Posted on 05/29/2013 10:38:48 AM PDT by redreno
After wandering away from the Montana Veterans’ Home in Columbia Falls last June, a 77-year-old Korean War veteran suffering from severe Alzheimer’s disease was tased by police, fell face-first to the pavement where he struck his head and died later due to injuries from the fall, according to a lawsuit filed last month by a family member representing his estate.
Tamara Downen of Columbia Falls filed the lawsuit on April 5 in Helena’s Lewis and Clark County District Court, claiming that her grandfather, Stanley Downen, died as a result of negligence by the Montana Veterans’ Home, Columbia Falls Police Department and Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
The lawsuit states that on May 31, 2012, Stanley Downen was admitted as a resident to the veterans’ home, described as a “nursing facility that includes a 15-bed Alzheimer’s unit.” Downen had a “history of behavioral issues and advanced dementia resulting from severe progressive Alzheimer’s disease.”
(Excerpt) Read more at flatheadbeacon.com ...
Sad....and disgraceful.
Stop using tasers for compliance. That is not why they were designed. They replace deadly force; that’s it.
My son was just telling me that Ft. Worth shot a 72 yr man in his garage that had heard his neighbor’s alarm go off, grabbed his pistol, going to help his neighbor. Cops shot him and never went to the right house. Nice neighborhood too.
Not all LEO’s are there to “Serve and Protect”..
Some just want a badge to slake their control issues..
Oh!.. and a snappy uniform.. as a mask..
Sometimes “they” are in charge..
What kind of pig would tase an Alzheimer’s victim?
THE MAN WAS SHOT ON HIS OWN PROPERTY!
With Downen resisting efforts to direct him back to the home, the suit asserts, staff members called 911 to request police assistance. Officers made verbal attempts to persuade Downen to move to a grassy area, but when he refused to cooperate they tased him, according to the family’s complaint.
So the LEOs KNEW he was an Alzheimer's patient and STILL tased him! Niiiice.
Keystone Kops strike again.
Who on Earth are they hiring these days????
“He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and received a National Defense Service medal in honor of serving his country.”
With thanks from a grateful nation.
The cops who did this should be executed.
I agree this should not have happened and that the police over-reacted. But if this guy has a history of acting violent (which some Alzheimers patients do), I can understand how this could happen. Its not the job of the police to accept getting hit or being subjected to the physical outbursts of a violent person, even if that person has Alzheimers. So some overreaction is acceptable to avoid having police get hurt. But if this old man wasn’t hurting anyone and was standing in a field, I suspect there could have been other ways to deal with this. This wasn’t just a little overreaction, it was extreme overreaction.
Police standards have dropped significantly over the last 2 decades. Used to you would even get a call back if you had used any drugs, now they overlook misdemeanor amounts and other things as well.
That’s murder. So when is the guilty officer going to be arrested?
He wouldn’t obey, so they tazed him.
The reality here is that the police have only two modes of action: boredom or attack. Nothing in between. Nothing in their little minds that says “hey, this is an old guy obviously confused. He’s no threat to us”
If this angers you, good. That was my intention.
Yes, the Columbine Response. Idiotic procedure instead of common sense. I have yet to see anyone being held accountable. Never call the police.
Exactly how much damage is a 77 year old unarmed Alzheimer patient going to inflict?? There was no excuse for this, imo.
Yes, if it is also murder if a big hulk of a guy hopped up on drugs dies as the result of being tased. But based on what I typically see posted on FR (not saying it is posted by you), there's a double standard on that issue.
Alzheimer's patients can get pretty violent. Don't know if this guy was or not, but there's a lot of other things we don't know as well.
I remember a story a few yrs back of an older woman tazed because her caregiver was having a hard time giving her insulin as she was going into diabetic shock. The cops knew what was going on but tazed her anyway, sending her to hospital. I don’t remember if she survived the attack.
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