[pipecorp]

French law.

[VOA]

No novelist could have invented Winnfield, the birthplace
of two of Louisiana's most colorful and notorious governors --
Huey and Earl Long.

Hmmm...no mention of the political affiliation of these two historical
figures.
I wonder about the political affiliations of the other officials
mentioned in this article.
(OK, the current scoundrels could be Republicans...)

The police chief committed suicide three years ago after losing
a close election marred by allegations of fraud and vote-buying.
Just four months later, the district attorney killed himself after
allegedly skimming $200,000 from his office budget and extorting
payments from criminal defendants to make their cases go away.

Sounds like some of the suburbs/exburbs of Los Angeles like Hawaiian
Gardens and Compton.

But, for the sophisticates of Los Angeles, it's more fun to find
some disaster-of-a-town in flyover country (preferably below
The Mason-Dixon Line) in order to feel very smug about the advanced
and crime-free society of Southern California.
(/SARC).
This is just a replay of how The LA Times ran a series of reports
of how G-wd-Awful the quality of life in Texas was...as part of
their DNC work for the Kerry Campaign in 2004.

The current police chief is a convicted drug offender pardoned by
then-Gov. Edwin Edwards, who is in federal prison for corruption convictions.

Honestly, this town really does give The Harper Valley PTA a run
for ugly scandals!

Pikes fell ill and told the officers he suffered from asthma
and was high on crack cocaine and PCP. The officers called for
an ambulance. Pikes died at the hospital.

An autopsy determined there were no drugs in Pikes' system and
that he did not have asthma, according to Dr. Randolph Williams,
the Winn Parish coroner.

Having worked for six years in toxicology (therapeutic and
drugs-of-abuse screening)...I'd hold my breath and ask for a second
opinion.

The good coroner could be absolutely correct in his findings.
But every once and awhile, you get a forensic scandal like the
one in Oklahoma City (Gilchrist?).

But, taken as a whole, and even if the source is The Los Angeles
Times, it does sound like the cops in this town need to stand
in the dock to answer for what happened to the deceased.

[Condor51]

**** What is with the cops and these things? ****

Most cops become cops for the right reasons, like to help and serve the community, and I knew many of those types on the Chicago PD.

Unfortunately, some are power mad control freak sadists, aka Jack Booted Thugs. They see the Badge as the ticket to Power over people, a 'get out of jail free card' for abuse, and I knew 'one' of those too (a real assh*le for sure).

In the olden days the sadists used their Batons to excess, now it's the Taser. So yeah, maybe Congress should look into this, way too many are dying from this "non lethal weapon". But they're too busy trying to impeach Bush.

[Fundamentally Fair]

Not long ago, there were posts here on FR claiming that there never had been, and could never be, a death attributed to a taser. This is the second account (if it is to be believed) of a death that I have read this week.

[mware]

He was under police custody for 39 minutes and tased 9 times.

That is an average of once every 3 minutes.

Sure would wreck havoc on a persons pulmonary system.

[MaxMax]

Tasers seem to give police the ability to dole out punishment without due process.

[contemplator]

Maybe its time for congress to ban tasers in police use

A taser is just a tool. It has appropriate times for it's use. Taking away a tool out of a LEO's toolbox isn't the answer, they need to be given more choices in fact.

This particular cop appears to be a sadist and should be brought up on charges and judged for his actions. He doesn't seem to understand how the human body reacts to being tased, I suggest an appropriate punishment begin with him repeatedly finding out first hand what it's like to be tased. Regardless of whether or not he is found guilty of murder, to allow this man to continue acting as a LEO would be constitute negligence and willful disregard for public safety on the part of the police department.