SCLC calls for Gov. Crist To Ban Tasers

As reported by Creative Loafing The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) calls it “electrocution without prosecution,” and in the wake of the two most recent Taser-related deaths in Florida, the civil rights group wants the governor to temporarily ban Tasers until a stricter, more uniform policy can be put in place.

The so called “non-lethal” devices, manufactured by Taser International, have killed over 400 U.S. citizens since 2001. According to the website Electronic Village, which diligently tracks the numbers, over 40 percent of the victims are black men. Charles Smith, president of the Manatee Chapter of the SCLC, sees Tasers as the biggest threat to the people of Florida. “You don’t have to break the law for them to use it on you. We cannot allow the local authorities to arbitrarily decide when a person can use a Taser and when they can’t.  This is not a black and white issue; this is a right and wrong issue.”

The October 27 meeting with Governor Crist came after weeks of protest over the Pensacola killing of 17-year-old Victor Steen, who police say was fleeing on his bicycle from a construction site the night of Oct. 3. Officers tried to tase him from inside their patrol car but missed. Steen then lost control of his bike and fell into the path of the vehicle and was dragged 25 feet to his death. After that incident the Pensacola Police Dept. revised their policy to prohibit the shooting of Tasers into or from a moving vehicle.

A week before Steen was killed in Pensacola, 38-year-old Derrick Humbert died within a half hour of being tased in the back for not stopping when ordered to by Bradenton Police Officer Del Shiflett.  Humbert’s only crime was operating a bicycle without a headlight.

When asked if it was legal to tase a suspect in the back, Bradenton Police Deputy Chief William Tokajer said Shiflett’s actions were well within department guidelines. “You can tase the back of the person, you can tase the front of the person, the Taser policy basically states that it can be utilized when the person who you want to arrest starts to evade you or starts to fight the officer or resists in any manner. This gentleman ran from the officers and basically the facts are the facts, if you don’t want to get tased, don’t run from the police.” More HERE

Tasered While Black Publisher says:  My friend Francis L. Hollands recently asked, How Many Blog Posts Does it Take to Stop One Death By Summary Electrocution? My answer, "As many blog post as it takes" to get civil rights and progressive organizations to take the conversation of banning tasers to every Governor, mayor, city council, police department, and Congressional decision maker. If it were not for bloggers like:
African American Opinion - A Day of Blogging for Justice …

African American Political Opinion – “A Day of Blogging for Justice …
African American Political Pundit – A Day of Blogging for Justice – Blogging Against Extra-Judicial Electrocution via Tasers
All About Race – A Day of Blogging for Justice
Ancestralenergies – Day-of-Blogging-For-Justice
Black Perspective.com - Taser Awareness – Blogging Against Extrea Judicial Electrocution
Christina Springer Blog- Wish-I-Had-More-Time
Eddie G. Griffin (BASG) - Officer may be indicted for Tasing Death of Scooter
Electronic Village -Electronic Village: End Police Pre-Trial, Extra Judicial
Electrocuted While black – Electrocuted While Black: “A Day of Blogging for Justice
InkogNegro – Day of Blogging for Justice – Don’t Tase the Bros to death
Jack and Jill Politics - Extra-Judicial Electrocution – Jack & Jill Politics
Jena 6 Blog - Barron-pikes-tasered-while-handcuffed.html
Police Brutality Blog - “A Day of Blogging for Justice
Purple Zoe -A Day-of-blogging-opposing-pre-trial Electrocution
Regina’s Family Seasons - “A Day Of Blogging For Justice” – Tasers.\
Republic of T – Held Suspect
A Slant Truth – Blogging For Justice – Police Abuse (Tasers)
Tasered While Black - Tasered While Black: A Day of Blogging For Justice
Ultra Violet Underground - Day Of Blogging Opposing Pre-Trial Electrocution aka Tasering
What Tami Said – A day of blogging for justice
Wonderland or Not - Taser-lets-get-a-clue
The Black Snob – A Fight Against Taser Abuse and Other News
The Super Spade – A Day of Blogging for Justice – Against – Extra – Judicial Electrocution

Groups like the SCLC would not have the level of understanding about tasers or to call it “electrocution without prosecution,” and " extra-judicial, pretrial electrocution" the words coined by Francis L. holland and used by the afrospear bloggers in it's most recent blogging for justice effort.  We should not take our blogging effort lightly, even the highly rated blog boingboing.net is now covering the taser abuse issue.


Now it’s less than one month away from the “Stop Taser Torture, blogging for Justice Day scheduled for December 4, 2009.  Our goal is to unite the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day – Taser Torture in America, Canada and throughout the world. I would like to urge every American concerns about taser use and abuse to join us on December 4th as we blog to “Stop Taser Torture, blogging for Justice.” and we raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. I urge you to contact us at: StopTaserTorture@gmail.com to register your blog. Don’t forget to support the petition to the United States Congress calling for public hearings on the systemic human rights violations occurring with Federal funding for the use of Tasers® against American citizens. The United Nation’s Committee against Torture has declared that Taser use can constitute a form of torture, while USA: Amnesty International has an on-going concern about the use of tasers on American citizens.

Here is the link: http://www.petition2congress.com/2/1822/taser-torture-in-america-call-congressional-hearings/ Have a question? Need additional information? Want to participate? Register via email: StopTaserTorture@gmail.com Also, don’t forget, please make a $10 or 20 dollar secure Pay Pal donation to this cause: http://aapp.chipin.com/stop-taser-torture. If we don't address this tasering issue, no one else will.