"Don't tase me, bro" cops cleared

  • Thread starter Thread starter simuvac
  • Start date Start date
S

simuvac

Guest
http://www.wftv.com/news/14413428/detail.html

University Of Florida Police Cleared In Use Of Taser On Student

POSTED: 12:10 pm EDT October 24, 2007
UPDATED: 1:49 pm EDT October 24, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- University of Florida police were justified in using a Taser against a student who refused to stop questioning Sen. John Kerry on campus last month, according to a state investigation released Wednesday.

popup.gif
SLIDESHOW: Student Tasered During Press Conference
video.gif
RAW VIDEO: Student Shot With Taser During Press Conference
popup.gif
READ: FDLE Report On Tasering Of UF Student (PDF)

Some had questioned the use of force in using the stun gun against student Andrew Meyer, leading to the investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. A summary of the agency's report was released Wednesday. (PDF: Read Full Report)

"In short, the FDLE determined that our officers acted well within state guidelines," university President Bernie Machen said in a letter to students, faculty and staff.

Two officers who were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation were reinstated Wednesday, Machen said.



Rob Griscti, Meyer's attorney, said he had not yet reviewed the report and had no immediate comment. The journalism major is known for posting practical jokes online on his Web site.

The scuffle between Meyer and police started during the Sept. 17 speech by Kerry when Meyer refused to leave the microphone after his allotted time was up, police said. The videotaped altercation and Meyer's cries of "Don't Tase me bro!" were played frequently on the Internet.

The report says the officers' intent was to escort Meyer from the auditorium, but he broke away and refused to follow the officers' instructions.

"Officers decide not to escalate to hard empty hand strikes, kicks, knees or baton ... (it) would have looked like the officers were beating Meyer into submission," the report said.

The report, which has Meyer's name and that of other students blacked out, said the officers did what was necessary to control the student.

"Our purpose is, and has always been, to ensure a civil and safe environment where the many types of campus activities and open discourse can occur," said Police Chief Linda Stump.

Meyer has been charged by police for resisting an officer and disturbing the peace, but the State Attorney's Office has not yet decided whether to file formal charges.

Spencer Mann, a spokesman for the State Attorney's Office, said the decision may be made some time next week.
 
WTFtv?

Jeebus, shouldn't this have been on the WTF-TV website instead? Have we officially gotten to the point where there is ZERO police accountability in this country (even for low-rent-a-cop university police troglodytes?)
 
More and more now, they can do whatever they want to us. Law enforcement is supported, while they decide whether or not to file formal charges against us...
 
Could have been worse, I guess

At my alma mater, the university police were running down little old ladies with their police cruisers in marked crosswalks a while back (no shit, it actually happened and killed 2 older ladies).

No charges filed there either....
 
Meant to say twice

I meant to type that this was two separate instances that killed 2 separate women- f'n morons!
 
AuGmENTor said:
Coulda been worse? Yeah, coulda been Kent State..
Click to expand...

Right-the-fuck-on.

Seems like even something like Kent State wouldn't bring mass protest these days.
 
This is Jeb's state

I just reminded myself that this IS Florida we're talking about, Land of the Dangling Chad and the Uncounted Vote, run by the "dumb" "Non-Ivy Leage" Bush for chrissakes (but all I know about Neil is that little Securacom detail) ...

Please tell me other eastern states aren't really this bad, PLEASE! Then again, Cheney's from just up the canyon from my stomping grounds.
 
MD Man Dies After Tasing

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/11/18/taser.death/index.html

Man dies after police jolt him with stun gun

  • Story Highlights
  • Man dies after police use Taser device on him while breaking up fight in Maryland
  • Another man died in Canada last week after being shot with Taser gun
  • Amnesty International blames 150 deaths since 2001 on police stun guns
  • Taser International says many deaths involving stun guns have other causes
(CNN) -- A 20-year-old man died Sunday after being shot with a Taser device during a scuffle with a sheriff's deputy in Maryland, a spokeswoman for the Frederick County Sheriff's Office said.

Cpl. Jennifer Bailey said deputies responding to a report of a fight in progress arrived at the location in Frederick, Maryland, just before 5 a.m. ET and found four people fighting.

A deputy used a Taser device on one of the men, who fell unconscious, Bailey said.

The man was taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His identity was not immediately released, pending the notification of his family.

The deputy, who has not been identified publicly, has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the completion of an investigation, Bailey said.

Amnesty International has reported that, since June 2001, more than 150 people have died in the United States after being subdued with a stun gun. The organization has called for police departments to suspend use of the devices pending study of their possible risks.

Few have done so, said Amnesty, which added that more than 7,000 of the nation's 18,000 law enforcement agencies use the devices.

Last week, an airport security officer in Vancouver International Airport in Canada used a Taser device on a distraught 40-year-old man on his first airplane trip outside Poland. He died.

In a statement released Friday, Taser International cited the Vancouver case and said it "appears to follow the pattern of many in-custody deaths or deaths following a confrontation with police. Historically, medical science and forensic analysis has shown that these deaths are attributable to other factors and not the low-energy electrical discharge of the Taser."

A bystander's video of the Vancouver incident that showed the victim continuing to struggle after being shot with the device "is proof that the Taser device was not the cause of his death," the company said on its Web site. Cardiac arrest caused by electrical current would have caused immediate death, it said.

In addition, "the video clearly shows symptoms of excited delirium, a potentially fatal condition marked by symptoms of exhaustion and mania such as heavy breathing, profuse sweating, confusion, disorientation and violence toward inanimate objects," the company said.

"We are taken aback by the number of media outlets that have irresponsibly published conclusive headlines blaming the Taser device and/or the law enforcement officers involved as the cause of death before completion of the investigation," said Tom Smith, the company's founder and chairman of the board.

But Amnesty International, noting that coroners have identified Tasers as a contributory factor in more than 30 deaths, said such a link cannot be ruled out.

The devices use compressed nitrogen to shoot two probes -- connected to the device by wire -- up to 35 feet away at speeds exceeding 100 mph.

An electrical signal transmitted through the wires contacts the body or clothing, "resulting in an immediate loss of the person's neuromuscular control and the ability to perform coordinated action for the duration of the impulse," according to the company.

All AboutTASER International Inc. • Police • Amnesty International
 
Here's the video of the man being tased to death in the Vancouver airport:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCJ5VtEZ9tg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sC2Wy4H8-M

Incredibly, the RCMP first claimed that the man fought with them before being tased.

As you can see from the video, a woman, a total stranger, approaches the man to calm him down. So you can see why four burly cops with bullet-proof vests would be afraid of arresting him without sending 50,000 volts through him first....
 
You take your life in your hands if you choose to travel by air in more ways than one. Supposedly the video doesn't show the moments before, when the suspect was alleged to have launched a monitor among some other disorderly conduct. I'm not siding with the RCMP, jus sayin is all...
 
AuGmENTor said:
You take your life in your hands if you choose to travel by air in more ways than one. Supposedly the video doesn't show the moments before, when the suspect was alleged to have launched a monitor among some other disorderly conduct. I'm not siding with the RCMP, jus sayin is all...
Click to expand...

Yes, he tossed a little monitor. But he was contained inside a room with locked doors and four RCMP wearing bullet-proof vests. All I'm saying is, for how many centuries have cops of all stripes taken down a guy like that without resorting to the use of lethal force?
 
And another one....

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=1de7d95b-44cc-4d25-adf7-000d370e4998

Man dies after being shot with Taser

Published: Thursday, November 22, 2007
HALIFAX -- Nova Scotia Justice Minister Cecil Clarke has ordered a ministerial review into the use of Tasers in Nova Scotia after the death of a 45-year-old man at the Nova Scotia Correctional Facility early Thursday morning.

A Taser had been used by police.

"I have ordered police services officials in my department to immediately begin a review of policies and procedures regarding Taser use in Nova Scotia," said Clarke. "At the same time, RCMP are being called in to investigate the circumstances of the death at the correctional facility and I understand Halifax Regional Police will also have the RCMP conduct an external investigation into the arrest.

"I also want to offer my condolences to the family at this difficult time."

The review will examine Taser practices of authorized users in the province, including law enforcement, corrections and sheriffs.

The man was shot with a Taser in a Dartmouth, N.S., jail.

He died Thursday morning at the Burnside correctional centre, nearly a day after the Taser was used on him.

No other details are yet available.

The death follows the recent Taser death of a Polish immigrant at Vancouver's airport.





© CanWest News Service 2007
 
One more from the Western Rockies

From:

[see the added captions]
http://voiceofutah.blogspot.com/2007/11/more-taser-madness-in-utah-two-hot.html

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2190410

kslcom_print.gif

Man Tased for Refusing to Sign Speeding Ticket
November 20, 2007
http://media.bonnint.net/slc/284/28451/2845150.jpg?filter=ksl/move_headline


Randall Jeppsen and Whit Johnson reporting

A video of a Utah Highway Patrolman is getting big play all over the Internet. So, is the trooper in the right or the wrong?

The man has filed a complaint and is threatening to sue the Utah Highway Patrol for being wrongfully tasered. He got his hands on the trooper's dash-cam video and posted it all over the Internet.

This whole thing started with a speeding ticket that escalated into much more very quickly. The Utah Department of Public Safety is now trying to figure out whether or not the trooper's actions were justified.

Posted on popular Web sites like YouTube, a trooper with the UHP shows the world what can happen if you resist arrest. The incident happened near Vernal in mid-September. Jared Massey, the driver of an SUV was pulled over for speeding. His wife was in the passenger seat; his toddler was in the back.

In the video Massey clearly becomes frustrated about the citation, demanding to know how fast he was going.

The trooper said, "Well, you're going to sign this first."

Massey replies, "No, I'm not. I'm not signing anything officer."

And the trooper says, "OK, hop out of the car." He then attempts to place Massey under arrest. "Turn around, put your hands behind your back."

You can see in the video that Massey ignores the command and proceeds to walk toward the car. He's then tasered.

Massey spoke to KSL Newsradio. He says, "I'm laying there on the ground, and I start coming to and I hear him yelling at me another command, and before I can process it, he's telling me to roll over, he hits me with the Taser again.

"I gashed my head open and had cuts and bruises on my back, and they had to take me to the hospital."

He's threatening legal action.

Meanwhile, the Utah Department of Public Safety is trying to answer some questions of its own. Sgt. Jeff Nigbur said, "I do not know what that particular trooper was thinking about, what he was concerned about, whether he felt his life was in danger, whether he was worried about the driver's life so close to traffic. I don't know."

If you refuse to sign a citation, troopers can give you another citation or, in some cases, they can place you under arrest. That's what happened in this instance.

The investigation should be complete sometime next week.
 
And another...

http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=b6036333-8329-4d48-a214-0562796f86b6

Former BYU professor to sue over courtroom taser incident

Contributor.jpg
Reported by: Susan Wood
Last Update: 11/19 11:26 pm
Print Story | Email Story



thumb_1195539475613_0p3993989676003378.jpg


SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A former adjunct BYU professor is about to sue a Third District Court judge, claiming the judge wrongfully ordered him cuffed and tasered by Salt Lake County Sheriff’s deputies.

Tom Lowery was acting as his own attorney on November 22, 2004. In the courtroom, he suffered from a stress-induced mental disability, as he struggled to conduct lucid oral arguments in a case he's filed against a three leaders of his local LDS church group, one of whom was a BYU Professor.

As his demeanor becomes confrontational, Judge Anthony Quinn grows impatient with Lowery's behavior.

Five deputies attempt to cuff him and, as the judge has ordered, take him to a holding cell to cool down. After a momentary struggle, they zap him with a taser. Lowery says, "And then I hit the floor. They were on top of me and I was trying to scramble away from the electricity. They tased me into unconsciousness."

Judge Quinn can't comment on the the case. University of Utah Law Professor Medwed sat down with ABC 4 and watched the courtroom video.

As Medwed sees the video for the first time, watching the bailiffs attempt to cuff Lowery, he says, “It looks as though there are five bailiffs who appear to be armed.” He adds, “Usually the use of a taser is designed to apprehend a fleeing suspect or someone who poses a security risk.”

Medwed says, “Mr. Lowery was not about to leave the premises, nor was he a flight risk.”

Lowery says, as a disabled person, experiencing a state of mania, he should have been talked down, not literally forced down.

In any courtroom, a judge maintains ultimate control. But Medwed says that control must be reasonable. He feels the taser was not appropriate.

Medwed says, “Its justified only when its reasonably necessary to justify the end of law enforcement. The man was already in handcuffs. It's shocking."

ABC 4 examined the tape again in slow motion and upon closer inspection, it appears Mr. Lowery was not actually cuffed at the time of his first tasering. His hands are free as deputies wrestle him to the ground. So the question remains: Was he resisting arrest, or did deputies over react? This question will most likely be answered when the case goes to court.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top