Posted on 05/15/2014 9:13:34 AM PDT by mandaladon
A Washington man is dead after police tasered him four times and beat him with their fists and a flashlight, according to eyewitnesses.
Neighbors report that what happened between 44-year-old Ron Hillstrom and University Place police was essentially murder.
“You beat this man to death last night for no reason and we caught you, period,” said one of Hillstrom’s neighbors, who saw the incident.
Police were called to the parking lot of Hillstrom’s apartment complex in the early morning hours. Hillstrom was having some sort of psychotic episode: He was pacing in a circle and muttering that people were after him. He was unarmed, but carrying a screwdriver.
A representative for the police department said that Hillstrom’s actions necessitated police force. He fought with officers and tried to bite them, according to Sheriff Ed Troyer’s statement to komonews.com.
That’s not how the neighbors described it.
“No, he did not charge the police, he was just doing what he was doing before the police came,” said a different eyewitness.
Not in dispute: The fact that officers tasered Hillstrom four times.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Does this make him crazy, or prescient?’...or even President.
I can thank the University Place School District for making me both a crazy birther and a prescient denier.
Ping
I was referring to walking in circles saying everyone was out to get him.
They were found not guilty on all counts, kept their jobs, plus got a nice little paid vacation and all legal expenses paid for by us. I don’t know if they got promotions or not, but wouldn’t be surprised.
The lawsuits are starting. One or both of the cops that shot him could be considered "rouge" (fired from NMSP) and had a personal weapon at the scene. See this link:
http://www.abqjournal.com/395476/news/lawsuit-planned-in-boyds-shooting-death.html
I think the shooting is still under investigation within the APD, but it occurred just a few days before the DOJ released its report and is only briefly mentioned in it.
I thought there was a delay after you turn the taser off before muscle control returns. I thought they were incapacitated for several seconds?
I bet Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are organizing a march now!
Oh... wait...
We handle animals (bears, wolves, etc.) better than this. My problem is what the “procedure” apparently allows. Just say “he moved toward me” and that’s justification for killing him. Sorry, doesn’t fly, it’s poor training and poor policy that we shouldn’t tolerate. I’m not “anti-cop” but the training never seems to emphasize “diffusing the situation” rather than escalate it. It’s always about the cop “immediately taking control of the situation”, they go from nothing to all out attack in a split second over anything. To me, that is the difference between war and civilian policing. I know many cops exercise restraint, I just don’t think that, as policy and procedure, diffusing the situation is considered enough.
I say this because I’ve seen the way cops behave in many other countries, so while I know ours have to deal with firearms, the general approach still seems too militarized. This stuff happens too often.
screwdrivers are weapons if used as such. that’s why burglars love’em b/c they stab people with em pretty good.
agree. police’may have gone too far. but a screwdriver can kill you when stabbed with it. lots of break-in criminals have stabbed people with them. and i wouldn’t doubt in the hands of someone having a psychotic episode they wouldn’t use it as a weapon.
If you run the JBT ping list, would you please add me.
I’ll bet this is a high volume ping list.
Your screen name is apropos.
I agree it is a double edged sword.
*sigh* Yeah. Expect daily pings. I even post when the cops do everything right. Credit where credit due.
Although sometimes the Mods will pull a thread where there was no misconduct and the police behaved in an exemplary manner, due to harsh comments.
Like yesterday where a tree fell on a cop, and his very first act upon staggering to his feet was to verify that the driver of the car was OK.
When I see these message threads on FR, I don’t feel fear, I feel anger.
We need a lot more citizen review boards and accountability from the police.
Police-state ping
Good, as it should be. Thank you.
Tacoma, WA
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