It seems like every few weeks someone dies shortly after being Tased.

Quote :

"OXFORD, Ohio — A Chicago man died Thursday, five days after police subdued him with a Taser outside a bar near Miami University, a hospital spokesman said. Kevin Piskura, 24, died shortly after 5 p.m. at University Hospital in Cincinnati, said spokesman Don Crouse. Oxford officer Geoff Robinson used the device early Saturday morning as he tried to break up a fight, police said. The Butler County offices of the sheriff and prosecutor are investigating the officer's actions. "We still request that people refrain from rash judgment and wait until the independent investigation of this event is complete, lest tragedy lead to more tragedy," the Piskura family said in a statement released by the hospital. Piskura, a 2006 Miami graduate, argued with police after a friend was escorted from a bar, police said. The officer drew his Taser stun gun and told Piskura to stop, and when he did not, the officer used the device and hit Piskura in the chest. Video from a camera attached to the Taser shows Piskura getting shocked for about 10 seconds as he rolls around on a sidewalk. Robinson, 27, has been placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Oxford police spokesman Jim Squance said. Robinson has been an Oxford police officer for two years. He had taken a refresher course on using a stun gun a week before the incident, police said."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352574,00.html

At some point are we going to realize that the safety of the taser needs to be investigated by someone other than the manufacturers? Maybe a higher, more clearly defined threshold before an officer could use it on a noncompliant subject?

4/25/2008 2:15:07 PM

Actually I think tasers save lives because they keep cops from pulling their guns in situations like these.

Of course, I don't have any data to back that up

4/25/2008 3:28:57 PM

I wonder if police departments are becoming too trigger happy with tasers thinking of them as non-lethal weapons. I don't think that tasers should be banned outright, but we may need to ask them to scale back their use in all but the most belligerent situations. Situations where police may have traditionally used a baton for example.

4/25/2008 3:37:37 PM

This thread has never been done before:

"Yet Another TASER-Related Death"

http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=514490

4/25/2008 4:17:58 PM

I would imagine that pepper spray would be better for breaking up a fight.

4/25/2008 4:19:18 PM

^ Not in closed areas and when you want to target a single individual. For example, think of the "Don't tase me, bro!" incident. If an officer had released OC spray in that area, the area would've needed to be evacuated and the other struggling officers would've been affected, too.

4/25/2008 4:39:42 PM

Quote :

"outside a bar near Miami University"

Although I completely agree about the need to use a taser indoors.

4/25/2008 4:43:26 PM

^^ closed area, one unruly individual, ample number of cops, clearly unarmed

Remind me again why the procedure (I fucking hope they have responses prescribed for different situations) should involve any non-lethal pain inflicter?

4/25/2008 5:30:03 PM

he was probably high on crack

4/25/2008 5:52:55 PM

I know all TOO many people like that guy

4/25/2008 5:54:48 PM

^^ Pieces of trash like this serve on the police force.

4/25/2008 5:56:30 PM

Quote :

"The officer drew his Taser stun gun and told Piskura to stop, and when he did not, the officer used the device and hit Piskura in the chest."

Sounds to me like the guy got himself killed. All he had to do was follow the cop's orders and he wouldn't have been tased.

4/25/2008 6:59:03 PM

Quote :

"Piskura, a 2006 Miami graduate, argued with police after a friend was escorted from a bar, police said. The officer drew his Taser stun gun and told Piskura to stop, and when he did not, the officer used the device and hit Piskura in the chest."

All he had to do was stop arguing? Sounds to me like the guy got himself killed. All he had to do was to stop question the actions of police officers.

4/25/2008 7:05:29 PM

Ok. I'll play devil's advocate.

So simply arguing with police is cause for deadly force now? What happened to tackling and cuffing someone. Naw, tasering is so much easier.

4/25/2008 7:38:45 PM

Quote :

"closed area, one unruly individual, ample number of cops, clearly unarmed Remind me again why the procedure (I fucking hope they have responses prescribed for different situations) should involve any non-lethal pain inflicter?"

mrfrog

Never said it should. With the number of officers on the scene, they could have easily performed a swarm and cuffed the suspect. If I'd been the officer in charge, I would've taken it outside the auditorium first--to end the disruption and get into a better place for takedown than an aisle--and then cuffed the guy. No TASER or OC or other less-than-lethal weapon should've been necessary.

Remember, I think TASERs are overused and misused and I'd like to see such uses stopped.

4/25/2008 7:45:31 PM

Quote :

"told Piskura to stop, and when he did not, the officer used the device and hit Piskura in the chest. "

4/25/2008 7:51:10 PM

^^ yeah ok. I don't think we ever really differed.

Quote :

"Naw, tasering is so much easier."

Remember, it's not Ph.D.s we hire for our police forces.

[Edited on April 25, 2008 at 10:27 PM. Reason : ]

4/25/2008 10:26:28 PM

so wait. ARGUING with a police officer is cause for the use of ANY FORCE? I'm trying to figure this one out...

BTW, I agree with the second post. Tasers have, at the very least, kept cops from shooting people with weapons that are meant to be lethal. Seems like a fair trade-off, to me.

Seriously, you people that bitch about tasers, what the fuck do you want police to be armed with? Feathers?

4/25/2008 11:22:51 PM

^

Quote :

"Remember, I think TASERs are overused and misused and I'd like to see such uses stopped."

4/26/2008 5:30:15 AM

can you buy special clothes that will make you immune to tasers?

4/26/2008 7:00:51 AM

^ This should do the trick.

4/26/2008 7:17:35 AM

police are evil, uneducated, abusive bullies....i hate them so much

4/26/2008 8:37:25 AM

Quote :

"so wait. ARGUING with a police officer is cause for the use of ANY FORCE? I'm trying to figure this one out... "

This is what Im saying right here. We better see some evidence that this kid was causing a HUGE HUGE problem. If all he was being was annoying and arguing with the cop....then this cop should be charged...

4/26/2008 8:44:23 AM

in all honesty, tasers have statistically reduced injury to officers and suspects because they are another option instead of fighting someone. there is the occasional incident, many of which have involved a suspect who was high on something at the time, but generally they are effective and non lethal as intended. as for their over use, the entire point of a taser is to use it so you dont have to fight with someone who is combative, thats the point. thats all i have to say about that

4/26/2008 8:54:10 AM

in 5 years they'll be able to tase anyone not carrying their national ID card.

4/26/2008 12:15:05 PM

Quote :

"What happened to tackling and cuffing someone. Naw, tasering is so much easier."

Personally, if I were armed with a gun, I would try and avoid getting into close quarters combat with someone if possible.

4/26/2008 1:17:52 PM

Quote :

"Personally, if I were armed with a gun, I would try and avoid getting into close quarters combat with someone if possible."

exactly, contrary to popular belief, most cops dont want to grapple with someone if they dont have to seeing as how there is always a chance a suspect can grab your gun.

4/26/2008 6:15:07 PM

Quote :

"can you buy special clothes that will make you immune to tasers?"

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/safety/taser+proof-gear-is-great-for-students-political-activists-criminals-318169.php

4/26/2008 7:10:26 PM

That would be fucking AWESOME to get tased wearing that.

OMG OMG IT HURTS SO BAD

4/26/2008 7:16:33 PM

btt'd just in time for

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/22/taser.death/index.html

Quote :

" WINNFIELD, Louisiana (CNN) -- A police officer shocked a handcuffed Baron "Scooter" Pikes nine times with a Taser after arresting him on a cocaine charge. Baron Pikes, 21, was Tasered nine times by a police officer in January in Winnfield, Louisiana. He stopped twitching after seven, according to a coroner's report. Soon afterward, Pikes was dead. Now the officer, since fired, could end up facing criminal charges in Pikes' January death after medical examiners ruled it a homicide. Dr. Randolph Williams, the Winn Parish coroner, told CNN the 21-year-old sawmill worker was jolted so many times by the 50,000-volt Taser that he might have been dead before the last two shocks were delivered. Williams ruled Pikes' death a homicide in June after extensive study. Winn Parish District Attorney Christopher Nevils said he will decide on any charges against the ex-officer, Scott Nugent, once a Louisiana State Police report on the case is complete. Video Watch coroner describe how cop might've Tasered a dead man » "It's taken several months for this case to even be properly addressed, so one has to wonder, why did it take so long?" said Carol Powell Lexing, a lawyer for the Pikes family. "Obviously, a wrongful death occurred." Nugent's lawyer, Phillip Terrell, said his client followed proper procedure to subdue a man who outweighed him by 100 pounds. But Williams said Pikes was already handcuffed and on the ground when first hit with the Taser, after the 247-pound suspect was slow to follow police orders to get up. Winnfield, a sleepy lumber town about 100 miles southeast of Shreveport, Louisiana, is best known as the birthplace of legendary Louisiana governors Huey and Earl Long. It's also about 45 miles northwest of Jena, Louisiana, where a racially charged assault case sparked a September 2007 demonstration by an estimated 15,000 people. One of the teenage defendants in that case, Mychal Bell, is Pikes' first cousin -- and his lawyer was Powell Lexing. Nugent is white; Pikes was black. His death led to demonstrations that drew several dozen people in Winnfield, where the population of about 15,000 is roughly half African-American. "The family wants justice," Lexing said. "This is just another example of why it's very important to stay vigilant with these types of cases, on the injustice that's been perpetrated on the disadvantaged." But Winnfield police Lt. Chuck Curry said race "isn't an issue at all" in the matter. "This has come down to a police officer that was trying to apprehend a suspect that they had warrants for," he said. "He done what he thought he was trained to do to bring that subject into custody. At some point, something happened with his body that caused him to go into cardiac arrest or whatever." See how Tasers work » According to police, Pikes was wanted on a charge of possession of cocaine when police tried to arrest him outside a shopping center January 12. "He would not stop for the officer," Curry said. "At some point in there, he was Tased to bring him under control, and several hours later, died at the emergency room." Terrell said Pikes was fighting Nugent "on uneven ground" amid obstructions such as concrete blocks and barbed wire. "He's fighting, wrestling with an individual who weighs 100 pounds more than him," he said. "His partner had just come back to the police department from triple bypass surgery and could not assist Officer Nugent." Terrell said his client "used every means possible" to take Pikes into custody before pulling out his Taser, a weapon Winnfield police purchased in 2007. "The only thing he could have done other than to say, 'OK, we're going to let you go' is to beat him or Tase him. He did the right thing," Terrell said. Williams, who ruled Pikes' death a homicide in June after extensive study, said Nugent fired his Taser at Pikes six times in less than three minutes -- shots recorded by a computer chip in the weapon's handle. Then officers put Pikes in the back of a cruiser and drove him to their police station -- where Nugent fired a seventh shot, directly against Pikes' chest. "After he was given that drive stun to the chest, he was pulled out of the car onto the concrete, " Williams told CNN. "He was electroshocked two more times, which two officers noted that he had no neuromuscular response to those last two 50,000-volt electroshocks." Williams said he had two nationally known forensic pathologists, including former New York city medical examiner Michael Baden, review the case before issuing his conclusions. He said it's possible Nugent was shocking a dead man the last two times he pulled the trigger. "This fellow was talking in the back seat of the car prior to shot number seven," he said. "From that point on, it becomes questionable [if Pikes was still alive]." Curry said Pikes told officers he suffered from asthma and had been using PCP and crack cocaine. But Williams said he found no sign of drug use in the autopsy, and no record of asthma in Pikes' medical history. In the year since Winnfield police received Tasers, officers have used them 14 times, according to police records -- with 12 of the instances involving black suspects. Ten of the 14 incidents involved Nugent, who has no public disciplinary record. Nugent was suspended after Pikes' death, and Winnfield's City Council voted 3-2 to fire him in May. He is appealing his dismissal, and his lawyer says he followed proper procedures in Pikes' case. He was trained in the use of the Taser by a senior police officer who was present during the incident that led to Pikes' death, Terrell said. Curry said Taser International, the device's manufacturer, indicates that "multiple Tasings do not affect a person." But he said he could not explain why Pikes was shocked so many times, and said whether Nugent followed proper procedure was "yet to be determined." But a copy of the Winnfield Police Department's Taser training manual, obtained by CNN, says the device "shall only be deployed in circumstances where it is deemed reasonably necessary to control a dangerous or violent subject." And Williams said regulations regarding the use of Tasers were not followed. "It violated every aspect -- every single aspect -- of the department's policy about its use," the coroner said. Winnfield has seen a spate of high-profile corruption cases in recent years. One of Nevils' predecessors as district attorney, Terry Reeves, killed himself amid allegations of embezzlement and extortion. The town's current police chief, Johnny Ray Carpenter, is a convicted drug offender who received a pardon from former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards who himself is now serving a federal prison term for racketeering. And Carpenter's predecessor, Gleason Nugent -- the father of Pikes' arresting officer -- committed suicide in 2005, after allegations of fraud and vote buying in the race for police chief, an elected position in Winnfield. advertisement Now Nevils is awaiting the state police report on Pikes' death, which will be presented to a grand jury for possible charges against Nugent -- a possibility Curry said would be a blow to the department. "It's one of these no-win situations," he said. "No matter the outcome, nobody's going to win in this case." "

Tazed him twice after he was dead just to make sure! Don't forget to handcuff them and then taze him.

7/23/2008 9:01:48 AM

Didn't read the post yet, but I'm guessing it won't be long before the righties come in here and claim "if you don't want to die, don't resist cops" or something to that effect.

Ok, read part of it now

Quote :

"Nugent's lawyer, Phillip Terrell, said his client followed proper procedure to subdue a man who outweighed him by 100 pounds. But Williams said Pikes was already handcuffed and on the ground when first hit with the Taser, after the 247-pound suspect was slow to follow police orders to get up."

I'm completely cool with a smaller cop using a taser to subdue but not permanently harm or kill an individual like a gun would, but it is just completely unacceptable use of this tool to use it as a coercion when they don't want to go to the cop car. It's annoying for them to have to sit there as a guy sits on the ground not wanting to move, but it's certainly a lot more humane than killing them

[Edited on July 23, 2008 at 10:01 AM. Reason : a]

7/23/2008 9:51:32 AM

Quote :

"Williams, who ruled Pikes' death a homicide in June after extensive study, said Nugent fired his Taser at Pikes six times in less than three minutes -- shots recorded by a computer chip in the weapon's handle. Then officers put Pikes in the back of a cruiser and drove him to their police station -- where Nugent fired a seventh shot, directly against Pikes' chest."

Why does a guy that's already been taken to the police station need to be tasered again?

7/23/2008 1:42:43 PM

I just want to know where all the pro Joe Horn folk are that use the "if you're a criminal, you deserved this" line of reasoning?

7/24/2008 8:06:59 AM

LOL. So trole, if the guy just would have gone with the police would he still be alive?

Rufus, perhaps because he was still struggling? I dont know and neither do you, but the police felt they needed to go gain control over this guy apparently.

7/24/2008 9:19:43 AM

Quote :

"Rufus, perhaps because he was still struggling? "

If you read the article it says that he was dead when he was in the police car - so unless they shot a 'struggling' dead man I don't think your argument holds up.


Also the fact that this cop had used the taser 10 of the 14 times it had ever been used in that dept. speaks a lot for his character.

7/24/2008 11:18:46 AM

Quote :

"LOL. So trole, if the guy just would have gone with the police would he still be alive? Rufus, perhaps because he was still struggling? I dont know and neither do you, but the police felt they needed to go gain control over this guy apparently."

I generally respect your fairly far right views and your patience in debating topics in this thread, but it gets to be pretty tedious and annoying when you stick to a common stance you have and post something as completely ignorant as you just did when the information is right above you in the thread.

7/24/2008 11:35:31 AM

if tasers kill people, just bring back the baton.

7/24/2008 11:43:54 AM

Quote :

"If you read the article it says that he was dead when he was in the police car - so unless they shot a 'struggling' dead man I don't think your argument holds up."

"This fellow was talking in the back seat of the car prior to shot number seven," he said. "From that point on, it becomes questionable [if Pikes was still alive]."


Trole, thanks for addressing my consistent views, but you didnt answer my question. If he would have cooperated with the police do you think he would still be alive?

7/24/2008 12:04:41 PM

Quote :

"If he would have cooperated with the police do you think he would still be alive?"

What does that have to do with this situation? Him cooperating doesn't have anything to do with them abusing the taser. Sure, being combative gives them justification to subdue him with a taser long enough to cuff him, but after that point it becomes excessive and dangerous to tase people once they are already cuffed even if they are being uncooperative bastards.

7/24/2008 3:02:59 PM

Quote :

"Tazed him twice after he was dead just to make sure!"

That was to try and restart his heart.

7/24/2008 3:29:53 PM

rufus, bc everyone knows once you have the cuffs on people quit resisting.

7/24/2008 3:47:24 PM

eyedrb, so you're saying it's ok to taze a guy after he's dead, twice?

are you seriously a doctor?

7/24/2008 3:53:57 PM

where did he say that?

7/24/2008 4:13:13 PM

Quote :

"eyedrb, so you're saying it's ok to taze a guy after he's dead, twice? are you seriously a doctor? "

Did you seriously type that?

7/24/2008 4:26:22 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/28/taser.death/index.html

It's going to the grand jury. Apparently the guy was already handcuffed and ON THE GROUND when the tazing began.

The last 2 tazes were in the car. Hope this cop gets tazed.

7/28/2008 3:27:15 PM

Cop abuses tazer, gets punished. Whats the problem?

7/28/2008 4:09:00 PM

I just can't believe that people can claim to objectively defend this guy. He's obviously abused his power in this situation.

7/28/2008 4:17:35 PM

Quote :

"eyedrb, so you're saying it's ok to taze a guy after he's dead, twice? are you seriously a doctor?"

Well, according to the Church of Scientology, whatever you do to someone after they are dead doesn't matter, cause they can't feel anything at that point.

7/28/2008 8:17:55 PM

That's not just according to scientology, that's just a fact.

7/28/2008 8:31:51 PM

Quote :

"Cop abuses tazer, gets punished. Whats the problem?"

Quote :

"Robinson, 27, has been placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Oxford police spokesman Jim Squance said."

The problem is that this is just another case of a sadistic, power-drunk bully literally getting off with a slap on the wrist for torturing someone to death.

There just simply is no real accountability for police. These guys are a fucking menace, they're out of control, and we obviously can't rely on their buddies or the courts to keep them in check.

It only makes sense. If the scenario itself wasn't enough to suggest the inevitability of abuse, we have the Stanford Prisoner Experiment to demonstrate what happens when you take a group of people, turn them into an unaccountable, privileged elite, give them weapons and fill their heads with a bunch of chest-thumping, macho bullshit about "the thin blue line" and how they're the only thing between civilization and chaos and so on and so forth. It doesn't help at all that a lot of these badge-toting assholes are legit, clinical, DSM-IV borderline personality cases.

[Edited on July 29, 2008 at 12:58 PM. Reason : ']

7/29/2008 12:52:56 PM