Taser Use & Abuse In America - #1 #tasers

[Black Talk Radio Network™]

In order to raise awareness year round on the use and abuse of tasers by law enforcement agencies in America, the Black Talk Radio Network is announcing a series of daily posts titled "Taser Use & Abuse in America". These post will consist of stories related to the pro and cons of taser use to give you a well rounded source of information on the subject.

Champaign police chief calls for policy on Taser use - Urbana/Champaign News-Gazette

The Champaign Police Department may not own any Tasers, but it still needs a policy on their use by police officers from other departments who help respond to incidents within the city, according to Police Chief R.T. Finney. Finney and other police officials answered questions about the city's new use-of-force policy at a city council study session on Tuesday night. The audience for the study session was divided between people concerned after the Oct. 9 shooting death of 15-year-old Kiwane Carrington and more than 60 law enforcement supporters, many of them wearing buttons reading, "Support Our Police." Mr. Carrington died from a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the Champaign County coroner, after an incident involving him, another teen, Finney and another police officer.
Finney said the new use-of-force policy, which went into effect on Oct. 1, updates the previous use-of-force policy, adopted in 2005, in several ways:

– The language of the policy has been modified to match the language used in state laws regarding use of force.

– A section on the deployment of Tasers has been added to the policy. While Champaign police currently do not use Tasers, other police agencies that sometimes assist Champaign police do have Tasers. Read More

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Widow of cop involved in stun gun death sues NYPD - AP

An NYPD lieutenant who committed suicide was treated by his superiors as if he had done something wrong and was afraid he might be prosecuted for ordering officers to use a stun gun on a man who fell to his death, the lieutenant's widow said Monday. "They ripped his heart out," Susan Pigott said of her husband, Michael. "He was treated so unfairly." Her attorney has filed notice he intends to sue the city, NYPD and department brass over the death, saying disciplinary action against him caused "extreme emotional anguish, humiliation, depression, fear and shame."

The highly decorated officer with the NYPD's elite Emergency Services Unit killed himself in October 2008, eight days after ordering the use of the stun gun during a Brooklyn standoff with an emotionally disturbed man. Iman Morales, 35, was waving a large fluorescent bulb after running naked from his apartment onto a fire escape when Pigott gave the order to have the man subdued with a stun gun. Morales fell 10 feet to the ground and died; his family is also suing the city. Read More

What Will It Take? - Fort Worth Weekly

Sometimes, surely, opponents of Tasers must feel like they are in a nightmare, where they are screaming but no sound comes out. Especially in states like Texas where, despite a growing death toll, too many law enforcement agencies - including the Fort Worth Police Department - continue to use the electric-shock weapons in fatally inappropriate ways. The local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference led a march here last week to protest the death of Michael Jacobs Jr., ruled a homicide after a Fort Worth police officer accidentally tasered the young man for 54 seconds (she said she didn't know she had held the trigger down for 49 of those seconds). The officer was not disciplined. Read More

Washington Co. reviews Taser death - The Spectrum

Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap is reviewing an investigative report into the death of Brian Cardall, a 32-year-old man who died in June after being struck by a Taser fired by a Hurricane police officer, to determine whether the use of force was lawful. Cardall died June 9 during a police response to a report of a mentally unstable person interfering with traffic on state Route 59. Hurricane Police Officer Kenneth Thompson attempted to subdue Cardall with a Taser. Cardall had recently been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, according to family members.

Although the incident took place five months ago, Belnap said he received the State Medical Examiner's autopsy report on Friday. A source from the Medical Examiner's Office refused to comment on any aspect of the autopsy or provide her full name. With the autopsy findings released, Belnap said he is preparing an analysis as he reviews a comprehensive investigative report from the Washington County Critical Incident Task Force, including interviews with witnesses, dispatch logs, photographs and other relevant materials, including the recently released autopsy report. Read More