Local NAACP asks for ban on Tasers

[The Straight Story]

Local NAACP asks for ban on Tasers

By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Marinsville, PA

A second organization has requested a ban or moratorium on Tasers after a Martinsville teenager died after a Taser was used to subdue him.

The National NAACP asked for a ban on Tasers until independent scientific research regarding their safety can be performed, according to Tony Millner Jr., president of Martinsville NAACP Branch 7089.

In mid-January, the Virginia Christian Leadership Conference asked for a moratorium on the devices following the death of Derrick Jones, 17, of Martinsville, who died after a Taser was used by a police officer to subdue him during an incident on Rives Road.

“Our prayers are with the family of the young man,” Millner said in a letter to the editor of the Martinsville Bulletin calling for the ban. His letter is in today’s Bulletin.

He said the NAACP will begin to review the protocols for the use of Tasers, and the organization intends to work with local and state law enforcement leaders “to gain a clearer understanding of the relationship between the police department’s use of force policy and Taser policy.”

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=17468