Why hide details of probe into police Taser death?
Give public the information needed to evaluate response.
Source: The Charlotte Observer
Here's what we know about how 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner died: He had cardiac arrest after a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer shot him with a Taser gun.
Yet what we don't know about that shooting is just as important. Police and prosecutors should say how many times Mr. Turner was shot and make public a surveillance videotape that captured much of the confrontation. That's the only way to settle questions about what happened.
Prosecutors announced last week that Police Officer Jerry Dawson acted appropriately when he shocked Mr. Turner during a March confrontation at a north Charlotte grocery store. Officials said Mr. Turner was shocked more than once after he advanced on the officer.
Yet police and prosecutors have refused to reveal how many times the officer shot Mr. Turner and refused to air a videotape that showed what happened leading up to the shooting.
That secrecy doesn't make sense. If the investigation cleared the officer, those key details would only reinforce that finding.
For one thing, knowing how many times Mr. Turner was shot gives the public a way to evaluate the officer's response in light of some disturbing facts.
A June study by the U.S. Department of Justice reviewed Taser deaths and found that many of them are associated with repeated shocks. It cautioned law enforcement agencies against repeated shockings, saying the medical risks are unknown.
Mr. Turner's autopsy showed the teen's heart was pumping so fast and chaotically from the Taser shot and the confrontation that it stopped pumping blood properly.
In addition, sharing the surveillance video with the public would resolve conflicting accounts of what it shows. A lawyer representing Mr. Turner's family has viewed videotape. He disputes the police account that Mr. Turner walked or advanced aggressively toward the officer before he was shot. More HERE
2 comments:
WHY DID HE ADVANCE TOWARDS THE OFFICER? PEOPLE DONT GET TASED FOR NO REASON.
Yes, people get tased for all kinds of things:
for running,
for being mentally ill,
for being in restraints and already in custody,
for being in the hospital,
for being a minority,
for being "undesirable" (see a recent Canadian death),
and on and on and on....
Enough of scrutiny-free use of these devices.
What's that thing that taser proponents and police apologists love to say? Something about having nothing to worry about if you're not guilty. That standard is more appropriately applied to public servants than to private citizens. The public should have access to every bit of that videotape.
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