Florida Women Wheelchair Bound dies from Police Taser

[ls317]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060425-0845-brf-taserdeath.html

REEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – A woman in a wheelchair who swung knives and a hammer at relatives and police died after being shocked by a stun gun, officials said.
Police tried to talk Emily Marie Delafield, 56, into dropping the weapons before they used the Taser to subdue her Monday, Police Chief Robert Musco said. Delafield lost consciousness after the electric jolt and later died at Orange Park Medical Center.

[wtmusic]

1. .

:popcorn: :beer: :scared:

[MercutioATC]

2. She had it coming...

:popcorn:

[ls317]

5. Really??

Mace,Pepper Spray.....Beanbag Rubber Bullets..????

[The Straight Story]

26. She can't claim she was discriminated for her disability...

Pass me some of that popcorn and a flame suit :)

[acmavm]

3. Who in the hell was she swinging at? Amputees? They

couldn't avoid her or get away so she was a danger?

[drdtroit]

4. I guess it would have been too difficult to

keep her occupied while one of the cops approached her chair from behind and subdued the "deadly" hammer.
Another example of "What would a coward chicken hawk do?".
:patriot:
The water's getting deep folks!

[Horse with no Name]

6. What is really sad

Is that this woman may have just had low blood sugar or some other fixable problem that was causing her to act this way.
I don't understand why everyone couldn't have just left the room and shut the door until she calmed down?
She was in a wheelchair--she wasn't that big of a threat.
However, if a woman in a wheelchair is swinging hammers and knives--getting out of her way isn't nearly as good of a solution as killing her.

[tatertop]

10. She wasn't going anywhere. Patience and kindness would have solved this.

[Beaverhausen]

7. Florida. I'm shocked

Really, what is it about Florida?

[Vinnie From Indy]

8. Hell, they could have just stacked furniture around her

until she got hungry enough to give up the weapons. She couldn't go anywhere.

[noonwitch]

9. What are cops supposed to do to subdue people?

In Detroit a few years back, a rookie cop shot a deaf man who was threatening his family with a garden rake. Over a decade ago, two of them beat a man to death with flashlights because he wouldn't open up his hand.

After the Malice Green killing, the police here started using the pepper spray and non-lethal methods. I don't think that they can use a taser in Michigan, but I'm not sure.

I do feel badly for cops in some situations (not the ones who killed Malice Green, though). Like the rookie who shot the deaf man-he was obviously not trained to handle the situation. Or some cops who had to shoot a kid I worked with as a delinquency worker-it was suicide by police, so I really feel bad for the cop who had to shoot a 17 year old to death to protect a bunch of other people.

[Horse with no Name]

11. Yet this woman wasn't a threat if they removed themselves

from the area. If this wasn't a normal behavior for her, then it probably indicated some type of imbalance.

[SmokingJacket]

12. Tasers would be great if they only used them INSTEAD of a gun.

They would never have used a gun on this wheelchair bound woman -- if they didn't have tasers, they would have waited her out.

Tasers are a good option as a substitute for lethal force, but not as a substitute for patience.

[Pastiche423]

13. Please do not use the term "wheelchair bound"

People in wheelchairs are not bound to their chairs by ropes or chains, etc. The term is very outdated and is an insult to those in chairs.

TIA

[xultar]

14. oops!

[silverweb]

15. What should we call them, then?

Some people are entirely dependent on their wheelchairs and would be stuck in bed or a chair without them. Is there some new preferred word to describe them now? I've never hear another term besides "wheelchair bound" to describe those in such a situation.

[Pastiche423]

16. The same term the article used

People in wheelchairs. And it is not new.

It is true we are dependent on our chairs for mobility, but were are not bound to them. I can transfer into a car, a bed, a shower etc, w/o having to untie any binds.

It is an archaic and demeaning term and I would like the public to be aware of that.

[silverweb]

17. Okay.

Thanks for the clarification.

I certainly see your point, but I really don't think anyone intends the term to be demeaning; it's just a lot easier to say than "people in wheelchairs."

I'm a medical transcriptionist and the doctors say "wheelchair bound" all the time, and I know they don't mean it in a demeaning way.

[Horse with no Name]

19. Thank you for saying this

because the medical community does use "bedbound" and "wheelchair bound" as default terms.
It isn't meant to be derogatory. However, the OP is sensitive to this terminology and we should respect that, albeit it won't be changed easily.

[silverweb]

20. New default terms needed.

It's hard to make lasting changes when the new options are more complicated than the old options.

Would you define "OP," please? It's not an acronym I've encountered before in this context.

[Horse with no Name]

22. OP=original poster

You were the original poster of the comment.
I agree that the default terms need to be changed if someone is uncomfortable with it.
I will tell you that changing the medical community will be harder than changing the outside community and that will be a difficult task in itself.
It is considered approved terminology.
On Google, there are results of about 1,400,000 for "wheelchair bound".
Perhaps if the American Association of People with Disabilities or other such organizations would actively campaign against the terminology--it would help and be beneficial to those of us who don't mean to be condescending or politically incorrect.

[silverweb]

23. Thanks.

I probably should have known that about OP.

Anyway, you're absolutely right about the need for official organizations to publicize the problem of terminology.

I suspect that the vast majority of people are completely unaware that there's even a problem and would have no clue as to what terms to substitute.

[Pastiche423]

21. Well, it's time to educate the medical community

Whether is or isn't meant to be derogatory, it is to those in wheelchairs.

The term "wheelchair bound" connotates someone that is not independent or can not participate in society.

Thank you for your respect.

[DrBloodmoney]

18. Fascism - it makes you feel...

... all warm and 'tingly.' :sarcasm:

[shadowknows69]

24. This is so obscene

I could have disarmed this woman with no training.

[oblivious]

29. No need to disarm her; she had already dropped her weapons.

Sort of like destroying Iraq after it had been disarmed.

Cowardly. Obscene.

[pointblank]

25. They should have

just shot out her tires...

:popcorn:

[Jose Diablo]

28. Yeah, or put one of those nail-mats down, that stops em too.

:popcorn:

[kerry-is-my-prez]

27. They cut the budget for mental health workers so this will keep happening.

Now it's up to the police to do it. They don't know how to deal with the mentally ill and hate having to do it. They usually just end up shooting them.

[TSIAS]

30. This is why I distrust cops

I know there are a few exceptions, but for the most part cops are power-hungry and think that they are God. If this woman had lived, she'd be the one facing charges and not the corrupt, evil cop. Fuck him!