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I point you over to Electronic Village, where Villager is keeping track of some sobering stats — the number of deaths due to the misuse or abuse of the Taser. We're up to 36 deaths this year, with 39% of the pre-trial, extra-judicial electrocutions and executions were perpetrated against black men, who represent only 6% of the population in the U.S.
- Jan 9, 2009: Derrick Jones, 17, Black, Martinsville, Virginia
- Jan 11, 2009: Rodolfo Lepe, 31, Hispanic, Bakersfield, California
- Jan 22, 2009: Roger Redden, 52, Caucasian, Soddy Daisy, Tennessee
- Feb 2, 2009: Garrett Jones, 45, Caucasian, Stockton, California
- Feb 11, 2009: Richard Lua, 28, Hispanic, San Jose, California
- Feb 13, 2009: Rudolph Byrd, Age Unknown, Race Unknown, Quincy, Florida
- Feb 13, 2009: Michael Jones, 43, Black, Iberia, Louisiana
- Feb 14, 2009: Chenard Kierre Winfield, 32, Black, Los Angeles, California
- Feb 28, 2009: Robert Lee Welch, 40, Caucasian, Conroe, Texas
- Mar 22, 2009: Brett Elder, 15, Caucasian, Bay City, Michigan
- Mar 26, 2009: Marcus D. Moore, 40, Black, Freeport, Illinois
- Apr 1, 2009: John J. Meier Jr., 48, Caucasian, Tamarac, Florida
- Apr 6, 2009: Ricardo Varela, 41, Hispanic, Fresno, California
- Apr 10, 2009: Robert Mitchell, 16, Black, Detroit, Michigan
- Apr 16, 2009: Gary A. Decker, 50, Black, Tuscon, Arizona
- Apr 18, 2009: Michael Jacobs Jr., 24, Black, Fort Worth, Texas
- Apr 30, 2009: Kevin LaDay, 35, Black, Lumberton, Texas
- May 4, 2009: Gilbert Tafoya, 53, Caucasian, Holbrook, Arizona
- May 17, 2009: Jamaal Valentine, 27, Black, La Marque, Texas
- May 23, 2009: Gregory Rold, 37, Black, Salem, Oregon
- Jun 9, 2009: Brian Cardall, 32, Caucasian, Hurricane, Utah
- Jun 13, 2009: Dwight Madison, 48, Black, Bel Air, Maryland
- Jun 20, 2009 Derrek Kairney, 36, Race: Unknown, South Windsor, Connecticut
- Jun 30, 2009, Shawn Iinuma, 37, Race: Unknown, Fontana, California
- Jul 2, 2009, Rory McKenzie, 25, Black, Bakersfield, California
- Jul 20, 2009, Charles Anthony Torrence, 35, Caucasian, Simi Valley, California
- Jul 30, 2009, Johnathan Michael Nelson, 27, Caucasian, Riverside County, California
- Aug 9, 2009, Terrace Clifton Smith, 52, Race: Unknown, Moreno Valley, California
- Aug 12, 2009, Ernest Ridlehuber, 53, Race: Unknown, Greenville, South Carolina
- Aug 14, 2009, Hakim Jackson, 31, Black, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Aug 18, 2009, Ronald Eugene Cobbs, 38, Black, Greensboro, North Carolina
- Aug 20, 2009, Francisco Sesate, 36, Hispanic, Mesa, Arizona
- Aug 22, 2009, T.J. Nance, 37, Race: Unknown, Arizona City, Arizona
- Aug 26, 2009, Unidentified Man, Age: TBD, Race: Unknown, Los Angeles, California
- Sep 3, 2009, Shane Ledbetter, Age: 38, Caucasian, Aurora, Colorado
- Sep 21, 2009, Richard Battistata, Age: 44, Race: Unknown, Laredo, Texas
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In the above video, Stanley Harlen was pulled over for allegedly speeding; he stopped in front of his house. As his mother came out in her robe, she watched as officers wrestled with him. One officer fired the Taser three times for 31 seconds. For 14 minutes he received no medical attention; when paramedics arrived it was too late. He was dead. The Moberly city manager’s response is hardly reassuring. Andy Morris: Harlen’s death is “unanticipated and unintentional. Police officers must often make split-second decisions in tense, rapidly-evolving situations.”
Ken Burton, the Police Chief of nearby Columbia, MO’s PD also has officers who use Tasers but he strictly limits their use — no fleeing subjects are allowed to be tased, and when deployed, only for 5 seconds at at time.
This CBS report showed a graph of statistics, compiled by Taser International itself, and the growth in the use of these “non-lethal” devices has skyrocketed from 500 law enforcement agencies in 2000 to 14,201 in 2009. And there are no mandatory standards or training for Taser usage. Taser International has actually put out a disingenuous statement that defies reality, considering the rising body count.
The electrical output of a taser device is incapable of causing death.
Sure, the voltage alone in one blast itself may not kill, but what about the medical condition of the tasing victim? What about shocking someone for 31 seconds? What about repeated blasts to an elderly or disabled individual? This is a situation out of control.
12 Comments
The stats are disturbingand can make a person angry, it does me. The truth is this crap will not stop until some politician’s kid is killed by one of these things.
I doubt if it would stop even thenThe person who wielded the taser wold be scapegoated, and that would be the end of the matter. How many people have died from irresponsible use of guns? But guns are still with us and are easily available to everyone, responsible or not, sane or not. Tasers will be, too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no happier about that than anyone else here. But the simple, awful reality is that violence, including officially sanctioned violence, is a way of life in this country.
Please don’t do that
I really don’t mean to be rude, but this contorting of statistics is something the wingnuts do all the time about the gay community.
Watch me skew what you said: Blacks make up 85% of arrests, but only 39% of blacks are involved in taser abuse. If you’re trying to say blacks are targeted, then make the story about that, not about taser abuse.
well if you look at TexasI have to find the cite, but the state’s own report on Taser abuse found that blacks were by far over-represented in cases involving police and Tasers. Disproportionate representation of crime based on race is its own stat, but the flagrant Taser abuse with color as a marker is factual, regardless. POC are overrepresented in terms of poverty, access to poor quality schools, etc. etc. so I’m not sure what your point is. Wingnuts will do what they always do.
Here’s that link:
Study: Houston police used Tasers more on blacks
http://www.usatoday.com/news/n…
Yeah, I was trying to do some sort state-by-state breakdown in my head.
But for me, coming from the home of Jon Burge (the torturer) and the racist Chicago Police Dept., it’s difficult to color me surprised by that.
Hey, I really agree with you.I don’t dispute the fact blacks are treated unfairly. I have met some boneheads in Ohio who think building more jails is better than offering more opportunities.
As far a tasers go, they let them lose on the market without having any training or licensing requirements. I do think that the disparity of taser victims has a lot to do with the frame of consciousness on both sides.
Maybe they should require more sociology classes in the police academies.
sociology classes in the police academiesNot a bad idea. But let me premise my comment letting it be known. I DO NOT like cops. My family and I had to face many of them in Florida and about 10% had a nice side to them.
I understand that cops don’t know who they are facing, but to come off all big and bad to my then 9 and 13 year old daughters, half cocked and a few with weapons drawn because of some false bull shit filled injunction my ex-wife filed was completely wrong. For the one cop to shout and scream at my 13 year old was wrong. NOTE, when they showed up, I was in the shower.
Maybe if the police would drop the Billy-Bad-Ass crap and actually do something to be liked by most of their citizens, I might change my feelings towards them.
If they had to go through sociology classes, what needs to happen at the same time is to toss out those who feel it is a joke.
Well….I agree something needs to be done about taser ABUSE (not use, but abuse). But I would not agree that “this situation is out of control”.
First, there are an average of 1200 people a year shot in police “interventions”. Anything that reduces that number is a plus, and I’d much rather see every one of those 1200 people tasered than shot. A taser is more dangerous than police admit, but it’s not a bullet.
Secondly, yes, more black males are tasered, but more are also arrested, so that’s a statistic you’d expect. IN FACT, if, as a proportion to arrests, black males were tasered less, I would expect equal rights groups to get very upset (since it would mean cops SHOOT blacks, but TASER whites). The fact that the taser numbers reflect arrest statistics in an encouraging sign for the equality of taser use (but a discouraging sign for equality in arrests).
Reguardless, 36 tazer deaths a year is 1/10 the number of people struck by lightning a year. It’s also 3% of the number of people shot by cops a year. In EVERY situation it’s better to get tasered than shot, so lets hope the use of tasers continues to skyrocket, but police get better training and stop repeatedly blasting the elderly or disabled (which is still FAR the exception than the norm). Even if they don’t, and even with the mortality rates (as “out of control” as they are), if a cop offers to shoot me or taser me, I know the way I’m going…..
Oh yesOh yes!
About 700 people die every year from drinking too much water (causes hyponatremia, an electrolyte and sodium imbalance). Talk about a situation which is raging out of control!!!
Quote: “The electrical output of a tazer device is incapable of causing death.”Gosh, if that’s the company stance then the tazers are malfunctioning and should be recalled.
Personally, IMO the tazer is only a device of torture.
If it was designed to simply subdue a person and not be used as a device for torture. It would have hard lock-outs allowing only taze’s of 5 seconds on, 1 minute off, 3 tazes per hour and would be sealed to prevent tampering.
But it’s not. The operator is allowed to taze a person as long and as often as they want too. When it happens that a person dies the VICTIM is blamed and the perpetrator may not even get a wrist slap.
This is a ridiculous situation. People are being tazed by officers who otherwise would have to actually do their job professionally. Killing people because your too lazy to do your job properly is…is inhuman. This needs to be changed.
If it were 700 people a yearwho died after being forced to drink excess water by someone paid by public money because he didn’t feel like arguing, it would be a problem.
Ah, the bureau of convenient statistics!The video clip that was posted along with this post states that the Department of Justice statistics have documented 36 taser-related deaths SINCE 2003, not 36 this year.
Correlation is not causation as we all know. If someone overdoses on say, cocaine, then goes on a rampage, wrestles with the police and then dies from over-exertion and drug-related heart failure, we do not refer to it as a “wrestling-related death”. If the officers who encounter the same person have Tasers and deploy them at some time in getting that person under control, that does not mean that the Taser caused the death.
Also, a Taser only delivers a five-second cycle of electrical pulse per trigger pull and then cuts off. It is not possible to shock someone continuously for 31 seconds with 3 trigger pulls.
One development that I believe will reduce the number of complaints and allegations is the Taser Cam, which takes video of the incident when the Taser is armed and deployed. If supervisors and officials are later able to view the video, it will likely be easier to determine whether or not the person who was Tasered was a threat or not.