Vancouver Police Tasers Teen Endanger Newborn

Mother Misha Peterson was Tasered by Vancouer police Monday after officials tried to take custody of her newborn son.

As reported by canada.com

Vancouver police say a teen mother was Tasered on her arm and upper back after three hours of talks failed to persuade her to give up custody of her son -- but the teen told The Province she was zapped on the neck.

Misha Peterson, 16, told The Province three or four officers held her down on a bed and zapped her twice on the neck until she let go of her baby, a boy named Taige.

"She's got the two marks on the back of her neck," said Doreen Duncan, the grandmother of Scott Michell, Misha's boyfriend and the baby's dad. "There's nothing on the arm or shoulder." Const. Jana McGuinness told a news conference Friday that officers touched the five-foot-one, 110-pound teen's arm and upper back with the Taser at the end of "emotionally intense" negotiations to attempt to take custody of the one-month-old baby.

She couldn't be reached for further comment on the weekend.

Spokesman Const. Tim Fanning said he wasn't familiar with the file and couldn't comment.

Friday, McGuinness defended the officers' decision to Taser the teen.

"Some people may criticize our actions, but there was a child's life in the balance here," she said.

"The last thing we would have ever wanted to do was get in a tug-and-war situation with the mother." The mom was seated at the time and officers were able to retrieve the baby, who they say has been critically ill since birth, from her lap, she said.

McGuinness said the mother was seated and her body at times was over the child.

"Officers felt it was critical to intervene because the actions of the mother led them to believe the baby would be smothered," she said.

"The use of the Taser allowed us to bring this to a safe conclusion for the mother and the child," she said.

Police were called Monday afternoon to Scott's apartment by social workers after Misha failed to return to her foster home on Sunday. Scott isn't allowed to see the child without adult supervision.

McGuinness wouldn't reveal how many officers were involved.

Police didn't identify what condition the baby was born with nor confirm Misha is the mother involved, but they say a woman was arrested under the Mental Health Act and not charged.

Duncan said the baby was healthy except for a minor brain condition and the couple spent their days with Taige, although Scott lives with friends and Misha is in foster care.

"They had a stroller and they went everywhere together," she said. "They're used to having the baby all the time and it's like a part of them has been wrenched out." She said Misha absconded with Taige after social workers told her there would be a custody hearing and Misha would have to earn her baby back. More HERE

The publisher of this blog is also the publisher of African American Political Pundit.com

Tasered While Black.

We are not against taser use as an alternative to deadly force. We are however against taser abuse by police who would use of a taser on the young, elderly, pregnant or physically frail; people offering passive, rather than active resistance; and restrained prisoners.

The publisher of this blog is available to conduct presentations on the issue of taser use for police agencies, governmental bodies, and groups in the U.S. and abroad.

Contact him via email at: tasedwhileblack@gmail.com

Tasered While Black A Cover-Up Involving Andre Williams

KDKA and AP report that a medical examiner says a Monroeville man who died shortly after being zapped with a police taser died from consuming cocaine, not from the electric shock. Yes, Allegheny County Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams announced his findings at a news conference this morning. He says 37-year-old Andre Thomas died of acute cocaine intoxication, which caused his heart to stop.

Get this, he says, Williams says the electric shock did not contribute to Thomas' death. Williams has already said he does not believe police used excessive force against 37-year-old Andre Thomas. But the man's family says abrasions on the body indicate otherwise. Thomas died after Swissvale police arrested him, More HERE.

To this AAPP, it Smells like a cover-up to me.

Cross posted on African American Political Pundit

Black Man Tasered From Bridge charged

Source: Canwest News Service

A Black man seriously injured last month when he fell backward and hit his head on the sidewalk after being tasered by police has been released from hospital. Now, he's facing charges.

Police say the 43-year-old man got into an argument with a family member at a home on Aug. 10. Officers were called. When the man refused to drop a knife, he was struck with a Taser dart - ''an electronic control device was deployed to gain control of a very volatile situation,'' police Constable More HERE

The publisher of this blog is also the publisher of African American Political Pundit.com

Tasered While Black.

We are not against taser use as an alternative to deadly force. We are however against taser abuse by police who would use of a taser on the young, elderly, pregnant or physically frail; people offering passive, rather than active resistance; and restrained prisoners.

The publisher of this blog is available to conduct presentations on the issue of taser use for police agencies, governmental bodies, and groups in the U.S. and abroad.

Contact him via email at: tasedwhileblack@gmail.com

A Day of Blogging for Community Organizing Justice

Today is a Day of Blogging for Community Organizing Justice

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Black bloggers from around the afrosphere are blogging about the role of community organizers. for me it's about how community organizers in America have historically responded to the needs of America particularly African Americans. We canot kid ourselves that the importance of community organizers was recently highlighted by Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Palin and Rudy Guiliani in their remarks that actually spit in the face of the hundreds of thousands of community organizers, many who have been African Americans and many other Americans. community organizers worked to change our society from a segregated society to a more open a free society.

Both Rudy Guiliani's and Palin's ugly, sarcastic, and ignorant comments about Obama's experience as a community organizer during their speeches at the Republican National Convention had clear racial connotations.

Ms. Palin's remarks made this AAPP believe that Ms. Palin would like to send us back to the days of a segregated

society like the days experienced by so many Americans.

In the Republican National Conventions words and deeds it would have black folks as segregated as it's 2008 Convention or as segregated as the 1950's.

But thank God there were Civil Rights community organizers both black and white, who wanted this madness to stop. Thank God for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, CORE, the NAACP, the Urban League, the Economic Research and Action Projects of the Students for a Democratic Society, The Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Fredrick Douglas, these groups and individuals fundamental positive social change. We all know how many of these groups were infiltrated by the FBI and their leaders harassed, jailed or murdered. Last week I got the sense that under a Mccain administration wemight just go back to a day when political community organizers may just be harassed, jailed or God forbid other things that Republicans have been known to do against black activist.

Read more of this post at: African American Political Pundit.com