Man dies after Chicago police use stun gun on him

[truthpusher]

http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=2932587

Man dies after Chicago police use stun gun on him

CHICAGO A Chicago man has died from the use of a police Taser stun gun to subdue him.

The death comes just days after a teenager was critically injured in a similar incident that prompted a lawsuit against the city.

According to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman, the man -- in his 40's -- went into cardiac arrest and died after officers used the device to restrain him.

Police haven't identified the man, but a spokesman says the department is conducting an "in-custody death investigation."

story:
http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=2932587

[phusion]

1. How many is that now?

Jesus. This needs to stop...

[thecai]

2. Deadly Tasers

NOT AGAIN!
It's time to ban the deadly tasers used by our LE.

[RamboLiberal]

20. I read somewhere earlier this week death toll is now 80+

I think these things should be elevated to use just before having to shoot someone in escalation of force.

IMHO police are resorting to Tasers in place of physical restraint and pepper spray. They seem to be resorting too quickly to Tasers.

Sit down and watch newer episodes of Cops Saturday nights to see how quickly they're now resorting to Tasers.

[Southsideirish]

3. Cops are way too fast to use weapons.

[saigon68]

4. Probably Black

Therefore its OK </sarcasm>

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Obviously, the Taser wasn't tested very thoroughly....

...before release.

Time to pull it from use before IT KILLS AGAIN!:grr:

[Solon]

15. That's what I don't get...

Tasers are no more "Non-Lethal" weapons than guns are, the only difference I can see is the odds of you dying with one or the other. Let's say with a gun, your odds are that you will die 70% of the time, but with a taser its 30%(BTW: I made up the numbers, so don't complain), so why is one classified as more lethal than the other, hell being shot in the ass is less deadly than being shot in the head or chest, so was that shot in the ass still assault with a deadly weapon or not?

[BiggJawn]

16. I think the odds are higher with a Taser.

Just because the orificer is more inclined to draw and use his "Non-Lethal" Cattle Prod than he is to draw his firearm.

In the course of a year, a cop may not even take his weapon out except to make sure he put the shells in it. in the past, he might have gotten several uniforms ruined/suffered minor injuries scuffling with Perps, but he didn't cap their asses.

Now he draws his TASER and zaps them instead of risking getting punched or his pants torn. So if he zaps 100 people in the course of a year, and a few of them die...

Oh, well, shouldn't have tried to box with the LAW iffn your ticker was dicky...

[Rush1184]

18. Not to mention the chance of a leatheal shot from the officers

side arm is low, especially if he aims for the leg or arm. A taser will be just as bad on a person no matter where they are hit.

[BiggJawn]

21. I don't think they're that good of shots...

Reminds me of that scene from "Geronimo" where Geronimo shoots the jug out of the vigilante's hand at 300 yards.
"Nice shot!"
"Not so nice. I aim for his HEAD!"

Bet most fleeing perp "ass shots" were originally intended to land between the shoulder blades.

[Tweed]

6. Man Dies After Chicago Police Use Stun Gun

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=989087&tw=wn_wire_story

"CHICAGO (AP) -- A man died after Chicago police used a Taser stun gun to subdue him Thursday, just days after a teenager was critically injured in a similar incident that prompted a lawsuit against the city.

Police said they used the stun gun when they were unable to restrain an unruly 54-year-old man who was fighting with officers at a high-rise building on the city's North Side Thursday afternoon.

The man went into cardiac arrest and later died, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. Authorities did not identify the man Thursday evening.

Police Cmdr. Michael Chasen said the man was trying to kick and bite officers and threatening to infect them with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS."

[Downtown Hound]

7. I'm the first one to admit that police are stun gun happy

but in this case it sounds like its use was justified. It's sad that the man died but that was clearly not the intention of the police in this case.

[rooboy]

8. You guys just don't seem to give a shit about human life anymore. n/t

[Downtown Hound]

9. Ahem, excuse me?

That's a little uncalled for.

[rooboy]

10. No it's not. The guy was KILLED. It's not "sad", it's a huge screw up. n/t

[Downtown Hound]

11. Yes I know he was KILLED.

He was also fighting with cops. Does that just not register with you? There's a lot of cases I read about of cops using stun guns that sicken me, but in this case, if somebody's biting you and kicking and punching all the while telling you that they have Aids, well, you just might get tasered.

No one wanted him to die, but I'd hardly call this excessive force. Save your stuck up judgments for someone else.

[rooboy]

12. You'd hardly call a FATAL electrocution excessive force???

If deadly force is the only thing that can be used against a person armed with only their teeth, then the police must truly suck. You throw a blanket over the guy and tackle him. You don't shoot 50,000 volts into a person when there's a high risk that it would kill them!!!! In any other country in the civilized world, the police would have a lot of questions to answer. If you can't accept that, tough. It's the truth.

[Downtown Hound]

13. Stun guns are not designed to kill

they are designed to immobilize. Once in awhile they can cause death to people that have other health problems, but that is not what they are meant to do. If they had been meaning to kill him, they would have shot him with their pistols. It was an UNINTENTIONALLY FATAL electrocution.

And now, I'm rather bored with this. Generally I find arguing with people that think cops are always wrong no matter what rather tiresome. Look, I've been treated pretty badly by some cops in my life. I've been harassed because of the way I look and where I live, shot at with rubber bullets at demonstrations which was very clearly an example of excessive force, and generally just been treated downright rudely by some of them. But I'm at least intelligent enough and not totally reactionary and I can still judge different cases on their own merit. I don't immediately jump on the cops are always wrong side. Go ahead and believe whatever you want. It may interest you to know that whenever a cop ends up shooting a suspect, even when that shooting is justified, that cop is usually off the force in a matter of a few years at the most. They simply can't handle it. In the case of an accident like this, it's even higher. The cops involved in this will probably be haunted for the rest of their lives, and I seriously doubt they were trying to do anything other than temporarily restrain the guy to get him under control.

[UL_Approved]

14. They are now

Here is a choice article on why this whole incident was wrong:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Taser International Inc. has warned police departments that its newest electric stun gun recently failed to subdue some suspects, and it will increase the power of the weapon, The New York Times reported on Friday.

The newspaper said that, according to a bulletin the company has sent to police departments, it will increase the power of the X26 by about 14 percent to make the gun more effective.

Paper: Taser to Increase Stun Gun's Power

[thecai]

27. Even The Old 200,000 Volt Stun-Guns

were not deadly, but these new tasers are proven to be LETHAL.

[RamboLiberal]

22. My question is did they use Pepper Spray

I think they need new rules on escalation of force. Tasers should be last resort just before shooting someone.

In situations without danger to police from a deadly weapon if there is sufficient backup escalations should be something like:

Verbal
Physical restraint
Pepper Spray
Batons
Taser

[thecai]

26. Not The Intention?

I'm beginning to believe IT IS the intention of the police, knowing the fact that these tasers are so often DEADLY.

[struggle4progress]

28. Hmm. "(Arizona) House Speaker Jim Weiers is pushing to give police ...

... officers clear authority to kill someone who aims a Taser stun gun at them ..."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=139&topic_id=1394

Seems like the answer to the question "Is the Taser a lethal weapon?" depends on who it's pointed at ...

[Skidmore]

17. I just hear something on the news last night about a kid in

a special ed class who was subdued with a stun gun and went into cardiac arrest as a result. I didn't catch where this occurred.

[LinuxInsurgent]

19. another stun gun story...

The American Gestapo is not wasting any time these days, eh?

"Let me see your driver's license and registration please...oh...and please don't move...ZAP!":evilgrin:

[MadisonProgressive]

23. I found more elaboration on Faux

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,147088,00.html

Seems the guy was threatening to give HIV to the officers by biting them. Taser use seems appropriate here.

[Shakespeare]

24. If we had a REAL Dept of Justice, they'd immediately call for...

...a nationwide moratorium on the use of these things until more research could be done into 1. the safety of the device, and 2. the seeming trigger-happiness of WAY too many law enforcement officers.

I won't be holding my breath.

[Rose Siding]

25. AP- Chicago Police Delay Stun-Gun Plans

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Police Department will not distribute more Taser stun guns to its officers while it investigates the device's use on a man who died and a teen who was injured this week.

The department will continue to use the 200 Tasers it has now, police Superintendent Philip Cline said. "We remain confident that the use of Tasers in Chicago has made our streets, our citizens and our police safer," he said.

Police said they used the stun gun on a 54-year-old man Thursday after they were unable to restrain him as he tried to kick and bite officers. The man went into cardiac arrest and later died, fire department spokesman Larry Langford said. An autopsy is planned.

A 14-year-old boy remained in a hospital after going into cardiac arrest after the device was used on him Monday. Police had been called after the 6-foot-2, 220-pound boy attacked three state home workers and punched out security windows.....

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-stun-gun-death,0,1305487.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[thecai]

29. Deliberate Cruelty

For months the government has known these tasers are deadly.

[loudsue]

30. Stun Gun Companies sold police departments a bill of goods...

Very similar to what the Diebold/ES&S/Triad/etc. companies sold to the states with the voting machines, and like the drug companies sold Vioxx.....

The corporations are lying, cheating, and stealing our tax dollars, without any accountability WHATSOEVER!! And, now, we're not supposed to be able to sue them! What a sweet deal for them!!

We need riots in the streets, or we're never going to get this mess straightened out.

Stun guns AREN'T safe.
Vote counting machines AREN'T safe from hackers/gerrymandering.
Drugs that come to market AREN'T necessarily safe.
Our meat coming out of Mad Cows and diseased slaughtering houses ISN'T safe.
The depleted uranium that our soldiers are breathing in Iraq ISN'T safe.

Citizens of our country AREN'T safe, and the terrorists are the CORPORATIONS!! And the REPUBLICANS ARE GUILTY OF DISMANTLING OUR SAFEGUARDS!!


:kick::kick::kick:

[thecai]

31. More Attention

Why is the "Test Taser Pig..." thread seemingly more important than the "Man Dies After Chicago Police Use Stun Gun On Him" thread?
These are not the old-style stun-guns, these are DEADLY tasers that many cops misuse and abuse.

[thecai]

32. How Many Shocks Does It Take To KILL A Human?

If repeated shocks cause heart damage to a pig, how many shocks KILL a human?
Either the tasers are DEADLY or the cops are misusing and abusing them, or BOTH.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[struggle4progress]

34. Chicago police suspend distribution of added stun guns

CHICAGO -- The Police Department has suspended the distribution of 100 additional stun guns to officers pending an investigation into the use of the devices following the death of a 54-year-old man and the serious wounding of a 14-year-old youth in separate altercations this week. <snip>

Cook County Public Guardian Robert Harris said police overreacted and he accused the department of using excessive force in Monday's incident involving the 14-year-old, who is a ward of the state. <snip>

''It's really important that police agencies put in place proper oversight of these sorts of tools so we don't have a continuing series of events like this," said ACLU Chicago spokesman Ed Yohnka. ''When you suggest something is nonlethal . . . it sends a subtle message that it's OK to use them more often than is necessary." <snip>

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/12/chicago_police_suspend_distribution_of_stun_guns/

[thecai]

35. Maybe This IS Progress

Now, to abolish the DEADLY tasers already in use throughout America.

I saw no reason to delete my previous post, I simply wondered why certain police think the tasered pig issue is a priority over a human killed by a taser issue.