Posted on 12/19/2008 9:13:07 AM PST by NormsRevenge
26-year-old San Jose man died early today after he was zapped with a Taser by Campbell police who had been called to help quell a "disturbance'' at Valley Medical Center apparently involving the man.
Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Don Morrissey did not identify the man, saying that the coroner had not yet given permission because his next of kin had not been properly notified.
Morrissey added that he didn't have many details since the death was so recent, but what he did outline was this general scenario:
On Thursday about 11:20 p.m., a woman called 911 from Valley Medical Center saying that one of her relatives was involved in a "disturbance.'' Sheriff's deputies arrived to help and were able to "locate the parties involved,'' Morrissey said.
Moments after they arrived, Morrissey said the deputies began to struggle with the 26-year-old man who was causing the disturbance.
Deputies called for backup.
Morrissey said the officer nearest the hospital happened to be from the Campbell Police Department. Morrissey said the 26-year-old man "failed to comply'' with officers' requests, and the Campbell officer, who was not named, fired his Taser, an electric stun gun.
The man was taken into custody, but deputies soon realized he was "unresponsive,'' Morrissey said.
Officers started CPR on the man, who was whisked into the hospital's emergency room. Efforts to revive the man failed, and he died at 12:11 a.m. today.
Morrissey said that he did not know why the man and his family were at the hospital to begin with, and he didn't know what sparked the initial disturbance or whether it had become physical.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
I don't care of there is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of someone being killed through the use of a taser, that's too many to justify its use in non-deadly force situations.
I was watching a show on TV the other day with cops on it who had been tasered voluntarily. They said they have had health problems, some severe, ever since. From what I’ve read and seen cops seem to be using the taser when others means would work. I think they should be outlawed, but I’m sure they will remain as they are an effective way to subdue the sheep.
I’m just guessing but I suspect drugs were involved.
Yeah, it is a heck of a lot better than using their 9mm to restrain the guy. [/sarc]
Look, pepper spray and CS gas can be deadly; night clubs can be deadly, a punch can be deadly. The point is that tasers are there to give police OPTIONS other than SHOOTING which has a much higher rate of death.
AND there's the post hoc ergo propter hoc problem.
But, yeah, standards of use are necessary.
Very possible.
No specifics as to why he was actually there, may have been stressed out due to another family member being at the medical center for medical reasons, not everyone responds the same in a stressful situation, however, this is purely conjecture on my part at this time. We will have to wait this one out.
He will have been the 7th death since 2004 in the South Bay as a result of officer administered Taser shocking.
Saw a video the other day of a Dallas Police Officer who ended up zapping himself while trying to subdue a suspect. He didn’t look like he was having a good time after that.
As you acknowledge, “death by taser” is extremely, extremely, rare, and when used appropriately with instruction and training and with correct protocols, they actually save hundreds/thousands of lives. By that I mean, sometimes “deadly force” is the primary alternative to the use of a taser. Once employed there is usually no residual physical harm to taser use. Other alternatives might be sprays, sticks, or 2.5 lb flashlights and those have serious consequences in terms of damage.
Applying handcuffs occasionally causes death.
Incarceration occasionally causes death.
Baton use more frequently causes death.
Physical restraint occasionally causes death.
Service weapon is likely to cause death.
Resisting the police is not a safe activity.
Yeah, I’ll take a taser over a slug or a good clubbing any day.
The “Police are jack booted thugs” crowd never seems to have any options. Apparently police are supposed to talk everyone down like the police in the Demolition Man movie.
“Non compliance” can mean anything from simply turning your back and walking away from police to refusing to put down the knife and release the child.
Police are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Sure there are some over aggressive cops but there are plenty of over aggressive citizens running loose too.
I concur.
Tough!
the soup people have cops???
The alternative is nightsticks,mace or both.
They also have deadly results in certain cicumstances but nightsticks will cause major trama.
Taser’s are fine...
I suspect mental disturbance was involved.
I suspect distress over a family member was involved.
I suspect he’d been sitting in the Emergency Room for 12 hours and grew irate was involved.
It doesn’t really matter what was involved. What matters is whether or not using a Taser was justified. What matters is whether the cop knew what he was doing. What matter is whether the Taser was properly calibrated and was working properly. These are all the issues that will end up in the lawsuit.
What would drugs have to do with this? Do you think this guy somehow deserved what happened to him? Should every person making a disturbance be Tased?
We should all be wearing those “Don’t tase me, bro!” t-shirts at a football game or a stag party then.
Oh I see, you’re one of those “Just make drugs legal man” people. No point in arguing with you.
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.