Man dies after Taser jolt from S.J. police

[n2doc]

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, February 12, 2009


(02-12) 12:01 PST SAN JOSE --

A man in his 20s died after a struggle with San Jose police during which he was jolted with a Taser, police said today.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, died in the backyard of a home on the 2200 block of Amador Drive in east San Jose after being jolted with the stun gun, said Officer Enrique Garcia, a department spokesman.

The incident began at 10:24 p.m. Wednesday when two officers on patrol tried to stop a man in the area of Story Road and Adrian Way. It was not immediately known why the officers wanted to detain him, police said.

The man ran into a backyard. The resident told the officers that the person was a stranger, Garcia said.

The officers tried to arrest the man, he resisted, "a violent struggle ensued" and the officers hit him with their batons, Garcia.

When that didn't work, at least one of the officers shot him with a Taser, Garcia said.

more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/12/BAJ215SS24.DTL&tsp=1

[barbtries]

1. how many people have been killed

by this supposedly non-lethal weapon?

[Rebubula]

2. Quite..

...a few less than with guns.

I understand your rhetorical question...but run from the police and fight them - well bad things may happen.

It sucks a young man had to die, but law abiding people with no criminal issues do not run from cops and fight them when they are caught.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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

[MrMickeysMom]

6. Oh, please, is this the way to answer?

What are you, 12 years old?

[MrMickeysMom]

4. Because he shouldn't have resisted arrest-

doesn't mean the next level from the police should have been a stun or taser.

Someone with a professional police background should address this strategy. I can't believe what they did in response to a struggle warrants this!

[Eric J in MN]

7. He was unarmed. It should be illegal to shoot an unarmed man...

....with a gun or a taser.

A bunch of cops should be able to arrest one unarmed man without shooting him with electricity.

[rrneck]

8. I was thinking

about that yesterday. It seems to me that tasers are an attempt at a solution to understaffed police departments. One cop could, ostensibly, subdue a single suspect with a taser. In a physical struggle, it would take at least two and probably three or four cops to do the job. Tasers are cheaper. But we have that collateral damage problem since tasers aren't really entirely non lethal...

[PM Martin]

5. The infamous "non-lethal" weapon strikes again.

:puke:

[MercutioATC]

9. Tasers aren't perfect, but they're absolutely the safest use-of-force tools available.

Safer than canines, safer than batons, safer than physical restraint. It's also more effective.

It's unfortunate that some people die, but that's true of any use of force.