Hullabaloo

Monday, October 12, 2009

 
Just Saying No

by digby

I made a snarky comment about Texas last night which caused me some grief. I don't regret it too much since I live in a place that's routinely described as full of perverts and communists, but it's still unfair to paint with such a broad brush. After all, there are plenty of people everywhere who are sane and thoughtful. Here's one of them:

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson appears to be the lone holdout among the state’s largest metropolitan law enforcement agencies in refusing to issue Tasers to his deputies.

[...]

But as Tasers continue to gain acceptance in the law enforcement community, questions about their safety persist — especially when a Taser-related death makes headlines.

Anderson said the risk-reward factor was key in his decision not to use them.

"My concern has always been that someday there would be an officer who might cause the death of someone with one of the Tasers," he said. "If you have a less-than-lethal option in your hand and you end up causing the death of someone, I felt that it would put the deputy in a tough spot."

Before making his decision, Anderson conducted his own research, studied the stun guns and followed local cases where they were used. In cases where people who have health issues or who have used alcohol or drugs, Anderson found that the electric shock could be deadly. In the end, he decided against seeking funding for them.

The sheriff also turned to Tarrant County Medical Examiner Dr. Nizam Peerwani for advice.

"He voiced those very same concerns," Anderson said. "He thought if the Taser was used on a perfectly healthy individual, that it was probably safe. He said he feared someone under the influence of alcohol or drugs or [who] had some physical impairment in some way . . . that there could be further damage done, up to causing the death of a person. It gave me great pause."

That medical examiner must not have been taken in by the gilt laden junkets to which Taser International treats coroners to "educate" them about "excited delirium" the new disease that only strikes people in police custody.

In fact, he sounds like someone who has fully grasped what's going on here:

Peerwani has declined to comment on Taser incidents, citing the investigation into the death of Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr., 24, who died April 18 after he was shocked Show allwith a Taser fired by a Fort Worth police officer.

In his autopsy report on Jacobs, Peerwani noted that the officer’s first shot lasted 49 seconds. The second shot, about one second later, lasted five seconds.

Peerwani found no drugs in Jacobs’ system and ruled the death a homicide.

I'm sorry to say that a lot more people are probably going to have to die before law enforcement is forced to stop using these instruments of torture and social control. And it won't happen because of conscience or reason, as seems to be the case with this sheriff and medical examiner. It will happen because there's too much financial liability. Is this a great country, or what?


.
digby 10/12/2009 01:30:00 PM |