Post by WaTcHeR on Jun 7, 2006 10:59:45 GMT -5
06.07.2006 - I have read your columns and editorials regarding arming the Fort Wayne Police SWAT team or others with Tasers, which Indiana classifies as a deadly weapon. That means it can cause the death of the recipient if used the wrong way for the wrong reasons.
There have been many incidents in the last few years that were handled without the use of a deadly weapon by our police officers. Officers are trained to be better at defensive tactics and should be able to handle the person who needs to be controlled and should not need to use deadly force, except in the most demanding circumstances.
Who of you with a young person in your family would like to see him subjected to 50,000 volts of electrical shock by an overly aggressive police officer? I think when you give a police officer a weapon like that, it will be abused, if he thinks it will not cause death or serious injury. How many people have we seen beaten senseless with night sticks when there was sufficient manpower to control the person being arrested?
I was at the panel held to review the use of the Taser in two cases by the Bluffton Police Department. The first was a burglary suspect who fled into the night and was tased several times to bring him under control. I believe that situation could have been handled with the use of a less-dangerous weapon, but in that case the officer used his best judgment in the darkness of the night and all participants came out of it safely. The other incident was an abuse of the weapon when other methods would have been just as effective and less painful or potentially deadly. The board of review heard the officer using the Taser say that he tased the suspect while the suspect was handcuffed behind his back. The handcuffed suspect was tased in the front of his body, which is not recommended because the Taser barbs can hit a person in vital organs such as an eye. It is recommended the taser be targeted to the back, if possible. This was a man sitting on the rear bumper of the police car with his hands cuffed behind him.
He was at a local hospital for a blood-alcohol test. He had been drinking and probably driving under the influence. The training manual for the use of Tasers specifically states not to use it on a drunken person, for fear he will fall and hurt himself. There were other officers on the way to control this man, but the officer felt a deadly weapon was the tool of choice. At that point, it was more for punishment than to secure the suspect’s compliance.
The most recent tasing in Wells County by the Bluffton Police Department was used to subdue a woman riding her bicycle on the wrong side of the road. The woman was known by everyone, including the police, to be mentally retarded and to have the mental capacity of a 10- to 12-year-old. Again, this inhuman act was whitewashed by the city government’s so-called review commission. It was reported in the local paper without pointing out the person being tased was mentally incapable of understanding the consequences of her acts. Is there no end in sight to the use of Tasers in Bluffton and Wells County?
Taser incidents will certainly make the civil-rights attorneys in town happy. There will be lawsuits in almost every incident. Sure, there are incidents in which the Taser might have been the best weapon of choice, but I suggest they were few and far between. It also has been reported that the Wells County Sheriff’s Department used the Taser on a person with a diabetic condition who was suffering from an inability to understand and comply, called cognitive function impairment, caused by low blood sugar. The officer was not being subjected to any physical contact or threat. Yet he chose the Taser method of control, which was easy, without consideration for the health and welfare of the public he is charged with protecting.
Not only did he shoot the diabetic person, but he did so at the person’s home in front of his 7- and 9-year-old daughters. The officer apparently was not trained to detect diabetic impairment and thought the man was on drugs. The officer acted in a manner inconsistent with his training by firing a Taser at a person who was not resisting and had complied with the officer’s demands.
This is a perfect incident showing how Tasers can be mishandled by officers who have no regard for human pain and suffering. I believe officers armed with Tasers will take the path of least resistance and use a taser when other methods would be less harmful in the long run.
We in Allen County need to look carefully at what is about to happen by arming some officers with Tasers. Stick your finger in a light socket, which is 120 volts, and think about a Taser that has 50,000 volts. If I have done something to be nearly electrocuted for, I think it needs to be serious, not a traffic violation and a misunderstanding caused by an illness. Two of the incidents of the senseless use of a Taser in Wells County are the result of traffic infractions and one DUI that escalated because the police did not know or were not properly trained how to handle the situation without the use of a deadly weapon.
There have been many incidents in the last few years that were handled without the use of a deadly weapon by our police officers. Officers are trained to be better at defensive tactics and should be able to handle the person who needs to be controlled and should not need to use deadly force, except in the most demanding circumstances.
Who of you with a young person in your family would like to see him subjected to 50,000 volts of electrical shock by an overly aggressive police officer? I think when you give a police officer a weapon like that, it will be abused, if he thinks it will not cause death or serious injury. How many people have we seen beaten senseless with night sticks when there was sufficient manpower to control the person being arrested?
I was at the panel held to review the use of the Taser in two cases by the Bluffton Police Department. The first was a burglary suspect who fled into the night and was tased several times to bring him under control. I believe that situation could have been handled with the use of a less-dangerous weapon, but in that case the officer used his best judgment in the darkness of the night and all participants came out of it safely. The other incident was an abuse of the weapon when other methods would have been just as effective and less painful or potentially deadly. The board of review heard the officer using the Taser say that he tased the suspect while the suspect was handcuffed behind his back. The handcuffed suspect was tased in the front of his body, which is not recommended because the Taser barbs can hit a person in vital organs such as an eye. It is recommended the taser be targeted to the back, if possible. This was a man sitting on the rear bumper of the police car with his hands cuffed behind him.
He was at a local hospital for a blood-alcohol test. He had been drinking and probably driving under the influence. The training manual for the use of Tasers specifically states not to use it on a drunken person, for fear he will fall and hurt himself. There were other officers on the way to control this man, but the officer felt a deadly weapon was the tool of choice. At that point, it was more for punishment than to secure the suspect’s compliance.
The most recent tasing in Wells County by the Bluffton Police Department was used to subdue a woman riding her bicycle on the wrong side of the road. The woman was known by everyone, including the police, to be mentally retarded and to have the mental capacity of a 10- to 12-year-old. Again, this inhuman act was whitewashed by the city government’s so-called review commission. It was reported in the local paper without pointing out the person being tased was mentally incapable of understanding the consequences of her acts. Is there no end in sight to the use of Tasers in Bluffton and Wells County?
Taser incidents will certainly make the civil-rights attorneys in town happy. There will be lawsuits in almost every incident. Sure, there are incidents in which the Taser might have been the best weapon of choice, but I suggest they were few and far between. It also has been reported that the Wells County Sheriff’s Department used the Taser on a person with a diabetic condition who was suffering from an inability to understand and comply, called cognitive function impairment, caused by low blood sugar. The officer was not being subjected to any physical contact or threat. Yet he chose the Taser method of control, which was easy, without consideration for the health and welfare of the public he is charged with protecting.
Not only did he shoot the diabetic person, but he did so at the person’s home in front of his 7- and 9-year-old daughters. The officer apparently was not trained to detect diabetic impairment and thought the man was on drugs. The officer acted in a manner inconsistent with his training by firing a Taser at a person who was not resisting and had complied with the officer’s demands.
This is a perfect incident showing how Tasers can be mishandled by officers who have no regard for human pain and suffering. I believe officers armed with Tasers will take the path of least resistance and use a taser when other methods would be less harmful in the long run.
We in Allen County need to look carefully at what is about to happen by arming some officers with Tasers. Stick your finger in a light socket, which is 120 volts, and think about a Taser that has 50,000 volts. If I have done something to be nearly electrocuted for, I think it needs to be serious, not a traffic violation and a misunderstanding caused by an illness. Two of the incidents of the senseless use of a Taser in Wells County are the result of traffic infractions and one DUI that escalated because the police did not know or were not properly trained how to handle the situation without the use of a deadly weapon.