Public Defense

Non-Lethal Taser Is Lethal...Again

I'm past outrage at this point...it just feels like we will have to continue to sit by and watch people continue to die for no good reason other than politicians are afraid to look as cop-haters and pro-crime because they want to take one of their "tools" away.

Below you'll find a clip from the story out of newspaper in Northern California, which you can click on for the full story. Don't bother reading the comments from the mostly uninformed asshole readers unless you like to get irritated:

A man is dead after an altercation with several Woodland police officers Wednesday morning during which at least one Taser was used and officers' other weapons "may have been used," a police spokesman said.

Police received a call from Woodland's Safe Harbor crisis treatment center around 9 a.m. reporting that one of their male clients had walked out of the facility after being "verbally aggressive" and "acting out," Woodland Police Lt. Charlie Wilts said. The center's program director asked police to check on the man, and several officers intercepted him a short distance away from the Kentucky Avenue facility, at the intersection of West Kentucky and North West Street, Wilts said. At that point, the man became "combative" with officers and attempts to calm him down verbally were unsuccessful, Wilts said.

At least one officer used a Taser, but it failed to subdue the man, Wilts said.

Full post as published by Of a Public Defender's Life on May 29, 2008 (boomark / email).