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 ...
If you folks think the tazer is bad, the bullets are even worse!
I say take the tazers away from the cops and lets go back to good ole fashion ass beatings and just out right blasting’em!
The tazer is just another option on the use of force continuum that officers need to have at their disposal.
At the end of the day, this case just like 99.9999% of the rest of the “tazer deaths” will end up involving illegal narcotics in the suspects blood stream.
they were trying to jumpstart him?
Years ago a homeless man was shot and killed by police near here when he rushed them with a utility knife. Odds are that he would have survived the encounter if police had been using the less leathal technology of tasers back then.
I’ve also heard of people dying while they were being physically restrained by police with nothing more than brute force.
Speaking forcefully just doesn’t work any better for police than it does for the UN.
Very astute WCS. An officer must know when to STOP "subduing" the perp. Also older tasers apparently didn't have the calibration and control newer models have. This link from Canada details Tasers unit stunning 60% over manufacturer specs.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081209/od_nm/us_tasers
Where did I state that drugs should be made legal? Oh, I see you’re one of those “no logical argument responded to” folks. No point in arguing with you.
Legal or illegal?
tazers, more often than not, have replaced patience and communication skills in this, our newly militarized police state where force is everything instead of a last resort. How sad for the witnesses who watched a man die for no other crime than being ‘disruptive’.
Then maybe you should take a reality break.
There is a much greater chance than 1 in 1,000,000 of someone being killed in an officer simply responding to any given call.
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