Cops Taser and Kill Woman in Wheelchair

[ConfidentialStatus]

Source: http://www.local6.com

Officers said they arrived to find Delafield in a wheelchair, armed with two knives and a hammer. Police said the woman was swinging the weapons at family members and police.

Within an hour of her call to 911, Delafield, a wheelchair-bound woman documented to have mental illness, was dead.

Family attorney Rick Alexander said Delafield's death could have been prevented and that there are four things that jump out at him about the case.

"One, she's in a wheelchair. Two, she's schizophrenic. Three, they're using a Taser on a person that's in a wheelchair, and then four is that they tasered her 10 times for a period of like two minutes," Alexander said.

According to a police report, one of the officers used her Taser gun nine times for a total of 160 seconds and the other officer discharged his Taser gun once for a total of no more than five seconds.

A medical examiner found Delafield died from hypertensive heart disease and cited the Taser gun shock as a contributing factor, the report said. On her death certificate, the medical examiner ruled Delafield's death a homicide.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/wkmg/20070919/lo_wkmg/14147512

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Any comments? I shall refrain from saying anything because I had my daily taser today.

[China_cat]

1. This is one of the reasons I don't go to protests any more.

In a wheelchair and a dicey ticker. I make a good target.

[obiwan]

12. I have MS and diabetes, and that didn't keep the LA sheriffs from assaulting me.

This case is pending. I will keep you posted,

BTW, I still protest (lawfully) because it is the right thing to do. I am not scared. The worst they can do is kill me, and then my family will sue them.

[sasquatch]

2. Do they need to take away the tasers from the police?

[angrycarpenter]

6. No, but they use them too much

they are the all-purpose argument ender, The officer has no need of understanding or patience with that thing on their hip. Its just ZAP and on to the next scumbag.

[Xithras]

16. No, but they need to be reclassified as deadly force.

Tasing incidents need to be examined with the same scrutiny used to examine shooting incidents. The officers should have to demonstrate the need for deadly force before they can be used.

[kelligesq]

29. Yes.

.

[TomInTib]

3. 160 seconds? Damn, I got tased once (self-inflicted)...

Just one hit bounced me off a barstool and I wet my pants.

160 seconds would raise some real heck with you.

[liberalmuse]

5. Thanks for that.

I needed a laugh today and your story did it. :D

On edit: The :lol: doesn't work? Chuh.

[TomInTib]

8. True story.

Definitely rates in my 100 Dumbest Stunts I Have Ever Pulled list.

My uncle was a Detective in Houston and brought a Taser home so I could see it.

"Aww, come on. It can't be that bad. Watch this."

Best part is, I have a video of it.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

17. Self-Inflicted?

Thomas, really. You do need to take a long, hard look at those things you consider "fun". ;-)

[TomInTib]

20. Yeah

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2998030&mesg_id=2998061

[liberalmuse]

4. Jesus! WTF?

And once again, in Floryduh. They like to shoot fish in a barrel there, don't they? I think it's time the Florida cops rescinded their tasers one by one in a nice, neat pile on the Chief of Police' desk.

[haele]

7. Green Cove Springs, Florida

Methinks the state of Florida needs to take a state-wide second look on "Tasers. Practical Use Instead of Abuse", otherwise known as "No Lazy Cops - Using Common Sense in Law Enforcement"

She was in a wheelchair, ferhev'nsakes. It's not that hard to get someone under control in a chair. Maybe a bit cruel and embarrassing to the poor lady, but it's always going to be somewhat cruel when you're trying to restrain someone out of control. But better embarrassing than lethal.

Haele

[Peregrine Took]

9. Florida, again? I've never been and now I'm sure I will never go there! n/t

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. Bad boys bad boys wacha gonna do? Whacha gonna do when

they taser you... stay tuned for the next episode of "Cops Gone Wild". Wussies. Cannot take out a poor old woman in a wheel chair without WMDz.

[Megahurtz]

11. What's WRONG With Cops???

If it's not their guns loaded on overKILL now it's their Tasers.:wtf:

Holy Christ!:wow:

[kdmorris]

13. WTF?

See, this is why tasers shouldn't be given to cops. They might as well have just shot her in the head. Where's the judgment police officers are supposed to display in a situation like this. How the hell do you taser someone who is essentially already helpless? Why can't you restrain them in a different way?

This is like when they tasered the 6 year old who was out of control. WTF? You can't control a 6 year old? Pick the kid up from behind and hold on to her.

My condolences to this woman's family. How awful it must be for them. They were there, watching the police murder their relative.

Man, I hate living in Florida sometimes.

[ConfidentialStatus]

15. I agree

It's very sad.:cry:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

18. A long time back...

I predicted that Tasers would be used, eventually, as Cattle Prods for People. I was right again.

[wundermaus]

14. Why was she tasered 10 times within 2 minutes?

Waiting for an answer...

[ConfidentialStatus]

19. Maybe you're right

The fifth thing that might jump out... she asked the wrong questions.

[pansypoo53219]

21. i am thinking

cops are enjoying this new TOY they have.
having tooooo much fun i thinks.

[Pastiche423]

22. I dearly hope that cop is charged w/murder!

Tasers should be outlawed.

[kurth]

23. Police knew Emily Delafield and had been at her house 28 times in the past

And she was on oxygen due to her medical condition.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021307/met_7960731.shtml

[goodgd_yall]

24. This happened back in April; here's an update

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021307/met_7960731.shtml

[Clovis Sangrail]

25. kick ass

I can't *wait to move to Florida.

[R_M]

26. I have reason to trust the police (i.e: agents of the state).

Everyone should get a gun and protect themselves. Yes I am pro-gun. I don't agree with the Democratic party on this matter.
Also, as someone who volunteered themselves to be "tased" (because I wanted to know what it felt like), I will tell you, it is not pleasant. The feeling of paralysis is the worse thing I have ever felt (physically). A total of 160 seconds of that damn thing is unimaginable to me. Damn piggies should get some time GITMO. :mad:

[Paul_Weyrich]

27. I would be furious if this were my beloved Grandmothers.

Still mad though. :mad:

[Maq]

28. She was a dead woman walking, See her picture

Emily Delafield

Clay County Woman Dies After Being Shocked By Taser Gun
POSTED: 7:12 am EDT April 25, 2006
GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. -- A 56-year-old woman died after being shocked by a Taser gun during a confrontation with Green Cove Springs police Monday afternoon.
Officers said they were called to a disturbance at a home in the 400 block of Harrison Street just before 5 p.m., finding Emily Delafield in a wheelchair, armed with two knives and a hammer. Police said she was swinging the weapons at family members and police... SOURCE: http://www.news4jax.com/news/8980210/detail.html

UPDATE:
State rules Taser death homicide
But prosecutors said the April shocking incident was justified.
By DANA TREEN, The Times-Union

Ten shocks from a police Taser were enough to kill a wheelchair-bound Green Cove Springs woman whose death in a confrontation with two officers in April has been ruled a homicide but, according to prosecutors, justified.
Emily Marie Delafield, 56, was in poor physical and mental health but would not have died if she had not been shocked for a total of 121 seconds by two Green Cove Springs officers, according to the autopsy included in a State Attorney's Office report released Friday. Delafield called police to her house then confronted them with knives and a hammer.
Associate Medical Examiner Valerie Rao, who performed the autopsy in Jacksonville last year, said the Taser shocks were a "very small factor" in the death of Delafield, who was obese and had an enlarged heart and was confined to a wheelchair. But the Tasers were a contributing factor, she said.
"You can't ignore it," Rao said Monday...
SOURCE: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021307/met_7960731.shtml