Police Stun Gun Kills Teen With Bible

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/10/31/D8L3L5G83.html

A teenager carrying a Bible and shouting "I want Jesus" was shot twice with a police stun gun and later died at a St. Louis hospital, authorities said.

In a statement obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, police in Jerseyville, about 40 miles north of St. Louis, said 17-year-old Roger Holyfield would not acknowledge officers who approached him and he continued yelling, "I want Jesus."

Police tried to calm the teen, but Holyfield became combative, according to the statement. Officers fired the stun gun at him after he ignored their warnings, then fired again when he continued struggling, police said.

Holyfield was flown to St. Louis' Cardinal Glennon Hospital after the confrontation Saturday; he died there Sunday, police said.

[Eric J in MN]

1. It should be illegal for police to taser an unarmed person. NT

NT

[demosincebirth]

4. The cops will probably say that they feared for their lives.

[htuttle]

2. I guess he found him...

:spank: :spank: :spank:

Bad htuttle, Bad!

[saracat]

5. tee hee hee! Sorry my bad but so true!

[54anickel]

6. Bwahahaha! That IS bad htuttle. You did get me to chuckle, before I

got ticked off at this craziness with the stun guns lately. Cripes they seem damned trigger happy with these things. I thought they were only to be used if there was a serious threat of injury to the officers or bystanders. Seems they tasered someone to save their uniform from getting a bit ruffled in a tumble with a Jesus-freak kid. Why get messed up "rassling" someone to the ground when you can just zap 'em?

[Dead_Parrot]

14. *Snork*

:spank:
:evilgrin:

[bobbie]

18. Guffaw. You should have your own TV show.

U R funny.

[Irreverend IX]

22. No word on what caused it all...

Maybe he got too carried away during his youth group meeting?

[MadMaddie]

3. If all he had was a bible then two to three officers

could have taken him down if they needed to...this is an unnecessary death....if incidents like this don't put the taser guns in their graves I don't know what will

[Divine Discontent]

8. taser classes need formed

and enforced on these trigger happy thugs with a badge. regardless of how unruly the man had become, this is yet another sick death from these things.

[mcscajun]

7. "...city and police officials would not discuss the matter further."

When there seem to be a LOT of questions about this death.

What threat does a shouting teen carrying a bible represent? Just how did he become "combative"? They needed two firings of the stun gun? The second after he "continued struggling"?

The only reason I can see for city and police officials to stonewall is they fear the lawsuit that this death is bound to engender, and fear to say anything that can be used in court later.

[AlCzervik]

9. we've had deaths here in sacramento from taser guns, otherwise healty

males dying after being hit with a taser.

[htuttle]

10. The problem with tasers

I think the problem with tasers is that there is a very wide range of effects they can cause from person to person. The same jolt that might kill one person outright might barely slow another person down. While the concept of a non-lethal tool like the taser might be appealing to law enforcement at first, I think it would be best if the police officers themselves made the decision on whether to use lethal force, by deciding between using their gun or their nightstick, rather than leaving it up to the unpredictable effects of a technological device.

(since I made a joke about this story above, I feel compelled to make a more serious statement about this serious story as well).

[Irreverend IX]

21. Well, if they use a nightstick...

It's much more dangerous for the officer, since they need to get within striking range of the suspect, which may allow them to grab the stick and overpower the officer. People on stimulants can shrug off a lot of bludgeoning, whereas tasers disable the subject's nervous system regardless of their insensitivity to pain. Guns, on the other hand, are the surest way to stop someone but are much more likely to kill than tasers. As such, tasers make sense as an "in-between" option for some suspects who would have been shot before. Problem is, police seem to be using tasers as an excuse to avoid grappling and stick-fighting in situations where it would be a valid option (like the incident in the OP). Tasers could keep a lot of people from getting shot if officers are taught to use them only for that purpose rather than as an easy way to bring down mildly unstable suspects.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

23. When police have tasers, they'll use them much more often than

they would use their guns under the same circumstances, IMO. That could make tasers more lethal than guns, in that what's lost in lethality per use is more than made up in volume of use.

"On n'a q'appuyer ce bouton"-- Press this button, problem gone. Or so the Taser International commercials say.

[brentspeak]

11. This is the upteempth death that taser zaps have caused

The heart is mechanized by an electrical conduction system. A taser's electrical shock can easily screw around with a heart's repolarization and action potential scheme, especially if the person zapped has a preexisting heart condition.

Ban the taser; there's lots of safer ways to subdue out-of-control people.

[sugapablo]

12. Just listen to the damn cops!

Sue 'em later, but listen to them when they tell you something. They're freakin' crazy!

[Thor_MN]

13. Well, the bible has killed millions...

I can see why the officers feared for their lives, they thought he was going to go all crusade on them...

[Cronus Protagonist]

15. More proof there is no God

How many more must die in this pointless pursuit?

[High Plains]

16. They blame it on "excited delirium" when they kill drug users.

Will the official cause of death be "the Rapture"?

[daleo]

17. I hope the parents sue

Not that it will bring the boy back, but police have gone taser crazy in the last few years.

[SquireJons]

19. I guess he got what he was after.

Sort of.

[truthisfreedom]

20. tazers are obviously a serious liability. their use needs to be completely

re-examined.

[arikara]

24. Cops used to talk to agitated people and calm them down

Now they shout, scream at and threaten people no matter what the perceived crime or the person's mental state; acting like a bunch of whacked out goons. They've gotten out of control.

I just watched a video where they tazered a woman twice for the crime of driving with an expired license.

Its actually a documentary but well worth a watch, the incident is towards the end.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4312730277175242198

[MadHound]

25. Cops used to have the attitude that they were public servants.

There to protect and serve. Over the past thirty years there has been a major attittude shift, and rather than regarding themselve as public servants, police view themselve more as guards and wardens at an outdoor insane asylum. This shift of attitude has sapped empathy, sympathy and humanity from most of our police, making lives cheap and disposable. No, this doesn't apply to every single police officer, but it does apply to the vast majority of them. My cousin is captain on a force in a decent size city, and he is just appalled at how this attitude has crept into police culture over the past few decades.