“She made a very simple interaction with the police into a difficult task”
by digby
I wrote a post about the 72 year old grandmother who’d been tasered a few days ago. They’ve now released the dashcam video which shows that she was argumentative and rude to the police officer.
Here’s the thing. the man was dealing with an unarmed, cantankerous elderly woman who'[d been speeding. And instead of handling the situation as cops would have done forever — calming the person, talking her down, being reasonable (after all she wasn’t dangerous to him in the least) he escalated it with threats of violence and anger. And then he shot that woman with 50,000 volts, not because she was dangerous to herself or others, but because she was belligerant and he didn’t know how to handle it.
I know that there are people out there who believe she deserved it and that police don’t have any obligation to use skills other than brute force on anyone who doesn’t immediately comply with their requests. A police officer viewing the video in this news report matter-of-factly says that the problem was that “she made a very simple interaction with the police into a difficult task.” In America today that deserves electrocution.
This crap is un-American. We have made it so that citizens of this country are now subject to 50,000 volts for being belligerent to authorities. If you think that’s freedom, you’ll love living in China or Saudi Arabia.
And by the way, the woman is lucky the taser didn’t kill her like it killed this guy a few days later:
The son of a prominent KSL employee died Tuesday in Washington County after a police officer deployed a Taser when the man ran down a road in what authorities called an “agitated” state.
Brian Layton Cardall, 32, was traveling with his wife south on State Road 59 near Hurricane on Tuesday afternoon. According to KSL.com, the vehicle pulled over to the side of the road when Cardall, who recently had been struggling with mental health issues, began having an “episode.”
Cardall left the car and ran down the road, and his wife called police, said Washington County Undersheriff Jake Adams. A Hurricane police officer who responded to the scene deployed a Taser on Cardall, who lost consciousness, Adams said.
Cardall was treated at the scene but he was pronounced dead after being transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St.George, Adams said.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately release further details about the incident.
Cardall is the son of KSL Editorial Director Duane Cardall, according to KSL.com. Attempts to reach Duane Cardall for comment Tuesday afternoon were unsuccessful.
Duane Cardall’s administrative assistant said he and his wife, Margaret, were traveling to St.George late Tuesday to be with his son’s wife, who is six months pregnant.
Adams said the Washington County Critical Incident Task Force is investigating Cardall’s death.
The Hurricane Police Department did not return a phone call requesting comment on the officer who deployed the Taser.
A family statement released by Paul Cardall, Brian’s brother and a renowned pianist from Sandy, read, “Brian is a wonderful son, brother, father, and husband who loved being with people. He was full of personality and wanted to make a difference in this world. He was working on his Ph.D. in Molecular Ecology at Northern Arizona University. He loved being in the outdoors and with his daughter Ava and beautiful wife Anna. We will miss Brian but are comforted by our faith.”
Update: here’s TASER’s statement on the Cardell death:
Until all the facts surrounding this tragic incident are known, it is inappropriate to jump to conclusions on the cause of death. We believe that TASER® technology protects life and if called upon we are prepared to help the investigation of this unfortunate incident.
Although, no use of force device is risk free including TASER technology, when used properly, medical and law enforcement experts have concluded that TASER technology is among the most effective response to resistance available to law enforcement officers to halt potentially violent situations that may pose a safety risk to an officer, suspect or innocent citizens.
For the past two years, National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has conducted a review and study of in-custody deaths which have occurred following the use of a TASER brand devices. The interim report, release last summer concluded in its findings that:
“Although exposure to CED is not risk free, there is no conclusive medical evidence within the state of current research that indicates a high risk of serious injury or death from the direct effects of CED exposure. Field experience with CED use indicates that exposure is safe in the vast majority of cases. Therefore, law enforcement need not refrain from deploying CEDs, provided the devices are used in accordance with accepted national guidelines.”
“While we continue to acknowledge that TASER® technology is not risk free, the NIJ report speaks volumes affirming our previous statements concerning the safety of TASER devices and provides an invaluable independent report to our critics.
STATS: As of March 31, 2009 TASER International has sold approximately 406,000 TASER® brand electronic control devices (ECDs) to more than 142,200 law enforcement and military agencies. There are 177 law enforcement agencies in Utah that deploy our TASER technology.
Sincerely,
Steve Tuttle
Vice President of Communications
Except for all the deaths and the horrible pain it’s completely safe.
Canadian media have done extensive study on tasers and one of their investigations turned up the fact that TASER is, unsurprisingly, paying off coroners and rigging the data. These guys are following in the fine tradition of the tobacco companies.
h/t to various readers