Tasered While Black

Taser Torture of Blacks in Wichita, Kansas

2011-11-02T01:51:00.002-04:00

Taser Torture in Wichita, Kansas

Dion Lefler over at the Wichita Eagle is reporting on how Black people are five to six times as likely as white people to have Tasers used on them by Wichita police, according to city statistics released Monday.

Dion reports:

More black people than white people were stunned with Tasers in the first seven months of 2010, the most recent statistics immediately available.

Police Chief Norman Williams said he thinks the numbers don't necessarily show that officers are more likely to use a Taser on black suspects than white suspects.

"It doesn't matter what race or gender you are, if you comply with the officer, you're not going to get tased," he said.

According to the U.S. Census, black people make up 11.5 percent of the city population.

Over the past five years, since Tasers were introduced into the police arsenal, 42.2 percent of people they've been used on are black, city records show.

Non-Hispanic white people make up 64.5 percent of the city population and 46 percent of the people who were stunned with Tasers, the records show.

The race statistics were part of a larger report presented Monday to the City Manager's Review Board, a panel appointed to try to build trust between police and residents.

In addition to the report, the board received information on the medical effects of Tasers and a demonstration of the usually nonlethal weapon, which fires darts attached by wires to a high-voltage electrical source. A person hit with Taser darts generally loses the ability to resist officers until the current is cut.

The report showed that in 2007, the city's record year for Taser usage, the weapon was used on 556 white people and 475 black people. That gap has been narrowing ever since.

In 2008, Tasers were used on 431 white people and 386 black people.

In 2009, they were used on 119 white people and 113 black people.

And for the period in 2010 from Jan. 1 until July 22, where the city records stopped, Tasers had been used on 54 black people, compared with 52 white people.

Sgt. Robert Bolin, who briefed the Review Board, said after the meeting that nearly all cases of Taser usage are in response to calls of a crime in progress and that police have no control over the racial breakdown of the people involved, be they suspects, victims or witnesses.

"We have no control over who decides to resist and who doesn't," he said.

The records also show that Taser use has declined dramatically since peaking in 2007, a year after the weapons were introduced in Wichita.

AAP says: With the local NAACP chapter is on the ground and very active in Wichita, hopefully the new Vice Mayor of Wichita, Lavonta Williams can address this taser torture issue. The national office of the NAACP should be taking a look at this taser torture issue as well. The taser torture of black fiolks is nothing more than 21st century lynching.
Read more: about Taser torture in Wichita Kansas

Cross posted on blog Tasered While Black and African American Pundit

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2011-10-23T17:35:00.000-04:00

507 Taser-Related Deaths in the United States Since 2001

2011-10-23T15:55:00.001-04:00

Exposing how tasers, when abused, can become a high tech torture instrument. Asking the question should the penalty for resisting arrest be death?

Hat Tip and soul clap to Villager over at Electronic Village for his work to expose taser abuse and torture in te United States.

Villager writes:

According to Amnesty International, between 2001 and 2008, 351 people in the United States died after being shocked by police Tasers. Our blog has documented another 156 taser-related deaths in the United States in 2009-2011. That means there have been 507 documented taser-related deaths in America. Some would say that the police are out-of-control and taser-happy.

This blog has been pointing out incidents of police taser torture for quite awhile. The work done over the past few years by Patti Gillman and Cameron Ward continue to be the inspiration for our work. Gillman and Ward documented over 690 taser-related deaths in North America on their blog.

I wonder if anyone cares about the rising use of the taser as a lethal weapon? The folks in Louisiana want us to believe that the taser is a humanitarian tool when used by the police. The ACLU in Arizona issued a report that showed a disturbing lack of consistency in the taser policy as it applies to pregnant women and children.

I am pleased to report that the citizens of Montpelier, Vermont are pushing back on a proposal by their police chief to purchase taser guns for his 14 police officers!

Read his post on the 507 Taser-Related Deaths in the United States Since 2001 at: Electronic Village.

Alonzo Ashley's Taser Torture Death in Denver

2011-10-23T14:19:00.002-04:00

Tasered While Black

TODAY!

Black people in Denver are pissed over the killing over a black man in a zoo with a taser by police. As reported by the Denver Post. black religious leaders Saturday questioned how the coroner could rule the death of a man at the Denver Zoo a homicide without any criminal charges being filed.

"There is a lot of concern and a lot of talk about a double standard with law enforcement," said Fidel "Butch" Montoya, founder of the Latino Ministerial Alliance in Greater Metro Denver.

Montoya and several other pastors, including the Rev. Leon Emerson, president of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, met with city officials including City Attorney Douglas Friednash on Saturday afternoon at Agape Christian Church.
The meeting came a day after Dr. John Carver of the coroner's office announced that the July 18 death of Alonzo Ashley was a homicide and District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said he would not file criminal charges.

Friednash explained that homicide is one of five terms used to categorize a death — along with suicide, accidental, natural and undetermined — and that it has a different meaning than the legal term homicide.

"We hear the word homicide and it conjures up images," said Friednash. However, it is a medical term and does not address whether actions taken are justified, he said, adding, "I'm disappointed in the use of the term 'homicide' " in Ashley's case."
In an interview Friday, Morrissey said actions taken by police officers, zoo security officers and bystanders to subdue a highly combative Ashley were all justified.

"This clearly is not a homicide under Colorado law," said Morrissey, further explaining that the coroner did not attribute the death to any particular cause. In fact, the autopsy mentions that Ashley's actions contributed to his death, he said.

Ashley died July 18 after an incident in which witnesses said he claimed to be a lion and assaulted zoo staff and police. Officers said Ashley bit them before they stunned him with a Taser. He began convulsing and stopped breathing.

Although invited to the meeting, Morrissey had a prior commitment and said he will meet with the pastors later this week. Read more at the denverpost.com

Cross posted on African American Pundit blog

Taser Torture in New York

2011-10-21T18:25:00.001-04:00

As reported the blog African American Pundit, this blog Tasered While Black and CounterPunch.org, the nyclu.org is reporting that Police officers throughout New York State are consistently misusing and overusing Tasers. Yes, according to a report released today by the New York Civil Liberties Union NY Police have gone taser crazy!

The report, Taking Tasers Seriously: The Need for Better Regulation of Stun Guns in New York, analyzes 851 Taser incident reports from eight police departments across the state as well as 10 departments’ policies and guidelines for using the weapons, which deliver up to 50,000 volts of electricity and have caused the deaths of more than a dozen New Yorkers in recent years.

The NYCLU’s analysis found that an absence of sound policies, training and guidelines to direct the lawful use of Tasers is contributing to the disturbing pattern of misuse and overuse of the weapons and putting New Yorkers at risk.

“Our analysis shows that police officers are using Tasers in inappropriate, irresponsible and downright deadly manner,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “This disturbing pattern of misuse and abuse endangers lives. Law enforcement agencies that choose to use Tasers must adopt clear and effective policies governing their use, and they must do so without delay.”
Among the NYCLU’s findings:

Nearly 60 percent of reported Taser incidents did not meet expert-recommended criteria that limit the weapon’s use to situations where officers can document active aggression or a risk of physical injury.
Fifteen percent of incident reports indicated clearly inappropriate Taser use, such as officers shocking people who were already handcuffed or restrained.
Only 15 percent of documented Taser incidents involved people who were armed or who were thought to be armed, belying the myth that Tasers are most frequently used as an alternative to deadly force.
More than one-third of Taser incidents involved multiple or prolonged shocks, which experts link to an increased risk of injury and death.
More than a quarter of Taser incidents involved shocks directly to subjects’ chest area, despite explicit warnings by the weapon’s manufacturer that targeting the chest can cause cardiac arrest.
In 75 percent of incidents, no verbal warnings were reported, despite expert recommendations that verbal warnings precede Taser firings.
40 percent of the Taser incidents analyzed involved at-risk subjects, such as children, the elderly, the visibly infirm and individuals who are seriously intoxicated or mentally ill.
People of color are overwhelmingly represented in Taser incidents. Of all incidents in which race was recorded, 58 percent involved blacks or Latinos.

With the exception of the NYPD’s Taser guidelines, the policies studied do not comply with the recommendations of national law enforcement experts that have developed model policies for Taser use. The vast majority of the law enforcement agencies appear to rely exclusively on training materials provided by TASER International, the weapon’s manufacturer—an approach that experts widely condemn.

Read more at nyclu.org

Hat Tip to the CounterPunch.org for naming Tasered While Black WEBSITE OF THE WEEKEND.

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Videos: Taser Torture of Black Men by Effingham and Powder Springs Police

2011-10-03T12:59:00.000-04:00

I have been meaning to report on a number of police taser torture incidents in the color aroused and bigoted state of Georgia.

Take for instance the taser torture at the hands of Georgia’s Effingham Police.

Police video shows two of their cops sucker punching and attacking a Black man while in his car. Then comes the taser torture!

As reported by The Light NC.com Bernard Wallace was on his way home with brother Calvin Lee, when the police pulled them over on a routine traffic stop. While Lee and Wallace were arguing in the car, the police approached with guns drawn. Lee attempted to drive off while Wallace tried to cooperate. Wallace ended up being tasered and physically attacked by the police officers.

That's not the only incident. Check out this one out of Powder Springs, Georgia:

This one was out of Powder Springs, Georgia. Check this out, police are (so-called) investigating a man's claims that an officer grabbed his genitals and shocked him with a stun gun during a traffic stop, Channel 2 Action News reported last week.

"It was very frightening," 23-year-old Brice Wilson told Channel 2.

As reported by the AJC, Wilson said the officer pulled him over at the intersection of Old Austell Road and Atlanta Street because his license plate light was out. The officer then asked Wilson to step out of his vehicle because he smelled marijuana. Wilson denied having any marijuana and none was ever found, the report said.

After the officer called for backup, the dashcam video of the incident appears to show the officer grabbing Wilson's genitals while searching him. Wilson grabbed the officer's hand before being put into a chokehold and subdued by both officers. The officers said they used a stun gun because Wilson wouldn't be still. Wilson still faces a resisting arrest charge, the report said.

"Once we became aware of the incident we immediately launched an internal affairs investigation," Maj. Matt Boyd told Channel 2. More HERE

Read more at Tasered While Black and African American Pundit

Taser Torture of Blacks and Poor on Rise in US

2011-08-08T21:04:00.000-04:00

Black men and the homeless are being Tasered to Death throughout America. As reported today in the csmonitor.com, a naked man on drugs died in Wisconsin this weekend, after police used a Taser stun gun to subdue him. A student died at the University of Cincinnati after balling his fists and getting tasered by police. A man high on drugs in Manassas, Va., also died this weekend after police tasered him as he escaped, partially handcuffed, after punching an officer and a firefighter. Read more at: csmonitor.com.

All three deaths are being investigated. One of the departments, the University of Cincinnati Police Department, has suspended the use of Tasers by its officers.
About 15,000 US police departments, including 29 of the nation's 33 largest cities, use a total of 260,000 Tasers. The devices have been the objects of controversy since first being deployed broadly in the 1990s.

Tasered while Homeless and mentally unstable

2011-08-08T20:47:00.000-04:00

I guess this can be filed under Tasered while Homeless and mentally unstable.

Fullerton Police officers tased and beat Kelly Thomas, a mentally unstable homeless man to death in an incident that was ...California Police Beat, Tase Homeless Man To Death On Video | News One

Jury Awards 10 Million against Taser International for Death of Darryl Wayne Turner

2011-07-26T19:17:00.001-04:00

It's been a long time since updating this website. We apologize for the time lapse in our reporting of the hundreds of Taser Tortures in America.

At this time we have to give a big shout out and soul clap to the family of the late Darryl Wayne Turner, who was killed by a Taser shock that was fired by a police officer in 2008. We are thankful that the family filed a lawsuit against the Taser maker, Taser International back on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. The good news, They Won! In the name of their late son Darryl Wayne Turner.

Yes, a North Carolina jury has awarded $10 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against Taser International, Inc., which was filed by the family of a teen who died after being shocked with a Taser stun gun.

The complaint was brought by Devoid Turner and Tammy Lou Fontenot, the parents of Darryl Turner, who was 17 when he died in a supermarket in Charlotte after being shot in the chest by a Taser Model X26 electronic control device on March 20, 2008.

According to the Taser death lawsuit, the manufacturer was negligent in failing to warn law enforcement that shooting their stun gun weapons into the chest of a subject could cause cardiac arrest.

Following trial in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, a federal jury awarded $10 million in damages. More HERE

Tasered While Black gives a big shout out to electronic village, and bloggers like, the police brutality blog, Pam’s House Blend, Excited-Delirium, Electronic Village, African American Pundit, BlackPerspective.net, Tasered While Black, TheDuckShoot.com/blog, From My Brown Eyed View, All About Race, Black Women In Europe. blog, Antoinette’s “Point of View”, Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo, HateCrimeWatch, MyBlackView, A Lovely Promise, The Unapologetic Mexican, This Blk Sistas Page, TNT – Truth … not tasers, Carole Mcdonnell Blog, and Eddie G. Griffin (BASG), who all have covered this unfortunate loss of life as this blog has for many years.

More Background:

Darryl Turner died after a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer shot him with his Taser in an attempt subdue him. The officer used the Taser to stun Turner for 37 seconds, after which he ceased moving. The officer stunned the unresponsive Turner again for five more seconds for refusing to put his hands behind his back. According to testimony by the Mecklenburg County medical examiner, Turner was not on drugs nor did he have any signs of heart disease prior to the incident.

The lawsuit contended that Taser International did not warn its users that if a person is Tased near the chest that the outcome could be lethal. The suit centers around Darryl Wayne Turner, 17, who was killed on March 20, 2008 after being shocked by a police officer at a Food Lion store, where Turner had worked, located at Posterity Church Road. Police officials were reportedly called to the store after a Food Lion store manager asked him to leave and he refused.

An autopsy revealed that the 17-year-old’s “heart was pumping so fast and chaotically from the stress of the confrontation and the Taser shot that it stopped pumping blood properly.” An investigation determined that Dawson violated the department’s policy by holding the trigger of the Taser for 37 seconds. Dawson was subsequently suspended for five days without pay and had to complete extra training. Turner’s family received $625,000 from the city of Charlotte in August, in which the city did not admit any wrongdoing. The payout was the largest police-related claim the city has had in 10-years. Read more at Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for personal injury lawyers.

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Billey Joe Johnson and Mississippi Justice

2011-02-26T12:45:00.001-05:00

OK, This case is not about the Tasering. But it so so bad, that I had to post it on this blog.

Why are black bloggers, the afrospear, the afrosphere, black news outlets, black media, Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights, Progressive White Bloggers, Black Journalist, Black Investigative Reporters, Old School Civil Rights Icons, Black Activist, The National office of the NAACP and yes, major news outlets not talking about or investigating the death of Billey Joe Johnson, Jr.?

Why is the U.S. Department of justice not investigating this 21st century Civil Rights Crime or better yet, human rights crime? Maybe if the family of Billey Joe Johnson had an open casket, and Jet Magazine had a copy of the photo in its magazine people would have been outraged. Yes, maybe a public funeral service with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing would have worked. But that didn't happen, there was not tens of thousands attending Billey Joe Johnson's funeral or viewing his casket and images of his mutilated body were not published in black magazines, black blogs and black newspapers. No, no rallying black support and white sympathy across the US for Billey Joe Johnson.

OK, well act like this picture is a picture of Billey Joe Johnson and not Emitt Till. But it's not 1955, this happened, yes, again in Mississippi in 2009.

This gruesome photo of Emmett Till helped spark the civil rights movement. It demonstrated the brutality of southern violence towards African-Americans, and created outrage across the nation. Emmett's mother, Mamie, insisted at his funeral that he be given an open-casket, so others could see what they had done to her boy. Photo Courtesy of the Chicago Defender

Today in Lucedale, Mississippi, hundreds of concerned citizens and community advocates rallied at the George County Courthouse to echo calls for the Department of Justice to bring charges in the death of Billey Joe Johnson, Jr.

You remember the case of Billey Joe Johnson, Jr. REWIND Feb 13, 2009, I reported about the case of Billy Joe Johnson on this blog. Here is what I reported back in 2009:

Billy Joe Johnson - A Foul Play? The Killing of Billy Joe Johnson in Mississippi

UPDATE: The Killing of Billey Joe Johnson in Mississippi

You remember the story about Billy Joe Johnson, star running back for George County High, Mississippi, who died on a December morning in deep Mississippi alleged by a "self-inflicted" gunshot wound during a traffic stop.

As reported by NCAA Foot Ball Fan House Billy Joe Johnson was considered one of the top high school football recruits in Mississippi, as well as the country, until his shocking death early Monday morning.

Johnson, hailing from Jackson, Miss., rushed for more than 1,500 yards his last season, totaling over 4,000 for his career, and received scholarship offers from a number of major schools including Alabama, LSU and Mississippi as a top-rated recruit by both Scout and Rivals.

Johnson died of a (possibly self-inflicted) gun wound early Monday after being pulled by a sheriff's deputy. (UPDATE: The NCAAP, in an independent investigation, has ruled out suicide as the cause of death.)

It's not clear why 17-year-old Billey Joe Johnson was stopped in Lucedale, but authorities say the junior tailback shot himself with a shotgun after the deputy walked back to the patrol car to run a license check.

"The deputy was sitting in his patrol vehicle ... when he heard a gunshot and saw the victim laying on the ground by the driver's side door of the vehicle that Johnson was driving. A shotgun was lying on the victim," according to a statement from the George County Sheriff's Department.

Authorities would not immediately say whether they believed the shooting was a suicide or an accident.

The last portion of that quote is particularly perplexing, because it is hard to believe that Johnson would have attempted to pull a shotgun on police officers ...although equally confounding is the notion that Johnson would kill himself at what, according to all current reports, appears to be a basic traffic stop.

Nothing is ever certain, but this story appears to be so odd, at least in the manner of death, that it would be even more shocking if further details didn't at least emerge as to why the young man apparently panicked and pulled a gun that resulted in the tragic and early end to his life. More MORE

Many in the black community suspect foul play.

Billey Joe Johnson Sr. has a difficult time accepting the police department’s explanation of his son’s death. “They must have tortured my baby,” he says.

(Dan Wetzel/Yahoo! Sports)

As reported by yahoo sports local authorities stopped Billey Joe for a traffic violation on the morning of Dec. 8, and they say the truck is simply the site of a terrible tragedy. But to the elder Johnson, it’s a crime scene. Nearly two months later, only one fact is certain: Instead of running out of George County as a football hero, Billey Joe was buried beneath it at the age of 17.

The George County Sheriff’s Department claims that on that fateful morning, Billey Joe attempted to break into the home of an on-again, off-again girlfriend in the nearby city of Lucedale. According to the sheriff’s department, he left the scene and ran a red light at 5:34 a.m. After a 1½-mile pursuit, Billey Joe got out of his truck, met sheriff’s deputy Joe Sullivan and handed over his license. Then Billey Joe returned to his truck, put a 12-gauge shotgun he used to target deer to his head and committed suicide. It was 5:40 a.m.

Sullivan’s patrol car was not equipped with a camera, and his is the only account of the event. Billey Joe’s friends and family don’t believe the story.

Billey Joe was black. Sullivan is white. The case, as such, is shrouded by race in this small community in the Deep South. Everyone wants answers. No one is getting them. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the local district attorney – the two bodies in charge of the case – have issued neither a ruling nor many pertinent details.

Tony Lawrence, the district attorney running the state’s investigation, met with the family Dec. 19 and urged patience.

“I have said from the beginning that this investigation will be exhaustive and not based on any timeline other than that which leads to the truth,” Lawrence said at the time. His office declined further comment this week.

With no answers and a state investigation that is dragging on, the region has descended into a cauldron of speculation, suspicion and conspiracy. Theories are easy to find, the truth all but impossible.

Johnson fixates on the truck that is stained with what is left of his son. The day after the incident, police returned it to the family as is. Rather than wash it, junk it or sell it, Johnson keeps it in a garage, driving it out to re-examine. He stares at it. He imagines his son.

He’s convinced someone forced Billey Joe on his knees, shoved the shotgun barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

“They must’ve tortured my baby,” Johnson says.

Here is what the police say about Billey Joe’s death: During a routine traffic stop, Billey Joe Johnson Jr. shot himself in the head.

Billey Joe’s truck had notes from multiple female admirers, and his friends said he enjoyed the attention offered to a star athlete. He’d already run for 4,000 yards in his high school career and helped make George County a state powerhouse. Everyone knew him. Many wanted to be with him.

One girl, whom Yahoo! Sports will not name since she is a minor, had been around the longest. It was a typical high school relationship – “they’d break up every day and then get back together,” said one of his friends, Drew Bradley. The fact that she was white bothered some people.

“It’s George County, it’s a little Southern town,” said Bradley, who is white. “You’ve got a bunch of racist people down here. You have people who hated on them because it was black and white.”

Timeline

The alleged timeline of events on Monday, Dec. 8, 2008, leading up to the death of Billey Joe Johnson:

4:30 a.m. – Billey Joe Johnson Sr. hears his son showering and preparing to leave the family’s Benndale, Miss. residence. He believes his son plans to go hunting before heading to school.

5:34 a.m. – George County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Sullivan witnesses Billey Joe Johnson’s maroon Chevy Silverado run a red light at the corner of Church Street and Winter Street. He pursues the truck with his blue lights flashing and witnesses the truck running a stop sign at the 4-way stop of Winter Street and Old Highway 63.

5:37 a.m. – The Lucedale Police Department receives a 911 call from Esther Parker, who says her daughter called her and informed her that someone was attempting to break into a trailer where her daughter and ex-husband were living. Parker informs the LPD that her daughter is home alone.

5:39 a.m. – After a pursuit of nearly 1½ miles, Sheriff’s Deputy Sullivan witnesses the truck pulling into a service entrance near Benndale Carpet. Billey Joe Johnson exits the truck and informs Deputy Sullivan that he was on the way home “because his mother was sick”. Deputy Sullivan takes his license and instructs Johnson to return to his vehicle.

5:40 a.m. – While attempting to call in the license number, Deputy Sullivan informs dispatch that Johnson has shot himself and requests assistance.

5:40 a.m. – LPD Sgt. James O’Neal arrives at the trailer and secures the perimeter. He makes contact with Parker’s daughter, who informs him that the person who attempted to enter the residence was Billey Joe Johnson Jr. She says Johnson left before police arrived, but that she would like to go to the police station and “sign charges” against him.

5:48 a.m. – LPD Sgt. O’Neal departs for the police department, following Parker and her daughter in a separate vehicle. While in transit, he is informed by dispatch that Johnson had shot himself at service road near Benndale Carpet.

5:50 a.m. – LPD Sgt. O’Neal arrives at Benndale Carpet, where he observes the vehicle of deputy Sullivan as well as Johnson’s maroon Silverado, which is parked with the door open. As he pulls forward to make room for the pending arrival of an ambulance, O’Neal observes Johnson lying on his back on the ground, with his head pointed away from the open door of vehicle. Sgt. O’Neal observes a shotgun on top of Johnson’s body, and blood on the ground around his head.

5:55 a.m. – Paramedics arrive on scene. Dispatch is informed that Johnson is DOA.

More HERE

UPDATE: Get this, A grand jury has ruled that his death was accidental. Many in the black community, including this AAPP still suspect foul play. What do you think?

AAP: That was then, thisis now: FAST FORWARD TO TODAY, Family members rallied hoping to encourage witnesses to come forward with evidence and testimony. Billey Joe Johnson, Jr. was the highly recruited football star from Benndale, MS who was mysteriously killed during a traffic stop with a George County Sheriff’s deputy on December 8, 2008. Even after independent investigations raised serious questions about the plausibility of Johnson’s wounds being self-inflicted, the local justice system ruled this incident an accident and charges have yet to be brought. READ MORE HERE

Community members are renewing their efforts because Johnson’s death and subsequent investigations leave more questions than answers. Given the long history of corruption and cover-ups in George County law enforcement, many community members feel law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office colluded to execute a wide spread cover-up. Community members also point to what they call a pattern of racial profiling and the use of fear and intimidation on behalf of law enforcement. “Law enforcement’s investigation left a lot of holes and many of us believe there was foul play. Because of the amount of discrimination we experience every day, we have little faith in the local justice system,” said Mr. Bobby Perryman of Immaculate Heart Community Development Corporation.

Johnson’s family calls on the Lucedale community to come forward with information about the case and believe many have stayed quiet for fear of retribution or being shunned by friends and family members. “Nobody wants to tell on their neighbor, but the fact is that a young man was killed and his family and this community need closure,” said Pastor Garrett of Prince Garrett Ministries. George County is a very small community and is still very segregated. A few large families and their extended networks own most of the businesses and play influential roles in city and county government. George County, where the incident occurred, is 89% white with very few Black residents. “We know there are good folks in George County who have knowledge about the incident. We know you are afraid but we need you to come forward. Black or white - none of us are free when there is a suspicion of murder,” Garrett added.

“We are tired of the corruption, the cover-ups and the abuse we suffer at the hands of police,” said Ms. Lucy Wilson, President of the Human Rights Taskforce of George County. The Human Rights Taskforce is one of key local organizations calling for the event. It was established as a result of the travesty of justice felt by many around the Johnson case as well as growing tensions between the Black community and law enforcement. The event is co- sponsored by George County Human Rights Taskforce, Immaculate Heart Community Development Corporation, George County NAACP, and American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi.

Caravans of concerned citizens traveled from Atlanta, Jackson, Mobile and New Orleans. Speakers at the event include Ms. Nsombi Lambright, Executive Director of the ACLU-MS, Ms. Lucy Wilson, President of the George County Human Rights Taskforce and a spokesperson for Billey Joe Johnson, Jr.’s family.

AAP says: I'm glad the family is taking a stand. Don't you think it's time America did? It's time for the Justice Department to get involved. That's my thought. Write the U.S. Attorney General and President Barack Obama, and let them both know how you feel.

Tasered While Black

TODAY!

Teen with Mind of 7 or 5-year-old Tasered To Death

2010-10-08T19:11:00.001-04:00

Patrick Johnson, who had mental-health problems, died after being hit by Taser cartridges during a confrontation with police on Souder Street (background).

Get this, according to ABC Local News, and Philly.com, 18-year-old Patrick Johnson, a graduate of Our Lady of Confidence day school, was known in the neighborhood as 'stick boy' because he was always playing or waving some kind of stick. "He's severely retarded. He was having a tantrum and my grandmother couldn't handle him, so she called the police," the teen's cousin Michelle Rynkiewicz said. Rynkiewicz says Johnson had the mind of a 7 or 5-year-old. Relatives say Johnson had a history of volatile behavior and fits of anger and there was never a warning light that went off before it happened. "Very big strong boy and then when he gets excited, the adrenaline pops up and he goes into a rage.

I thought I had him under control, but I guess I didn't," Patrick's stepfather Steve Zielinksi said. Just before 12:30 p.m. Thursday on the 6900 block Souder Street, relatives say Johnson's grandmother caught him trying to light sticks on fire on the kitchen stove and was having a tough time trying to get him to stop.

"He was having a tantrum and my grandmother couldn't handle him so she called police to come out," Rynkiewicz said. Meanwhile, the stepfather says he tried to stop him.

"I got him, pinned his arms behind his back, he broke out. By that time, the cops were here. The cops told him four times to drop the sticks or they were going to Tase him. He lunged at the cops and they Tased him," Zielinksi said.

Zielinski says Johnson then broke through a basement door that was locked, ran down the steps and collapsed. He was rushed to Nazareth Hospital where he later died.

"I can't believe he's gone," Zielinksi said.

Tasers have become a tool that more law enforcement agencies have come to rely on. Every time an officer pulls the trigger, 50,000 volts are injected into the target. More HERE

We usaully cover incidents involving the tasering of black folks, but this one has to be reported, even though the person killed was not black.

It's up to us to support us!

103 taser-related deaths in the United States in 2009-2010

2010-09-14T09:20:00.000-04:00

103 Taser-Related Deaths in the United States

The publisher of the blog Electronic Village has been pointing out incidents of police taser torture for quite awhile. Electronic Village says: "The work done over the past few years by Patti Gillman and Cameron Ward continue to be the inspiration for our work." Gillman and Ward documented over 500 taser-related deaths in North America on their blog. The publisher of Tasered While Black agrees. Patti Gillman and Cameron Ward are truly an inspiration.

According to Amnesty International, between 2001 and 2008, 351 people in the United States died after being shocked by police Tasers. Electronic Village has documented 103 taser-related deaths in the United States in 2009-2010

Read more HERE

Taser Torture Freddie Lockett

2010-09-14T09:11:00.000-04:00

As reported Villager at the blog Electronic Village, It has happened again. Freddie Lockett, 30, electrocuted to death by taser fire from an unidentifed Dallas police officers. The man was trying to flee police officers who were answering a robbery call earlier today.

According to a police incident report, a man told officers he was sitting inside his vehicle at a gas station in the 2900 block of South Westmoreland around 4 a.m. Saturday morning when Lockett approached the car and asked for money. The man in his car said he didn’t have any money and began to roll up the driver’s side window.

That’s when the driver said Lockett opened the door and started punching him in the face. Afraid, the victim told officers he crawled across his car and got out using the passenger side door. He ran inside the gas station and asked for someone to call police.

While he was in the store, he said the suspect went into his car and took his cell phone. Police said when they got to the area, they saw a man matching the description of the suspect. When they tried to talk to him, he ran away; but officers were able to catch up to him. More HERE

Taser Torture Memorial Creators Under Fire!

2010-08-07T14:48:00.000-04:00

Church shows leadership on issue of Taser Torture in America.

Memorial with crosses at New Mount Calvary Baptist Church represent people killed by a Taser torture in America.

Special to the Star-Telegram/Richard W. Rodriguez

As reported by the Star-Telegram.com each of more than 450 crosses outside New Mount Calvary Baptist Church represents a person who was killed by a shock from a Taser, according to a sign announcing the National Taser Memorial.

Some people who live nearby said it looks more like a cemetery. And they want it dismantled.

City code compliance officers who visited this week left without issuing the church or its pastor a citation, a city official said.

Highland Hills Neighborhood Association members acknowledge that the city may be restricted in regulating the number of crosses that a church can have on its property, but still, they want their objections noted.

"I don't think that our neighborhood should have something in it that looks like a national cemetery," said Laura Meeks, beautification chairwoman and past president of the association.

"It really does not say anything good about our neighborhood."

The memorial was established in January at the church in the 5800 block of Oak Grove Road in far south Fort Worth. A large cross bears the name of Michael Jacobs Jr., a mentally challenged man who died in April 2009 after a Fort Worth police officer used a Taser on him for nearly a minute.

The city of Fort Worth settled a lawsuit with the Jacobs family for $2 million in May after the Tarrant County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.

"I really think the big boys downtown do not want this symbol of the $2 million settlement that they had to pay to remain," the Rev. Thomas Franklin, pastor of New Mount Calvary, said Friday.

But Eunice Givens, president of the neighborhood association, said neighbors object to the clutter the memorial brings to the neighborhood.

"We are trying to clean the community up," she said. "We are out here trying to encourage folks to keep their community clean. And instead of [Franklin] trying to improve the community, he's adding something that takes away from our efforts.

"If he was concerned about others in this community, he would never have put it up. It creates a bad image for our community."

Franklin said that in Louisiana, where he is from, members got a burial plot when they joined a church. The memorial is neat and the grass is cut, he said.

"There are almost 500 people who have been tortured to death by Taser devices, not counting the ones who have been wounded," Franklin said.

"This is our way of showing our respect for those families and showing that someone really cares."

Kyev Tatum, president of the Tarrant County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who helped create the memorial, said the Police Department makes the point that Tasers save lives, but the memorial shows that Tasers kill people."The memorial makes such a powerful statement," Tatum said.

UPDATE: Community leaders and human rights advocates from across the country are being urged to come out to support Pastor Tom Franklin at the Community Empowerment Service on Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 3:00pm at the New Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church 5800 Oak Grove Road, North, Fort Worth, Texas 76134.

The government tried to tax and take his Church for twenty years, starting in 1988, they are trying to steal his historic house, and now they are trying to make him dismantle one of the most powerful memorials in world for people who have been victimized by police officers taser abuse.

Your support is encouraged.

CONTACT and SUPPORT Pastor Tom Franklin at 817-298-2394 or frenklinart@aol.com

Pregnant Black Woman "Tasered While Black"

2010-08-06T19:03:00.001-04:00

H/T to Villager of at Electronic Village for following the horror of the tasering of a Pregnant black Woman by the California Highway Patrol.

Did a California Highway Patrol officer violate the department's own policy on Taser use?

Tanisha Black was seven months pregnant. I don't imagine that she ever thought that she would feel 50,000 volts of electricity being shot through her body. Tanisha learned a lesson that was already taught to Valreca Redden.

Tanisha Black of Union City and her 3-year old son were pulled over by a CHP officer. [SOURCE]

"He says I am pulling you over because you were on your cell phone," Black recalled

.But that wasn't all. Unbeknownst to her she said her driver's license had been suspended because she missed a court appearance on traffic tickets. And so, Black said the officer told her, "I am going to tow the vehicle because your license is suspended as well and I need your keys." More HERE

Clarence Thomas' Nephew Tasered While Epileptic

2010-07-09T23:12:00.000-04:00

Talk about High Tech Lynching...

A New Orleans TV station, USA Today, The Washington Post, Democratic Underground, Tasered Nation along with alternative news outlets are reporting that hospital security beat down Clarence Thomas' Suicidal, Epileptic Nephew. Ouch!

The nephew, Derek Thomas, is epileptic and suffered a seizure after being stunned, his family told ABC-affiliate WGNO.

He was taken to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero after a possible suicide attempt yesterday. His family said that after he refused to put on a gown, guards punched him in the lip, grabbed his hair and shocked him.

The family said doctors knew Thomas is epileptic but directed that he be stunned to restrain him. No comment from the hospital so far.

The station says Justice Thomas is expected to travel to New Orleans "as soon as possible."

OMG, maybe the tasering of Americans will get some attention now that nephew of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been tortured with a taser.

Bloggers such as, Pam's House Blend, The Afrospear, The Police Brutality Blog, Tasered While Black, Hullabaloo, Tasered Nation, Electronic Village,Wonkette, Black Women in Europe™ Blog, THE INTERSECTION | MADNESS & REALITY,Jack and Jill Politics, Electrocuted While Black, and a number of other bloggers have been paying close attention to the issue of Taser Torture for many years.

It's too bad Clarence Thomas was not concerned , until now...

When I tried to get the conversation about taser abuse going at the so-called liberal blog, the Daily Kos.. there was limited concern until the nephew of Clarence Thomas got tasered. I guess it news worthy for now.

2010: 60 Taser-Related Deaths in the United States since the beginning of last year.

2010-01-08T11:36:00.001-05:00

Villager, at Electronic Village is tracking Taser Deaths in America. Another black man dead by taser torture. As reported by electronic Village, there were 60 Taser-Related Deaths in the United States since the beginning of last year.

Villager, Publisher of Electronic Village says: "We have tracked taser-related deaths in the United States since January 1, 2009. Today we added Delano Smith (Elkhart, IN) as the 60th victim on our list."

Villager went on to say: "America's police force is killing people on a weekly basis with taser guns. There are not many states in the nation who have not been involved in a taser-related death this year. Tasers are now deployed in law enforcement agencies in 29 of the 33 largest U.S. cities." Read More HERE

Shocking Pain: Limiting Police Taser Abuse

2010-01-08T11:11:00.001-05:00

Here is a great post on the whole tasering issue. I'm glad international anti-taser activist, Francis Holland is working on the Tasers and Miranda rights issue.

HatTip to Colin Starger

Colin Starger writes: If pop culture were your only guide, you'd probably think that tasers are hilarious. Scenes of hapless souls squirming after being "tased" often play with a laugh track in Hollywood comedies. Real-world taser bloopers get thousands of hits on on the net. These images, however, are deeply deceptive. Tasers actually cause excruciating pain and police abuse of the weapon is a deadly serious problem. For this reason, I welcome the recent federal civil rights ruling that may help reform police taser policies.

The federal case arose out of a particular encounter in California between a police officer and a motorist during a traffic stop for a seat belt violation. The driver, Carl Bryan, was unarmed and indeed wore only boxer shorts and tennis shoes. Bryan was agitated, upset, and muttering gibberish. He exited his car but did not attempt to flee. Neither did he physically or verbally threaten the cop. However, because Bryan allegedly failed to obey an order to return to his car, the officer -- who was standing 20 feet away -- discharged his taser. The electric current made Bryan fall flat on his face, fracturing four teeth and causing contusions. Read more on Shocking Pain: Limiting Police Taser Abuse

New 'Miranda Rights' against taser abuse,"

2010-01-06T08:17:00.000-05:00

"These are new 'Miranda Rights' against taser abuse,"
says Atty. Francis L. Holland

There's been a ground-breaking decision by the 9th Circuit US Federal Court of Appeals against taser abuse, entitled Bryan v. McPherson. This decision was announced on December 29th, between Christmas and New Years holidays but it deserves our immediate attention and dissemination via our EasyWidgets:

The decision writes into federal caselaw many of the arguments and advocacy that we afrosphere bloggers have been making at our Days (months and years) of Blogging for Justice Against Police Pre-Trial, Extra-Judicial "Taser" Shock, Electrocution and Execution devices. The Easy-Widget HTML code below enables us to educate the public of their newly announced rights.

The 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals agreed with us that:

". . . we must “balance the amount of force applied against the need for that force.” Bryan v. McPherson, 9th Cir. Fd. Ct. App., December 29, 2009.

This decision has direct legal effect throughout the 9th Circuit, consisting of populous California, Alaska, Washington, Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Hawaii and Guam, and influential in other parts of the country. Nearly 20% of America's population is within the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit. The Court announced what we have long insisted:

"A reasonable police officer . . . would have foreseen these physical injuries when confronting a shirtless individual standing on asphalt. We have held that force can be unreasonable even without physical blows or injuries." Bryan v. McPherson

We've got widgets up at 123 afrosphere blogs telling the public that, in many cases, when "Tasers" are used, "The price is too high". Now, lets post Easy-Widgets to inform the public that one of the most influential federal circuit courts of appeal in the country agrees with us that:

"The presence of non-minor physical injuries like those suffered by Bryan, however, is certainly relevant in evaluating the degree of the Fourth Amendment intrusion." Bryan v. McPherson

Let's celebrate! Here's a new EasyWidget that takes readers to our anti-electrocution blogs. This Easy-Widget HTML (immediately below) links to Electrocuted While Black, but there are visibly identical widgets below that lead to Tasered While Black and the Police Brutality Blog.

The result is better than that for which many of us had hoped. Instead of arguing locally for changes to voluntarily enforced police taser policy, Bryan's lawyers in this case, and bloggers making similar arguments, convinced the 9th Circuit Federal Appeals Court to write these requirements and limitations into Federal caselaw, which is probably faster, better and politically safer than having the restrictions enacted into law by the US Congress.

Afrosphere bloggers and the Ninth Circuit encourage other circuits to follow this example by observing that:

"We, along with our sister circuits, have held that tasers and stun guns fall into the category of non-lethal force. Non-lethal, however, is not synonymous with non-excessive; all force—lethal and non-lethal—must be justified by the need for the specific level of force employed." Bryan v. McPherson

Not everyone -- blogger or reader -- has had a chance to read the whole Bryan v. McPherson case. So, the Easy-Widget quotes the most powerful language of the decision and links to our afrosphere blogs for more information.

In Bryan v. McPherson, the 9th Circuit Federal Appeals Court basically wrote into federal caselaw many of the arguments that we taser opponents have been arguing. But this is better than what many of us had sought, because instead of it being a change in local optionally enforced "guidelines," it's a change in obligatorily obeyed federal case law for the states in the 9th Circuit, and also, as the decision alludes, the 9th Circuit has enormous influence on other "sister" circuits courts.

Please join Electrocuted While Black in celebrating this decision by posting a widget that tells readers their rights and takes them to a blog where they can learn more, be it Electrocuted While Black or the Police Brutality Blog. Installation of the Easy-Widget below is a quick and easy way to quote some of the best parts of the case for your readers.

References:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/81381.html

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/12/28/08-55622.pdf

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/content/view.php?pk_id=0000000135

http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/stop-the-electrocutions-and-executions-175px

http://police-brutality-blog.blogspot.com/2009/12/important-taser-case-is-must-read-for.html

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/14353/stop-taser-torture-blogging-for-justice-day

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/13151/taser-abuse-how-many-have-to-die-before-something-is-done-about-it

http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2009/12/important-taser-case-is-must-read-for.html

http://stoptasertorture.wordpress.com/about/

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=taser+abuse&btnG=Google+Search

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Day+of+Blogging+for+Justice%22+taser&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Tasered+While+Black%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Landmark Taser Torture Court Ruling In America - Special Post

2009-12-30T23:12:00.002-05:00

I have come out of Semi-Blogger Retirement from my blog African American Political Pundit to write this special post on Taser Torture in America. I want to thank Rikyrah for the link, and Hudson Sangree and Kim Minugh at SACBEE.com for their excellent reporting of this landmark decision. As reported by SACBEE.com, A federal appeals court on Monday issued one of the most comprehensive rulings yet limiting police use of Tasers against low-level offenders who seem to pose little threat and may be mentally ill.

In a case out of San Diego County, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals criticized an officer who, without warning, shot an emotionally troubled man with a Taser when he was unarmed, yards away, and neither fleeing nor advancing on the officer.

Sold as a nonlethal alternative to guns, Tasers deliver an electrical jolt meant to subdue a subject. The stun guns have become a common and increasingly controversial tool used by law enforcement.

There have been at least nine Taser-related fatalities in the Sacramento region, including the death earlier this month of Paul Martinez Jr., an inmate shot with a stun gun while allegedly resisting officers at the Roseville jail.

As lawsuits have proliferated against police and Taser International, which manufactures the weapons, the nation's appellate courts have been trying to define what constitutes appropriate Taser use.

The San Diego County case is the latest ruling to address the issue.

The court recounted the facts of the case:

In the summer of 2005, Carl Bryan, 21, was pulled over for a seat-belt violation and did not follow an officer's order to stay in the car.

Earlier, he had received a speeding ticket and had taken off his T-shirt to wipe away tears. He was wearing only the underwear he'd slept in because a woman had taken his keys, the court said without further explanation.

During his second traffic stop in Coronado, he got out of the car. He was "agitated … yelling gibberish and hitting his thighs, clad only in his boxer shorts and tennis shoes" but did not threaten the officer verbally or physically, the judges wrote.

That's when Coronado Police Officer Brian McPherson, who was standing about 20 feet away watching Bryan's "bizarre tantrum," fired his Taser, the court said.

Without a word of warning, he hit Bryan in the arm with two metal darts, delivering a 1,200-volt jolt.

Temporarily paralyzed and in intense pain, Bryan fell face-first on the pavement. The fall shattered four of his front teeth and left him with facial abrasions and swelling. Later, a doctor had to use a scalpel to remove one of the darts.

Bryan sued McPherson, the Coronado Police Department and the city of Coronado, alleging excessive force in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.

The officer moved to have the claim dismissed, but a federal trial judge ruled in Bryan's favor.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit affirmed the trial judge's ruling on Monday, concluding that the level of force used by the officer was excessive.

McPherson could have waited for backup or tried to talk the man down, the judges said. If Bryan was mentally ill, as the officer contended, then there was even more reason to use "less intrusive means," the judges said.

"Officer McPherson's desire to quickly and decisively end an unusual and tense situation is understandable," Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote for the court. "His chosen method for doing so violated Bryan's constitutional right to be free from excessive force." . Read More HERE

AAPP, publisher of the blog, Tasered While Black and Stop Taser Torture said: "This is a great landmark ruling. I'm glad to hear that this Federal Judge had the guts to stand up for what is right, rather than to follow the script layed out by Taser International and Police Departments for so many years. We still need to work hard to get these weapons of American Torture outlawed in the United States. Limiting the use of tasers by police is one gigantic step forward in that regard."

We will be talking about the taser torture decision tonight on my blogtalk radio program. Join us, to find out what average black Americans think about the taser torture issue and other issues impacting America.

Stop Taser Torture – Blogging For Justice Day” Dec 4 2009.

2009-12-04T01:24:00.003-05:00

Today is Stop Taser Torture blogging for Justice Day.

I join this effort in solidarity with so many bloggers of all walks of life concerned about taser torture in America. Speaking of Taser Torture, now we learn from Raw Story, for at least the second time in three weeks, police officers have shocked an unruly 10-year-old child, and, once again, the child's adult guardians are supporting the move.

According to Raw Story Sheriff's deputies in Pueblo, Colorado, Tasered a 10-year-old boy after arriving at the child's home Monday evening, after the boy had threatened them with a stick and a length of pipe. As of Thursday evening, the boy remained in a youth jail, according to KCNC channel 4 in Denver. The deputies involved described the boy as an "out-of-control juvenile." The Colorado incident follows a similar case last month, when a 10-year-old girl in Ozark, Arkansas, was Tasered after kicking an approaching officer in the groin. In that case, the girl's mother had suggested to the officer that he use a Taser. More HERE

"A two-foot piece of pipe can do a lot of damage, I don't care who's swinging it," Daniel Bilby told KCNC. Bilby said the police could have done more harm to his foster son -- whose name is being withheld because of his age -- if they had tried to tackle him.

Capt. Jeff Teschner of the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department told the Pueblo Chieftain that the officers were justified in their use of force.

"They followed all policies and procedures. This was appropriate use of the Taser device," Teschner said.

The Chieftain reports:

Deputies Mark Myers and Randy Mondragon were sent to foster parent Daniel Biby's home to help with an "out of control juvenile" who was reportedly destroying property. Mondragon said the boy had threatened Biby with a pipe and a stick, and had thrown a landscape timber at Biby.
Mondragon said that when deputies arrived, the boy ran away from them holding a 2-foot-long pipe.
"This lad, we have a long history of (him) running away. I don't know what his entire psychological profile is, but obviously he has emotional distress," Teschner said.

The recent incidents of Taser use on children will likely spur debate on the ethical and safety issues involved in using conducted energy weapons on youths.

AAPP says: The problem is, it's not just kids that police are tasing, many police departments are using tasers to torture even nonviolent people who are often those who are incoherent, hallucinating, wheelchair bound, suicidal, unarmed, deaf, handcuffed, blind, pregnant, students, or just didnt move fast enough for an officers liking. Taser torture in America is continuously growing not only in volume, but in the level of how liberally, unwarrantedly, and excessively tasering is being used across the U.S and many other countries."

What can we do?

As reported by Amnesty International,Taser policy is most often a local issue. Individual law enforcement agencies – city and state policy, sheriff’s departments, and campus police -- decide if they are going to employ the weapons, and what rules will govern their use. You can help lobby your own city or town to suspend use of Tasers pending thorough safety research, or to limit their use to situations where they are an alternative to deadly force.

***

To improve your town’s Taser policy, you first need to establish the facts. If your city uses Tasers already, what policies are in place to govern its use? One place to start is writing to your police department to request information about how Tasers are employed and to get a copy of the use-of-force policy used by the police.

Use-of-force policies vary widely. Some departments allow the weapons to be used in cases of “passive resistance,” including when the individual is refusing to obey a verbal command. These policies allow for the weapons to be used in situations where, in many cases, no weapon would otherwise have been used (See the case of Darryl Turner, a 19 year old in North Carolina who died after being shocked by a Taser. He was not holding any weapon and had his hands by his side Case Study of Darryl Turner. Many departments authorize officers to employ the weapons when an individual is “actively resisting.” This is better, but still short of Amnesty International’s recommendation, given the unanswered safety questions with Tasers.

If you find that your town uses Tasers but does not require all of Amnesty International’s recommended policies on their use, you can work to get your local police to revise the use-of-force policy so that Tasers may only be used in more extreme circumstances. Amnesty International's list of recommendations to law enforcement agencies on Tasers.

Get the word out about Tasers in your city, gather public support, and work to convince your local authorities that it is within the interest of public safety to improve the policy on Tasers!

For a packet of further resources for campaigning on Tasers, please contact your AIUSA regional office Contact Information for Regional Offices

Support the Stop Taser Torture Movement

STOP TASER TORTURE - DONATE

You can also join Stop Taser Torture Movement

and donate to the movement

Also, you could support the efforts of these great organizations and bloggers:

Ft. Worth Chapter

You can also sign the petitionTaser Torture In America - A Call For Congressional Hearings Just do something! Please...

Taser, Gun Crazy America

2009-11-22T19:51:00.000-05:00

As reported by AFP, CHANTILLY, Virginia — Recession-stoked fears of rising crime and tougher gun laws under a Democratic government are sending US gun sales sky high, and big crowds at the Chantilly Gun Show this weekend proved it once again.

"Do you see the line all around the building and in the back," asked Annette Elliott, co-organizer of one of the top gun shows in Virginia, a conservative state with rather liberal gun laws.

Several hundred people thronged the gun show in the Washington suburb of Chantilly, where some 260 retailers have set up stalls hung with ready-to-fire Smith and Wessons, Glocks, Walthers, Colts and Berettas.

"We've had a huge increase in sales since last October," 2008 just before President Barack Obama was elected. "Well over 200 percent. It's coming back," said Jerry Cochran, owner of his eponymous major gun retailing firm in the state.

He hopes to sell 500 weapons at the gun show this weekend.

Elliott expects as many as 12,000 people will turn up at the three-day gun fair.

In a state where you can wear a loaded weapon on your belt as long as it's in full sight, or a concealed one with a permit, handguns and semi-automatic assault rifles are openly sold to residents after a customary spot check for criminal records.

A questionnaire must also be filled out asking whether the prospective buyer has been convicted of any crime, is an illegal immigrant or is "subject to a court order restraining you from harassing, stalking... an intimate partner." More HERE

AAPP Says: Well I guess the United States is getting wackier every day. Now private citizens will be taseing their kids in order to have the take a shower. How Many
privately owned Taser guns will really be used for self defense?

2009-11-21T19:30:00.001-05:00

http://ping.fm/rBhpq
Standards For police Taser Use supported By Publisher of Tasered While Black Blog

2009-11-21T19:26:00.001-05:00

http://ping.fm/0n9fV
Tasered For Needing Help

2009-11-21T19:25:00.001-05:00

http://ping.fm/87K40
Movement to Stop Taser Torture now on Facebook and Twitter

Man In Need of Mental Help - Tasered by police dies from subsequent heart attack

2009-11-21T15:07:00.001-05:00

OK, It's not always a black thing, that people get tasered. A Washington County man who suffered a heart attack after he was stunned with a Taser gun by police has died, Coroner Tim Warco reported this morning.

Tasered While Black says: "I guess Washington City Police have limited Standards for police Taser use."

Ronald Petruney, 49, of Washington, Pa., died at 6:58 a.m. today at Washington Hospital, Warco said in a news release.

Petruney suffered cardiac arrest Tuesday. Washington City Police found him in a confused state on Jefferson Avenue. Police said Petruney became combative and they were forced to use the Taser to subdue him.

Warco said an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause and manner of Petruney's death. I wonder What number is this in Taser-Related Deaths in the United States?

See video on community reaction to Man Tasered by police dies from subsequent heart attack - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Standards For police Taser Use supported By Publisher of Tasered While Black Blog

2009-11-21T14:09:00.002-05:00

http://stoptasertorture.blogspot.com

I just finished reading the Police Executive Research Forum's Taser policy guidelines. The forum is a research group for police chiefs and administrators funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. There are 52 standards that were released in 2005. It was an attempt to standardize police department Taser policy nationally. The guidelines are a good start, and should be adopted in State Legislatures across America. Hopeful Canada would do the same. Do I want tasered outlawed, yes. Yet in the interim, strict policy must be created and enforced.

Some of the police forum's standards provide stricter guidelines for Taser use and improve internal oversight, training and medical care for people shot with a Taser. These standards cover issues not adequately addressed in thousands of police department across the United States, Canada and other countries.

Blogger, African American Political Pundit, who also publishes the blogs, Stop Taser Torture, Tasered While Black said, "every police department in the United States should compare it's Police Department's Taser policy with the forum's standards." He also said, there is a need for all police departments to establish a clear policy on providing medical treatment from medical professionals to people shot with Tasers." The bottom line is police agencies should be required to contact emergency responders whenever the police respond to a call where they believe a Taser might be used." The blogger said, "It's time for police departments to take corrective action and it's time for Congressional and state legislators, along with state police agencies to take the lead in developing strict requirements, such as those spelled out in the Police Executive Research Forum's Taser policy guidelines."

Don't forget to join us on December 4th. “Stop Taser Torture, blogging for Justice.” as we raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. Contact us at: StopTaserTorture@gmail.com to register your blog.
Please place a button on your blog.

http://stoptasertorture.blogspot.com

455 Taser Deaths in America - List of Taser Deaths in The United States

2009-11-19T16:12:00.002-05:00

Since late December 2005, Patti Gillman (owner of this website, TNT - Truth ... Not Tasers) and Cameron Ward have continued to record the names of those who have died after they were tasered. For a list of Canadians who have been tasered to death, please visit the TNT - Truth ... Not Tasers blog to see the list of DEATHS IN CANADA.

List of Americans killed by taser (torture).

1. April 11 1985, Cornelius Garland Smith, 35, Los Angeles, California

2. March 9 1993, Michael Bryant, 35, Los Angeles, California

3. June 1, 1996: Scott Norberg, 32, Maricopa County, Arizona

4. September 28, 1999: David Flores, 37, Fairfield, California

5. May 14, 2000: Enrique Juarez Ochoa, 34, Bakersfield, California

6. June 17, 2001: Mark Burkett, 18, Gainesville, Florida

7. December 15, 2001: Hannah Rogers-Grippi, 6 months fetus, Chula Vista, California

8. December 17, 2001: Marvin Hendrix, 27, Hamilton, Ohio

9. December 21, 2001: Steven Vasquez, 40, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

10. January 27, 2002: Vincent Delostia, 31, Hollywood, Florida

11. February 12, 2002: Anthony Spencer, 35, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

12. March 27, 2002: Henry Canady, 46, Hilliard, Florida

13. May 17, 2002: Richard Baralla, 36, Pueblo, Colorado

14. June 10, 2002: Eddie Alvarado, 32, Los Angeles, California

15. June 15, 2002: Jason Nichols, 21, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

16. June 28, 2002: Clever Craig, 46, Mobile, Alabama

17. June 27, 2002: Fermin Rincon, 24, Fontana, California

18. June 2002: Unidentified male, 39, Phoenix, Arizona

19. July 19, 2002: Johnny Lozoya, Gardena, California

20. July 19, 2002: Gordon Jones, 37, Windermere, Florida

21. September 1, 2002: Frederick Webber, 44, Orange City, Florida

22. November 7, 2002: Stephen Edwards, 59, Shelton, Washington

23. March 16, 2003: Unidentified male, 31, Albuquerque, New Mexico

24. April 16, 2003: Corey Calvin Clark, 33, Amarillo, Texas

25. April 19, 2003: Terrence Hanna, 51, Burnaby, British Columbia

26. May 10, 2003: Joshua Hollander, 22, Normal Heights, California

27. June 9, 2003: Timothy Sleet, 44, Springfield Missouri

28. July 22, 2003: Clayton Willey, 33, Prince George, British Columbia

29. August 4, 2003: Troy Nowell, 51, Amarillo, Texas

30. August 8, 2003: John Thompson, 45, Carrollton Township, Michigan

31. August 17, 2003: Gordon Rauch, 39, Citrus Heights, California

32. September 24, 2003: Ray Austin, 25, Gwinnett, Georgia

33. September 29, 2003: Glenn Leyba, 37, Glendale, Colorado

34. September , 2003: Clark Whitehouse, 34, Whitehorse, Yukon

35. October 7, 2003: Roman Pierson, 40, Brea, California

36. October 11, 2003: Dennis Hammond, 31, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

37. October 21, 2003: Louis Morris, 50, Orlando, Florida

38. November 6, 2003: James Borden, 47, Monroe County, Indiana

39. November 10, 2003: Michael Johnson, 32, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

40. November 11, 2003: Kerry O’Brien, 31, Pembroke Pines, Florida

41. December 9, 2003: Curtis Lawson, 40, Unadilla, Georgia

42. December 9, 2003: Lewis King, 39, St. Augustine, Florida

43. February 4, 2004: David Glowczenski, 35, Southampton Village, New York

44. February 12, 2004: Raymond Siegler, 40, Minneapolis, Minnesota

45. February 21, 2004: Curt Rostengale, 44, Silverdale, Washington

46. February 21, 2004: William Lomax, 26, Las Vegas, Nevada

47. March 23, 2004: Perry Ronald, 28, Edmonton, Alberta

48. March 28, 2004: Terry Williams, 45, Madison, Illinois

49. April 1, 2004: Phillip LaBlanc, 36, Los Angeles, California

50. April 16, 2004: Melvin Samuel, 28, Savannah, Georgia

51. April 18, 2004: Alfredo Diaz, 29, Orange County, Florida

52. April 27, 2004: Eric Wolle, 45, Washington Grove, Maryland

53. May 1, 2004: Roman Andreichikov, Vancouver, British Columbia

54. May 13, 2004: Peter Lamonday, 38, London, Ontario

55. May 22, 2004: Henry Lattarulo, 40, Hillsborough, County Florida

56. May 27, 2004: Frederick Williams, 31, Lawrenceville, Georgia

57. May 30, 2004: Darryl Smith, 46, Atlanta, Georgia

58. May 31, 2004: Anthony Oliver, 42, Orlando, Florida

59. June 4, 2004: Jerry Pickens, 55, Bridge City, Louisiana

60. June 9, 2004: James Cobb, 42, St. Paul, Minnesota

61. June 9, 2004: Jacob Lair, 26, Sparks, Nevada

62. June 16, 2004: Abel Ortega Perez, 36, Austin, Texas

63. June 23, 2004: Robert Bagnell, 44, Vancouver, British Columbia

64. June 24, 2004: Kris Lieberman, 32, Bushkill Township, Pennsylvania

65. June, 2004: Bernard Christmas, 36, Dayton, Ohio

66. July 3, 2004: Demetrius Tillman Nelson, 45, Okaloosa County, Florida

67. July 11, 2004: Willie Smith, 48, Auburn, Washington

68. July 17, 2004: Jerry Knight, 29, Mississauga, Ontario

69. July 23, 2004: Milton Salazar, 29, Mesa Arizona

70. August 2, 2004: Keith Tucker, 47, Las Vegas, Nevada

71. August 8, 2004: Samuel Truscott, 43, Kingston, Ontario

72. August 11, 2004: Ernest Blackwell, 29, St. Louis, Missouri

73. August 11, 2004: David Riley, 41, Joplin, Missouri

74. August 13, 2004: Anthony Lee McDonald, 46, Harrisburg, North Carolina

75. August 16, 2004: William Teasley, 31, Anderson, South Carolina

76. August 19, 2004: Richard Karlo, 44, Denver, Colorado

77. August 20, 2004: Michael Sanders, 40, Fresno, California

78. August 24, 2004: Lawrence Davis, 27, Phoenix, Arizona

79. August 27, 2004: Jason Yeagley, 32, Winter Haven, Florida

80. August 29, 2004: Michael Rosa, 38, Del Rey Oaks, California

81. September 12, 2004: Samuel Wakefield, 22, Rio Vista, Texas

82. September 15, 2004: Andrew Washington, 21, Vallejo, California

83. September 20, 2004: Jon Merkle, 40, Miami, Florida

84. October 4, 2004: Dwayne Dunn, 33, Lafayette, Louisiana

85. November 2, 2004: Greshmond Gray, 25, LaGrange, Georgia

86. November 2, 2004: Robert Guerrero, 21, Fort Worth, Texas

87. November 7, 2004: Keith Raymond Drum, Clearlake, Califormnia

88. November 8, 2004: Ricardo Zaragoza, 40, Elk Grove, California

89. November 25, 2004: Charles Keiser, 47, Hartland Township, Michigan

90. November 27, 2004: Byron Black, 39, Lee County, Florida

91. December 4, 2004: Patrick Fleming, 35, Metairie, Louisiana

92. December 15, 2004: Kevin Downing, 36, Hollywood, Florida

93. December 17, 2004: Douglas Meldrum, 37, Wasatch County, Utah

94. December 17, 2004: Lyle Nelson, 35, Columbia, Illinois

95. December 23, 2004: Timothy Bolander, 31, Delray Beach, Florida

96. December 23, 2004: Ronnie Pino, 31, Sacramento, California

97. December 28, 2004: Christopher Hernandez, 19, Naples, Florida

98. December 29, 2004: Jeanne Hamilton, 46, Palmdale, California

99. December 30, 2004: David Cooper, 40, Marion County, Indiana

100. January 2, 2005: Gregory Saulsbury, 30, Pacifica, California

101. January 5, 2005: Dennis Hyde, 30, Akron, Ohio

102. January 7, 2006: Carlos Claros Castro, 28, Davidson City, North Carolina

103. January 8, 2005: Carl Trotter, 33, Pensacola, Florida

104. January 10, 2005, Jerry Moreno, 33, Los Angeles, California

105. January 28, 2005: James Edward Hudson, 33, Chickasha, Oklahoma

106. January 31, 2005: Jeffrey Turner, 41, Lucas County, Ohio

107. February 10, 2005: Ronald Alan Hasse, 54, Chicago, Illinois

108. February 12, 2005: Robert Camba, 45, San Diego, California

109. February 18, 2005: Joel Don Casey, 52, Houston, Texas

110. February 20, 2005: Robert Heston, 40, Salinas, California

111. March 3, 2005: Shirley Andrews, 38, Cincinnati, Ohio

112. March 6, 2005: Willie Towns, 30, Deland, Florida

113. March 12, 2005: Milton Woolfolk, 39, Lake City, Florida

114. March 17, 2005: Mark Young, 25, Indianapolis, Indiana

115. April 3, 2005: James Wathan Jr., 32, Delhi, California

116. April 3, 2005: Eric Hammock, 43, Fort Worth, Texas

117. April 8, 2005: Ricky Barber, 46, Carter County, Oklahoma

118. April 22, 2005: John Cox, 39, Bellport, New York

119. April 24 2005: Jesse Colter, 31, Phoenix, Arizona

120. May 3, 2005: Keith Graff, 24, Phoenix, Arizona

121. May 5, 2005: Kevin Geldart, 34, Moncton, New Brunswick

122. May 6, 2005: Stanley Wilson, 44, Miami, Florida

123. May 6, 2005: Lawrence Berry, 33, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana

124. May 13, 2005: Vernon Young, 31, Union Township, Ohio

125. May 17, 2005: Leroy Pierson, Rancho Cucamonga, California

126. May 20, 2005: Randy Martinez, 40, Albuquerque, New Mexico

127. May 23, 2005: Lee Marvin Kimmel, 38, Reading, Pennsylvania

128. May 23, 2005: Richard Alverado, 38, Tustin, California

129. May 26, 2005: Walter Lamont Seats, 23, Nashville, Tennessee

130. May 28, 2005: Richard T. Holcomb, 18, Akron, Ohio

131. May 28, 2005: Nazario J. Solorio, 38, Escondido, California

132. June 4, 2005: Ravan Conston, 33, Sacramento, California

133. June 7, 2005: Russell Walker, 47, Las Vegas, Nevada

134. June 11, 2005: Horace Owens, 48, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

135. June 13, 2005: Michael Anthony Edwards, 32, Palatka, Florida

136. June 13, 2005: Shawn Pirolozzi, 30, Canton, Ohio

137. June 14, 2005: Robert Earl Williams, 62, Waco, Texas

138. June 24, 2005: Carolyn Daniels, 25, Fort Worth, Texas

139. June 24, 2005: Melinda Kaye Neal, 33, Whitfield County, Georgia

140. June 29, 2005: Pharoah Knight, 33, Miami, Florida

141. June 30, 2005: Gurmeet Sandhu, 41, Surrey, B.C.

142. July 1, 2005: James Foldi, 39, Beamsville, Ont.

143. July 7, 2005: Rocky Brison, 41, Birmingham, Alabama

144. July 12, 2005: Kevin Omas, 17, Euless, Texas

145. July 15, 2005: Ernesto Valdez, 37, Phoenix, Arizona

146. July 15, 2005: Paul Sheldon Saulnier, 42, Digby, Nova Scotia

147. July 15, 2005: Otis G. Thrasher, 42, Butte, Montana

148. July 17, 2005: Michael Leon Critchfield, 40, West Palm Beach, Florida

149. July 18, 2005: Carlos Casillas Fernandez, 31, Santa Rosa, California

150. July 23, 2005: Maury Cunningham, 29, Lancaster, South Carolina

151. July 27, 2005: Terrence L. Thomas, 35, Rockville Centre, New York

152. August 1, 2005: Brian Patrick O’Neal, San Jose, California

153. August 3, 2005: Eric Mahoney, 33, Fremont, California

154. August 4, 2005: Dwayne Zachary, 44, Sacramento, California

155. August 5, 2005: Olsen Ogoddide, 38, Glendale, Arizona

156. August 8, 2005: Unidentified male, 47, Phoenix, Arizona

157. August 26, 2005: Shawn Norman, 40, Laurelville, Ohio

158. August 27, 2005: Brian Lichtenstein, 31, Stuart, Florida

159. September 18, 2005: David Anthony Cross, 44, Santa Cruz, California

160. September 22, 2005: Timothy Michael Torres, 24, Sacramento, California

161. September 24, 2005: Patrick Aaron Lee, 21, Nashville, Tennessee

162. September 26, 2005: Michael Clark, 33, Austin, Texas

163. October 13, 2005: Steven Cunningham, 45, Fort Myers, Florida

164. October 20, 2005: Jose Perez, 33, San Leandro, California

165. October 25, 2005: Timothy Mathis, 35, Loveland, Colorado

166. November 1, 2005: Miguel Serrano, 35, New Britain, Connecticut

167. November 13, 2005: Josh Brown, 23, Lafayette, Louisiana

168. November 17, 2005: Jose Angel Rios, 38, San Jose, California

169. November 20, 2005: Hansel Cunningham, 30, Des Plaines, Illinois

170. November 26, 2005: Tracy Rene Shippy, 35, Fort Meyers, Florida

171. November 30, 2005: Kevin Dewayne Wright, 39, Kelso, Washington

172. December 1, 2005: Jeffrey Earnhardt, 47, Orlando, Florida

173. December 7, 2005: Michael Tolosko, 31, Sonoma, California

174. December 17, 2005: Howard Starr, 32, Florence, South Carolina

175. December 24, 2005: Alesandro Fiacco, 33, Edmonton, Alberta

176. December 29, 2005: David Moss, 26, Omaha, Nebraska

177. January 3, 2006: Roberto Gonzalez, 34, Waukegan, Illinois

178. January 5, 2006: Matthew Dunlevy, 25, Laguna Beach, California

179. January 13, 2006: Daryl Dwayne Kelley, 29, Houston, Texas

180. January 16, 2006: Shmekia Lewis (female), 24, Beaumont, Texas

181. January 22, 2006: Nick Ryan Hanson, 24, Ashland, Oregon

182. January 25, 2006: Murray Bush, Metairie, Louisiana

183. January 27, 2006: Jorge Luis Trujillo, San Jose, California

184. January 28, 2006: Karl W. Marshall, 32, Kansas City, Missouri

185. January 29, 2006 Benites Sichero, 39, Spokane County, Washington

186. January 31, 2006: Jaime Coronel, Castroville, California

187. February 6, 2006: Jessie Williams Jr., 40, Harrison County, Mississippi

188. February 13, 2006: Darval Smith, New Orleans, Louisiana

189. February 19, 2006: Gary Bartley, 36, Mandeville, Louisiana

190. February 24, 2006: Samuel Hair, 48, Fort Pierce, Florida

191. March 4, 2006: Melvin Anthony Jordan, 27, Norman, Oklahoma

192. March 8, 2006: Robert R. Hamilton, 42, St. Augustine, Florida

193. March 18, 2006: Otto Zehm, 35, Spokane, Washington

194. March 18, 2006, Cedric Davis, 26, Merced County, California

195. March 20, 2006: Timothy Grant, 46, Portland, Oregon

196. March 24, 2006: Theodore Rosenberry, 35, Hagerstown, Maryland

197. April 5, 2006: Thomas Clint Tipton, 34, Clearwater, Florida

198. April 15, 2006: Nick Mamino Jr., 41, St. Louis, Missouri

199. April 16, 2006: Billy Ray Cook, 39, Dublin, North Carolina

200. April 16, 2006: Juan Manuel Nunez III, 27, Lubbock, Texas

201. April 18, 2006: Richard McKinnon, 52, Cumberland County, North Carolina

202. April 21, 2006: Alvin Itula, 35, Salt Lake City, Utah

203. April 24, 2006: Jose Romero, 23, Dallas, Texas

204. April 24, 2006: Emily Marie Delafield, 56, Green Cove Springs, Florida

205. May 1, 2006: Jeremy Davis, 24, Bellmead, Texas

206. May 7, 2006: Kenneth Cleveland, 63, Ashtabula, Ohio

207. May 25, 2006: Brian Davis, 43, Los Angeles, California

208. June 4, 2006: Felipe Herrera, 48, Las Vegas, Nevada

209. June 13, 2006: Jerry Preyer, 43, Pensacola, Florida

210. June 18, 2006: Jason Troy Dockery, 31, Coolville, Tennessee

211. June 21, 2006: Kenneth Eagleton, 43, Crosby, Texas

212. June 21, 2006: Joseph Stockdale, 26, Indianapolis, Indiana

213. June 24, 2006: John Martinez, San Jose, California

214. July 3, 2006: Jermail Williams, 32, South Bend, Indiana

215. July 7, 2006: Michael Deon Babers, 26, Shreveport, Louisiana

216. July 8, 2006: Christopher Tull, 36, Cincinnati, Ohio

217. July 9, 2006: Nickolos Cyrus, 29, Mukwonago, Wisconsin

218. July 11, 2006: Jesus Negron, 29, New Britain, Connecticut

219. July 20, 2006: Mark McCullaugh, 28, Akron, Ohio

220. July 23, 2006: Shannon Johnson, 37, Pittsboro, North Carolina

221. August 2, 2006: Anthony Jones, 39, Merced, California

222. August 4, 2006: Ryan Michael Wilson, 22, Lafayette, Colorado

223. August 8, 2006: Curry McCrimmon, 26, Melbourne, Florida

224. August 8, 2006: James Nunez, 27, Santa Ana, California

225. August 9, 2006: Glen Thomas, 33, Wabasso, Florida

226. August 17, 2006: Raul Gallegos-Reyes, 34, Centennial, Colorado

227. August 21, 2006: Timothy Picard, 41, Woonsocket, Rhode Island

228. August 23, 2006: Noah Lopez,25, Fort Worth, Texas

229. August 30, 2006: Jason Doan, 28, Red Deer, Alberta

230. September 1, 2006: Juan Soto, Jr., 39, Liberal, Kansas

231. September 4, 2006, Jesus Mejia, 33, Los Angeles, California

232. September 5, 2006: Larry Noles, 52, Louisville, Kentucky

233. September 8, 2006: Perry Simmons, 35, Montgomery, Alabama

234. September 13, 2006: Laborian Simmons, 24, Marion County, Florida

235. September 17, 2006: Marcus Roach-Burris, 42, Menasha, Wisconsin

236. September 17, 2006: James Philip Chasse Jr., 42, Portland, Oregon

237. September 29, 2006: Joseph Kinney, 36, Madison Twp., Ohio

238. September 30, 2006: Vardan Kasilyan, 29, Las Vegas, Nevada

239. September 30, 2006: John David Johnson III, 27, Orange Park, Florida

240. October 1, 2006: Kip Darrell Black, 38, North Charleston, South Carolina

241. October 5, 2006: Michael Templeton, 50, Jonesboro, Arkansas

242. October 6, 2006: Herman Carroll, 31, Houston, Texas

243. October 9, 2006: James Simons, 35, Lincoln Park, Michigan

244. October 19, 2006: James Lewis, 37, Las Vegas, Nevada

245. October 19, 2006: Nicholas Brown, Milford, Connecticut

246. October 22, 2006: Jordan Case, 20, Tualatin, Oregon

247. October 22, 2006: Eddie Charles Ham Jr., 30, Montgomery, Alabama

248. October 23, 2006: Michael Todd Gleim, 40, Milford, Ohio

249. October 29, 2006: Roger Holyfield, 17, Jerseyville, Illinois

250. October 30, 2006: Jeremy Foos, 29, Columbus, Ohio

251. November 9, 2006: William Jobe, 40, Federal Way, Washington

252. November 14, 2006: Timothy Wayne Newton, 43, Rocky Mount, North Carolina

253. November 14, 2006: Darren Faulkner, 41, Southaven, Mississippi

254. December 3, 2006: Briant K. Parks, 39, Columbus, Ohio

255. December 17, 2006: Terrill Enard, 29, Lafayette, Louisiana

256. December 30, 2006: Daniel Walter Quick, 43, Magalia, California

???. January 2007: James Barber, 25, Ottawa, Ontario

257. January 5, 2007: Calvin Thompson, 42, Gastonia, North Carolina

258. January 6, 2007: Douglas John Ilten, 45, Fort Pierce, Florida

259. January 7, 2007: Blondel Lassegue, 38, Queen’s, New York

260. January 9, 2007: Pete Carlos Madrid, 44, Fresno, California

261. January 17, 2007: Keith Kallstrom, 56, Milan, Michigan

262. January 18, 2007: Andrew J. Athetis, 18, Gilbert, Arizona

263. January 29, 2007: Michael Keohan, 45, Huntingdon Park, California

264. January 30, 2007: Christopher L. McCargo, 43, Dayton, Ohio

265. February 11, 2007: Stephen Krohn, 44, Mesa, Arizona

266. February 21, 2007: Martin Mendoza, 43, Oceanside, California

267. March 13, 2007: Muszack Nazaire, 24, East Naples, Florida

268. March 15, 2007: Randy Buckey, 42, Marion, Ohio

269. March 16, 2007: Ryan Lee Myers, 40, Essex, Maryland

270. March 17, 2007: David Brown, 47, Park Forest, Illinois

271. March 17, 2007: Unidentified male, West Covina, CA

272. March 23, 2007: Sergio Galvan, 35, San Antonio, Texas

273. April 10, 2007: Eugene Donjuall Gilliam, 22, Prattville, Alabama

274. April 11, 2007: Roberto Perez, 25, Indio, California

275. April 14, 2007: Unidentified male, Phoenix, Arizona

276. April 22, 2007: David Mills, 26, Hamden, Connecticut

277. April 23, 2007: Unidentified male, Houston, Texas

278. April 24, 2007: Louis Jermaine Broomfield, 35, Charleston, South Carolina

279. April 24, 2007: Walter Heller, 55, Santa Rosa, California

280. April 24, 2007: Uywanda Peterson, 43, Baltimore, Maryland

281. April 30, 2007: Roy Hamner, 59, Pearl, Mississippi

282. May 5, 2007: Daniel Bradley Young, 33, Seminole, Florida

283. May 7, 2007: Robert A. Keske, 45, Seminole, Florida

284. May 12, 2007: Trent A. Yohe, 37, Spokane, Washington

285. May 12, 2007: Jeffry Young, 54, Bremerton, Washington

286. May 14, 2007: Terrill Heath, 31, Baltimore, Maryland

287. May 15, 2007: Chance W. Shrum, 20 years old, Iola, Kansas

288. May 16, 2007: Patrick D. Hagans, 42, Valleyview, Ohio

289. May 19, 2007: Milisha Thompson, 35, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

290. May 22, 2007: Kevin DeWayne Hill, 39, Knoxville, Tennessee

291. May 23, 2007: Raymundo Guerrerro Garcia, 33, Simi Valley, California

292. May 25, 2007: Steve Salinas, 47, San Jose, California

293. May 26, 2007: Marcus D. Skinner, 22, Seat Pleasant, Maryland

294. May 29, 2007: Doyle Moniki Jackson, 34, Benton Harbor, Indiana

295. May 29, 2007: Ramel Henderson, 51, San Diego, California

296. June 19, 2007: Juan Flores Lopez, 47, San Angelo, Texas

297. July 2, 2007: Richard Baisner, 36, Pasadena, California

298. July 8, 2007: Nathaniel Cobbs Jr., 25, Newburgh, New York

299. July 16, 2007: Albert Romero, 47, Denver, Colorado

300. July 20, 2007: Jermaine Thompson, 36, Kansas City, Missouri

301. July 25, 2007: Carlos Rodriguez, 27, Atlanta, Georgia

302. July 29, 2007: Ronald Marquez, 49, Phoenix, Arizona

303. August 2, 2007: Clyde Patrick, 44, Birmingham, Alabama

304. August 4, 2007: Gefery Johnston, 42, Chicago, Illinois

305. August 4, 2007: Stephen Spears, 49, Detroit, Michigan

306. August 4, 2007: James Barnes, 21, Omaha, Nebraska

307. August 11, 2007: Craig Berdine, 37, Fremont, Ohio

308. August 14, 2007: Rafael Forbes, 21, Jackson, Mississippi

309. August 15, 2007: James Wells, 43, Waterford, California (no. 275)

310. August 18, 2007: Thomas Campbell, 50, Baltimore, Maryland

311. August 23, 2007: Chad Cekas, 27, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

312. August 26, 2007: Glenn Shipman Jr., 44, Portland, Oregon

313. September 3, 2007: Earl Guerrant, 47, Golf Manor, Ohio

314. September 3, 2007: Charles Gordon, 26, Vallejo, California

315. September 9, 2007: Jorge Renteria Terrquiz, 25, Anaheim, California

316. September 20, 2007: Claudio Castagnetta, 32, Quebec City, Quebec

317. October 1, 2007: Samuel Baker, 59, Quitman, Georgia

318. October 1, 2007: Keith White, 44, Kansas City, Kansas

319. October 12, 2007: Michael Patrick Lass, 28, Orange County, California

320. October 14, 2007: Robert Dziekanski, 40, Richmond, BC

321. October 14, 2007: Donald Clark Grant, 54, Asheville, North Carolina

322. October 17, 2007: Quilem Registre, 39, Montreal, Quebec

323. November 1, 2007: Seldon Deshotels, 56, Lake Charles, Louisiana

324. November 2, 2007: Stefan McMinn, 44, Hendersonville, North Carolina

325. November 7, 2007: Roger Brown, 40, Miami, Florida

326. November 16, 2007: Paul Carlock, 57, Springfield, Illinois

327. November 18, 2007: Jesse Saenz, 20, Raton, New Mexico

328. November 18, 2007: Jarrel Gray, 20, Frederick, Maryland

329. November 18, 2007: Christian Allen, 21, Springfield, Florida

330. November 20, 2007: Conrad Lowman, Jacksonville, Florida

331. November 22, 2007: Howard Hyde, 45, Halifax, Nova Scotia

332. November 24, 2007: Robert Knipstrom, 36, Chilliwack, British Columbia

333. November 29, 2007: Ashley R. Stephens, 28, Ocala, Florida

334. November 30, 2007: Cesar Silva, 32, Los Angeles, California

335. December 10, 2007: Leroy Patterson Jr., 41, Walton County, Georgia

336. January 2, 2008: Brandon Smiley, 27, Mobile, Alabama

337. January 5, 2008: Ryan Rich, 33, Las Vegas, Nevada

338. January 9, 2008: Otis C. Anderson, 36, Fayetteville, North Carolina

339. January 11, 2008: Xavier Jones, 29, Coral Gables, Florida

340. January 15, 2008: Mark Backlund, 29, New Brighton, Minnesota

341. January 17, 2008: Baron Pikes, 21, Winnfield, Louisiana

342. January 18, 2008: Daniel Hanrahan, 44, Staten Island, New York

343. February 3, 2008: Louis Cryer, 32, Port Arthur, Texas

344. February 3, 2008: Joseph Davis, 50, Brandon, Mississippi

345. February 7, 2008: Richard Earl Abston, 53, Merced, California

346. February 19, 2008: Garrett Sean Farn, 41, Bakersfield, California

347. February 26, 2008: Barron Harvey Davis, 44, Mayes County, Oklahoma

348. March 4, 2008: Christopher Jackson, 37, Clay, New York

349. March 6, 2008: Javier Aguilar, 46, Roswell, New Mexica

350. March 18, 2008: Roberto Gonzalez, 24, Chicago, Illinois

351. March 20, 2008: Darryl Wayne Turner, 17, Charlotte, North Carolina

352. March 21, 2008: James Garland, 41, Deerfield Beach, Florida

353. March 29, 2008: Henry Bryant, 35, Indianapolis, Indiana

354. March 30, 2008: Walter Edward Haake Jr., 59, Topeka, Kansas

355. April 2, 2008: Jason Jesus Gomez, 35, Santa Ana, California

356. April 6, 2008: Yvelt Occean, 31, New Kent County, Virginia

357. April 22, 2008: Uriah Samson Dach, 26, Richmond, California

358. April 24, 2008: Kevin Piskura, 24, Cincinnati, Ohio

359. April 24, 2008: Dewayne Chatt, 39, Memphis, Tennessee

360. April 27, 2008: Paul Thompson, 24, Greensboro, North Carolina

361. April 28, 2008: Jermaine Ward, 28, Jackson, Tennessee

362. May 4, 2008: Joe Kubat, 21, St. Paul, Minnesota

363. May 6, 2008: James S. Wilson, 22, Alton, Missouri

364. May 28, 2008: Ricardo Manuel Abrahams, 44, Woodland, California

365. May 31, 2008: Robert Ingram, 27, Raceland, Louisiana

366. June 5, 2008: Willie Maye, 43, Birmingham, Alabama

367. June 6, 2008: Donovan Graham, 39, Meriden, Connecticut

368. June 8, 2008: Quintrell T. Brannon, 25, Vincennes, Indiana

369. June 9, 2008: Tony Curtis Bradway, 26, Brooklyn, New York

370. June 23, 2008: Jeffrey Marreel, 36, Norfolk, Ontario

371. June 24, 2008: Ernest Graves, 26, Rockford, Illinois

372. June 27, 2008: Nicholas Cody, 27, Dothan, Alabama

373. July 2, 2008: Isaac Bass, 34, Louisville, Kentucky

374. July 4, 2008: Othello Pierre, 23, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

375. July 8, 2008: Samuel DeBoise, 29, St. Louis, Missouri

376. July 8, 2008: Carlos Vargas, 42, San Bernardino, California

377. July 14, 2008: Marion Wilson Jr., 52, Houston, Texas

378. July 14, 2008: Deshoun Keyon Torrence, 18, Long Beach, California

379. July 22, 2008: Michael Langan, 17, Winnipeg, Manitoba

380. July 23, 2008: Richard Smith, 46, Dallas, Texas

381. July 26, 2008: Anthony Davidson, Statesville, 29, North Carolina

382. August 4, 2008: Jerry Jones, 45, Beaumont, Texas

383. August 4, 2008: Andre Thomas, 37, Swissvale, Pennsylvania

384. August 2, 2008: Lawrence Rosenthal, 54, Hemet, California

385. August 10, 2008: Kiethedric Hines, 31, Rockford, Illinois

386. August 15, 2008: Kenneth Oliver, 45, Miami, Florida

387. August 25, 2008: Ronald Adkisson, 59, Creston, Iowa

388. August 29, 2008: Stanley James Harlan, 23, Moberly, Missouri

389. September 3, 2008: Prince Swayzer, 38, San Jose, California

390. September 3, 2008: Andy Tran, 32, Garden Grove, California

391. September 11, 2008: Roney Wilson, 46, Hillsborough, Florida

392. September 17, 2008: Sean Reilly, 42, Mississauga, Ontario

393. September 19, 2008: Gabriel Bitterman, 23, Lincoln, Nebraska

394. September 25, 2008: Iman Morales, 35, New York, New York

395. September 30, 2008: Frank Frachette, 49, Langley, BC

396. October 1, 2008: Jose Anibal Amaro, 45, Orange County, Florida

397. October 18, 2008: Homer Taylor, 39, Chicago, Illinois

398. October 29, 2008: Trevor Grimolfson, 38, Edmonton, Alberta

399. October 31, 2008: Marlon Oliver Acevedo, 35, Riverside, California

400. November 2, 2008: Gordon Walker Bowe, 30, Calgary, Alberta

401. November 3, 2008: Adren Maurice Turner, 44, Mexia, Texas

402. November 10, 2008: Guy James Fernandez, 42, Santa Rosa, California

403. December 3, 2008: Leroy Hughes, 52, Covington, Kentucky

404. December 9, 2008: Quincy Smith, 24, Minneapolis, Minnesota

405. December 19, 2008: Edwin Rodriguez, 26, San Jose, California

406. December 21, 2008: Nathan Vaughn, 39, Santa Rosa, California

407. December 24, 2008: Mark Green, 46, Houston, Texas

To see the list of the unfortunate Taser torture deaths of 2009 go to TNT - Truth ... Not Tasers

Thank you Patti Gillman and Cameron Ward at the blog TNT - Truth ... Not Tasers for this comprehensive listing.

Source: Truth-Not-Tasers

Blogger Villager at Electronic Village speaks out against Taser Torture

2009-11-19T04:02:00.000-05:00

Hat/Tip to Villager over at Electronic Village for all of his work to address the issue of taser abuse and torture in America. Check out some of his many post.It will serve as a historical reference point for any congressional hearing or United Nations hearing on Taser Torture in America.

Tasered While Homeless For Riding a Bicycle The Wrong Way

2009-11-18T13:49:00.000-05:00

Corpus Christi police have released the name of a man who died last week after being tased and pepper sprayed by Corpus Christi police officers in a southside parking lot.

It happened to 58-year-old, Herman George Knabe, last Wednesday night. Officers saying they were forced to use those weapons when the man did not cooperate with their efforts to subdue him. Knabe died Friday at Christus Spohn South after being removed from life support.

As of today, the Medical Examiner, has completed an autopsy but can not determine the cause of death until toxicology reports are in which could take a few weeks. The initial report shows Knabe who was presumed homeless was on his bike going the wrong way down Airline and putting himself and others in danger. Police say, they were only able to put him in handcuffs, after deploying a taser and pepper spray. Knabe became unresponsive and officers had to perform CPR. Today, Police Chief, Troy Riggs says his department is looking into new ways to handle the homeless. They are also reevaluating their use of tasers. The current policy states when an officer feels threaten, he or she may use the taser but it's all not that simple. In a written statement to 3 News, taser technology states, "when used properly, the weapon is the most effective use of force available..to halt violent situations." As for Knabe, officers tells us, he did not have any local criminal history. The District Attorneys office did tell us, once the investigation is complete, they will take the case to the Grand Jury.

CCPD Taser Policy

Click Here For Video

Police in Texas taser torture children, for low-level, non-violent misdemeanors like disruption of class or disorderly conduct

2009-11-17T10:51:00.003-05:00

According to Cameron Langford at the Court House News Service, Police in Texas public schools are increasingly using force against children, including Tasers and pepper spray, and the "overwhelming majority" of police "interventions" involve "low-level, non-violent misdemeanors like disruption of class or disorderly conduct," a public interest group says.
     Texas Appleseed claims the Spring Branch Independent School District is putting students at risk and violating the law by refusing to release its "use of force" policy.
     More than 75 percent of Spring Branch, a suburb northwest of Houston, is black or Latino. The school district claims its use of force policy is exempt from disclosure because of the exception for law enforcement.
     Texas Appleseed says it sent open records requests to 24 Texas school districts, seeking their police departments' use of force policies, and 11 produced the documents. The group say its investigation revealed accounts of police in Texas public schools using pepper spray and Tasers on students.
     "The public interest in ensuring full dialogue around policies relating to use force on Texas school children outweighs any risk to SBISD-PD's ability to affect arrests or engage in law enforcement on its campuses," Texas Appleseed says in its complaint in Harris County Court.
     Appleseed says that reports of Texas school police using pepper spray and Tasers on school children are becoming more common. It says the data its has received shows the "overwhelming majority of law enforcement interventions on Texas school campuses involve school-aged children cited or arrested for low-level, non-violent misdemeanors like disruption of class or disorderly conduct."   Read More HERE

TWB Publisher says: I'm glad to see that a watchdog group wants Info on Police Use of Force Against Schoolkids. It's time to stop the torture of school children in our public school system. Where is the U.S. Department of Justice when we need them to protect our children? Texas is not the only state torturing our children.

ENOUGH is ENOUGH

Join up with:

Let's build a blogger movement to stand in the gap for our children!

Killer Cop Goes To Trial For Taser Death - Another Taser Death in New York

2009-11-17T10:38:00.002-05:00

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A former Winnfield Police officer accused of repeatedly jolting a handcuffed man with a Taser before he died is scheduled to be tried on manslaughter and malfeasance in office charges in February. Death by Taser: Police Accused of Cover-Up.

Former police officer Scott Nuugent's trial originally was scheduled to start July 13, but it was postponed so a key witness, Winn Parish Coroner Randolph Williams, could recover from an accidental gunshot wound.

A spokesman for Winn Parish District Attorney Chris Nevils said Thursday that Nugent's trial now is scheduled to start Feb. 9 and last about a week. In January 2008, Nugent allegedly shocked 21-year-old Baron “Scooter” Pikes nine times with a 50,000-volt Taser while arresting him. Also read cover-up alleged in La. Taser attack and Lousiana Police Electrocute Handcuffed Man..

It's important to note, as reported by findingdulcinea.com that police officer Scott Nugent arrested 21-year-old Baron Pikes, handcuffed him and shot him six times in three minutes with a Taser as he struggled to escape.

Once Pikes was in the police car, Nugent shot him a seventh time in the chest. Pikes stopped responding, but Nugent shot him twice more after removing him from the car. Pikes was ruled dead within a half hour.

Nugent was charged with manslaughter August 13 by a grand jury that ruled he used the Taser “unnecessarily” and failed to get medical help. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

The mother of Pikes’s four-year-old son has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Nugent, city officials and Taser International, the manufacturer of the gun. More HERE

Meanwhile, as reported by NewsDay, the mother of a drugged-up Long Island man who died after being shot by a Taser gun while fighting with police officers Saturday said cops didn't have to stun her boy.

Darryl Bain, 43, was high on cocaine and had locked himself and his elderly mother in her Coram home about 2:46 a.m., causing his brother, Kevin, to call 911, relatives and Suffolk County police said.

But Bain was not posing any threat and didn't need to be stunned with a Taser, said Phyllis Hawkins, his mom.

"I was just trying to get him to get his hands off the door," Hawkins, 78, said."He seemed to be getting himself together from what he did," she said, adding that she smelled alcohol on her son's breath.

"[The police] know that when he gets like that, he calms himself down," she said.

Hearing a struggle with his mother, who has an order of protection against her son, officers broke down the door and tried to wrestle him to the ground, police said.

Bain was shot with the Taser but continued to fight with the officers as they tried to cuff him and they zapped him again, police said. He stopped breathing moments later.

Read more: HERE

AAPP says: It';s obvious that this man was troubled and needed mental help, not death because he abused cocaine and liquor.

Black progressive bloggers have been covering this issue for some time.
Progressive bloggers like, Excited-Delirium , Truth Not Tasers, Electronic Village, and so many other bloggers have been working to expose the deaths of men in women tased to death in police custody. We want to expand the conversation to include as many bloggers as possible.

58-year-old South Carolina manTasered to Death by Corpus Christi police

2009-11-14T01:08:00.001-05:00

CORPUS CHRISTI — According to caller.com, and kristv, a 58-year-old South Carolina man who police subdued using a Taser and then performed CPR on died Friday.

The man was removed from life support Friday afternoon by doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital South, said Corpus Christi Police Capt. Todd Green, department spokesman.

Authorities wouldn’t release the man’s name, pending notification of family members. An autopsy will be done by the Nueces County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine an official cause of death, police said. The autopsy could take days depending upon the medical examiner’s workload Monday morning, according to Ric Ortiz, an assistant to the medical examiner.

“A preliminary investigation has shown the officers acted appropriately in responding to an aggressive individual who was acting erratically,” said Police Chief Troy Riggs “Unfortunately, he has died and we will continue the investigation.”

The five patrol officers who were placed on paid administrative leave have been cleared to work, Green said. Placing the officers on paid administrative is a routine policy for incidents under investigation, he said.

The incident began at 6:54 p.m. Wednesday when officer Stephan Beletic saw drivers flashing their headlights at Cimarron Boulevard and Airline Road. Beletic saw a man riding his bicycle illegally against the flow of traffic and attempted to stop him. The man didn’t stop and rode into a parking lot of restaurant where he banged on the restaurant’s window and spoke unintelligibly, Green said.

Beletic, who already had called for backup, began to frisk the man to make sure he wasn’t armed.

The man resisted, and Beletic managed to cuff one hand, but the man continued to struggle. Officers Ross Murray and Daryl Anderson arrived on the scene and Murray used a Taser, hitting the man in the lower back. The man appeared unaffected by the 50,000-volt stun gun, Green said, adding that police aren’t sure if the probe even penetrated the several layers of clothes the man was wearing.

Murray then placed the Taser on the man’s shoulder blade and shocked him, Green reported. The man continued to be combative, Green said.

Anderson used pepper spray, which also did little. Officer Jason Rhodes arrived and the four fell to the ground in a struggle with the man.

It wasn’t until a fifth officer, Jason Tello, arrived that they were able to finishing handcuffing the man, Green said.

Once the man was in custody, he quit breathing, Green said. MORE HERE

Americans Fighting Against Taser Torture

2009-11-09T22:14:00.000-05:00

Across America people are beginning to raise voices against taser abuse and taser torture.

As an example, there is a rally scheduled against police brutality as reported by Megan Rolland at the Gainsville Sun. A newly formed Alachua Committee Against Brutality is holding an event Tuesday at 5 p.m. for people to speak out against police brutality. The organization was spurred in response to an altercation Halloween night where a Gainesville police officer used his Taser gun on an individual and witnesses on the street responded by attacking the officer. Hundreds of people were attending a block party on NW 8th Street just north of University Avenue when police arrived after 1 a.m. on November 1.

Five people were arrested on charges ranging from assaulting an officer to open container violations. Two of those arrested are from Alachua County and will be present at the event Tuesday.

“We are a group of concerned local citizens who believe that this case is just one highly-publicized incident in a pattern of corruption, arrogance, bias and violence displayed by members of the Gainesville Police Department,” wrote Alexandra Weiss in a media release for the new committee.

Lt. Keith Kameg with the Gainesville Police Department said the use of the Taser in this instance was within the department’s guidelines. According to the arrest report, the officer deployed his Taser after the suspect attempted to hit him.

At least one witness to the event said she never saw the suspect throw a punch.

Weiss, who is helping organizing the event, said one important purpose of the protest is to gather information and evidence that can be used to get the charges against the five suspects dropped. More HERE

TASER's new aiming guidelines - Shot Them In the Back

2009-11-09T16:50:00.001-05:00

TWB publisher says: Now that the maker of the TASER is advising police officers to avoid shooting suspects in the chest with the 50,000-volt weapon, saying that it could pose an extremely low risk of an "adverse cardiac event." There probably will be "more Taser Torture victims being shot in the back and in the head."

- TWB Publisher
Email me at: TasedWhileBlack@gmail.com

The blue highlighted area in the adjacent target man represents the preferred target area. TASER has lowered the recommended point of aim from center of mass to lower-center of mass for front shots. (TASER Photo) TASER's New Training Targets

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — as reported by Policeone.com The maker of TASER stun guns is advising police officers to avoid shooting suspects in the chest with the 50,000-volt weapon, saying that it could pose an extremely low risk of an "adverse cardiac event."

The advisory, issued in an Oct. 12 training bulletin, is the first time that TASER International has suggested there is any risk of a cardiac arrest related to the discharge of its stun gun.

But TASER officials said Tuesday that the bulletin does not state that TASERs can cause cardiac arrest. They said the advisory means only that law-enforcement agencies can avoid controversy over the subject if their officers aim at areas other than the chest.

The recommendation could raise questions about whether police officers will find it more difficult to accurately direct the probes emitted by a TASER gun at a recommended body area in order to subdue a suspect. TASER officials say the change won't hinder officers' ability to use TASERs.

In a memo accompanying the bulletin, TASER officials point out that officers can still shoot the guns at a suspect's chest, if needed.

Police departments across the United States and in Canada and Australia reacted immediately to the bulletin, with some ordering officers to follow TASER's instructions and begin aiming at the abdomen, legs or back of a suspect.

Officials with the Phoenix Police Department, one of the first in the country to arm all its officers with TASERs, said Tuesday that the new guidelines are being adopted by trainers who are reviewing departmental policy for possible changes.

Critics, including civil-rights lawyers and human-rights advocates, called the training bulletin an admission by TASER that its guns could cause cardiac arrest. They called it a stunning reversal for the company, which for years has maintained that the gun was incapable of inducing a cardiac arrest.

Scottsdale-based TASER insisted that the revision admitted no risk of cardiac arrest and served only as risk-management advice for law enforcement.

In the past, TASER has cautioned that use of its stun gun involves risk inherent in police-suspect conflicts, including the risk that suspects fall after being struck by a TASER.

"TASER has long stood by the fact that our technology is not risk-free and is often used during violent and dangerous confrontations," TASER Vice President Steve Tuttle said in an e-mail. "We have not stated that the TASER causes (cardiac) events in this bulletin, only that the refined target zones avoid any potential controversy on this topic."

TASER's training bulletin states that "the risk of an adverse cardiac event related to a TASER. .. discharge is deemed to be extremely low." However, the bulletin says, it is impossible to predict human reactions when a combination of drug use or underlying cardiac or other medical conditions are involved.

"Should sudden cardiac arrest occur in a scenario involving a TASER discharge to the chest area, it would place the law-enforcement agency, the officer and TASER International in the difficult situation of trying to ascertain what role, if any, the TASER. .. could have played," the bulletin says.

The bulletin recommends that when aiming at the front of a suspect, the best target for officers is the major muscles of the pelvic area or thigh region. "Back shots remain the preferred area when practical," it says.

For years, TASER officials have said in interviews, court cases and government hearings that the stun gun is incapable of inducing ventricular fibrillation, the chaotic heart rhythm characteristic of a heart attack.

The guns are used by more than 12,000 police agencies across the country, including every major law-enforcement agency in the Valley. Many authorities credit the weapon with preventing deaths and injuries to officers and suspects.

Advocacy groups such as Amnesty International allege that TASER guns are often used by police as a compliance tool on unarmed individuals who pose no deadly threat, who are drunk or on drugs and simply quarrel with officers.

Mark Silverstein, legal director of the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union, who has tracked TASER issues for years, said the bulletin means that police departments should now be asking questions about liability and reconsider how the stun gun is used.

"This is further evidence that law-enforcement agencies need to stop and ask if they have been sold a bill of goods," he said. "This (training) bulletin confirms what critics have said for years: that TASER has overstated its safety claims.. .. (It) has to be read as if TASERs can cause cardiac arrest."

Since 2001, there have been more than 400 deaths following police TASER strikes in the United States and 26 in Canada. Medical examiners have ruled that a TASER was a cause, contributing factor or could not be ruled out in more than 30 of those deaths. More at Policeone.com

More on TASER's new aiming guidelines

Fort Worth residents marched calling for police to stop using Tasers

2009-11-08T04:20:00.001-05:00

As reported by Traci Shurley at The Star-Telegram.com more than 50 people marched through downtown Fort Worth on Saturday calling for police to stop using Tasers and punish an officer involved in the April death of a mentally ill man. The protest was organized by supporters of the family of Michael Jacobs, 24, who died after a Fort Worth police officer shot him twice with a Taser to subdue him. Jacobs’ death was ruled a homicide by the Tarrant County medical examiner and will be reviewed by a grand jury.

"I’m really grateful to this big old crowd for speaking on behalf of my son," said Charlotte Jacobs, Michael’s mother.The protesters walked from the Fort Worth municipal building to the Tarrant County Courthouse carrying U.S. flags and signs, some of which read "Lazy Cops Taser" and "Tasers trample the Constitution."

The death occurred after police responded to a call from Jacobs’ parents that he was being disruptive. Police said the officer used the Taser after Jacobs became combative.

In his report, Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani found that Officer Stephanie A. Phillips shocked Jacobs twice with a Taser — once for 49 seconds and once for five seconds. According to the report, the officer told a detective that the first jolt was longer because "she unknowingly kept the Taser trigger engaged." She remains on active duty.

Jacobs’ family has filed a wrongful-death suit. Last month, an attorney for the family said witnesses have disputed claims that he fought with police. On Oct. 16, Police Chief Jeff Halstead announced that his department had finished its investigation of Jacobs’ death and provided copies of the report to the FBI and Justice Department. He said officers would get more training in how to deal with mentally ill people and in the use of force. The Rev. Kyev Tatum, president of the Tarrant County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and organizer of Saturday’s march, said that Tasers inflict cruel and unusual punishment on the community and that their use must stop. More HERE

New York Family of Officer Who Committed Suicide Sues City

2009-11-07T18:15:00.000-05:00

John Eligon at the NY Times reports that the family of a police lieutenant who committed suicide last year is suing the city, claiming that police officials drove him to kill himself. The suit maintains that the officials vilified the officer, Lt. Michael W. Pigott, after a confrontation in Brooklyn in which the lieutenant’s order to shoot an emotionally disturbed man with a Taser gun led to the man’s death.

Susan Pigott, the wife of Lieutenant Pigott, who worked for the Emergency Services Unit, maintains in the lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn that her husband “suffered severe and excruciating humiliation, mental anguish, fear, depression and shame,” after department officials took away his gun and badge, assigned him to desk duty and told the news media that he had acted improperly when he ordered an officer to fire a Taser at Iman Morales.

In September 2008, Mr. Morales, naked, ranting and swinging an eight-foot-long fluorescent light bulb at officers, tumbled to his death from a roughly 10-foot-high ledge atop a storefront security gate outside his building at 489 Tompkins Avenue, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, after Officer Nicholas Marchesona, on orders from Lieutenant Pigott, fired a Taser that immobilized him. Mr. Morales hit the pavement and suffered a fatal head injury. More HERE

The Fort Worth Police Department will soon be facing a second taser lawsuit

2009-11-07T18:08:00.001-05:00

FORT WORTH, TX - According to Channel 33 News, The Fort Worth Police Department will soon be facing a second lawsuit related to the use of taser devices by officers. An attorney for 29-year old Marcus Swiat is prepared to file a civil lawsuit in the next few days.

A bystander captured video of Swiat being tased up to eight times by several officers outside a downtown bar last year. On the tape, the disc jockey can be heard screaming and others asking police to stop. Officers are also seen kicking Swiat, who has since moved from the North Texas area.

Swiat's attorney, Brian Eberstein says Swiat was later acquitted of the charges against him, including public intoxication. Eberstein says the tape is disturbing. "The only word I could attribute to the attack was savage". He says Swiat is still suffering. "I think when any human being is brutally beaten the scars can be physical, but I think the emotional residue can be equally significant".

The lawsuit comes on the heels of another by the family of Michael Jacobs, whose death was ruled a homicide. Corporal Stephanie Phillips used a taser on the mentally ill man last April. Jacobs died in his yard. Both lawsuits allege the department has failed to properly train and supervise officers in using tasers. Eberstein says officers who misuse the device aren't disciplined. "Phillips is still on patrol and that tells others that you can do what you wish and the department will support you". More HERE

SCLC calls for Gov. Crist To Ban Tasers

2009-11-07T13:59:00.004-05:00

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.

Suit charging excessive force with Taser settled out of court

2009-11-07T13:30:00.001-05:00

According to RCG.com, a Reno man who charged excessive force against law enforcement officers at a local concert will receive a settlement of $108,000 from Lyon County and the City of Yerington as an agreed settlement of a lawsuit the man filed.

However, local law enforcement representatives aren't happy with the system that makes it cheaper to settle a lawsuit than to fight it, as they disagree with the allegations in the suit.

The suit was filed in federal court by Cody Herbst, 25, and charged two Lyon County Sheriff's Office deputies with using excessive force in arresting him at the 2006 Night in the Country concert, a fundraiser of the Boys & Girls Club of Mason Valley.

As part of the settlement agreement, Lyon County is paying $100,000 ,while the City of Yerington, which had two off-duty officers providing security listed in the suit, is paying $8,000.

The Boys & Girls Club of Mason Valley was initially included in the lawsuit but was later dropped, reported Chief Professional Officer Travis Crowder, who expressed surprise with the settlement, but pleasure the situation is over.

"I'm glad it's behind us," Crowder said. "It's time to move forward."

However, he said the BGCMV still plans to use sheriff's office personnel for security for its annual concerts.

Herbst, who has local family members, charged that LCSO deputies grabbed him from behind, threw him down, used pepper spray on him and tasered him several times.

Represented by Terry Keyser-Cooper and Diane Vaillancourt, Herbst also charged he wasn't given proper medical care after being arrested on trespassing charges, as he is an epileptic.

Lyon County Sheriff Allen Veil said any time there is a charge of excessive force, his department conducts a thorough investigation, and no wrong-doing was found in this case.

New Haven Police Chief James Lewis wants his entire force to have Tasers.

2009-11-05T22:10:00.001-05:00

According to the Yale Daily News, Lewis said so at Wednesday’s Aldermanic Public Safety Committee meeting, where Aldermen discussed the use of Tasers by the New Haven Police Department. He added that if the board approved funding for more Tasers, city officials should purchase ones that, unlike the ones police use now, don’t have cameras.

Also at the meeting, the committee passed a resolution to accept a federal grant for what committee vice-chair and Ward 22 Alderman Greg Morehead called the first undercover vehicle for the NHPD.

The NHPD began using Tasers, which disrupt voluntary control of muscles, after a series of police shootings in 2004, which prompted the Board of Aldermen to form a task force to explore less-than-lethal weaponry. The Yale Police Department, meanwhile, does not carry Tasers.

Lewis, flanked by two fellow officers, said New Haven has been the only place he has worked where the distribution of Tasers has been delayed by public scrutiny. He emphasized the importance of outfitting the entire police force with Tasers.

Lewis argued that Tasers are easier to carry and less dangerous than the heavy clubs that police now carry. Using more Tasers, Lewis said, would reduce the number of broken fingers, dislocated shoulders and other contact-related injuries that could cost the force in manpower and workers’ compensation. He cited surveys conducted by other police departments that have shown up to a 70 percent reduction in injuries after the addition of Tasers.

If Aldermen approve more Tasers, Lewis said, they should consider Tasers without cameras. Out of the roughly 100 Tasers acquired by the police force in spring 2007, five are now in need of $250 battery replacements. If police used Tasers without cameras, however, NHPD officials would only pay $29.95 per unit whenever the battery dies, he said.

Taser cameras only activate when police turn on the gun, Lewis said. He added that in-car cameras take better quality video and are more cost effective. Lewis proposed putting such cameras in 40 cars for $200,000.

At the meeting, Ward 17 Alderman Alphonse Paolillo Jr. agreed with Lewis, saying that Taser cameras failed to record clear images.

“I hope we can push this program and get every officer a Taser,” Paolillo said. More HERE