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Florida Man Murdered By Police [Taser-Happy]

foxnews.com — A Florida man is dead after being repeatedly shocked by a Taser stun gun.

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  • spepin, on 08/16/2008, -33/+55Ever since that death of the Polish man a little while back, taser death's seem to be all the rage. That, or they're just getting more exposure.

    EDIT: Oops, my bad. They did ask him to stop first. Although were seemingly oblivious to the fact they were killing him.

    ***** pigs.

    • asus2000, on 08/16/2008, -11/+49You never know what really happened, the cops lie and make up stories as often as the guys they're arresting, or in this case - torturing and killing.
      • infiniphunk, on 08/17/2008, -6/+27Cops are largely untouchable - they get away with whatever they want.
      • FC3SCorey, on 08/18/2008, -0/+0Police investigating Police= Suspension with pay.

        ***** sad *****, hopefully the deceased is justified and tasers are limited. Repeated use is known by all that it will kill a man, cops don't give a ***** though. Self defense.
    • fistulator, on 08/17/2008, -24/+4since you enjoy such eloquent dialog here you go: you are such a ***** idiot...you piece of ***** *****. You know all of dick about the "***** pigs" in this case (as you call them) You are the sort of liberal piece of crap that would never put your own ass on the line much less have to deal with ***** scum that don't ***** listen. You're the type of ***** that would've let that ***** have his way to break into the house and do god knows what to the family inside. STFU and let people with bigger balls than you deal with it...***** it, nevermind just keep posting your pussy comments here and feel like in your own apathetic mind, you're making any difference at all.
      There, I feel so much better knowing that we can discuss issues intelligently and with compassion for all involved.
      • lennybird, on 08/17/2008, -3/+15I seriously hope this isn't the mentality and maturity level all policemen have... Likewise with military.
      • pnkmtlflyd, on 08/17/2008, -4/+3indeed
      • knoxchris, on 08/17/2008, -1/+10It is. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_56314.html
      • nomadxx7, on 08/17/2008, -1/+8Wow fistulator I think you need a Prozac or something

        FTA: Police say 45-year-old Kenneth Oliver of Miami-Dade showed up at a friend's home early Friday morning, shouting and banging on the front door.

        The friend, Johnnie Mosely, told police he considered letting Oliver in, but his daughters were frightened by the way Oliver was acting.

        So from your "would've let that ***** have his way to break into the house and do god knows what to the family inside" statement it doesn't seem you read the article. Because, you know, all my friends have to worry about me breaking into their house and raping their daughters. The daughters were scared of how he was acting yet we don't know the circumstances on why he was acting that way. I love how you jump on the going to come in and hurt the family angle. From another source it said that this guy was banging on doors asking for help and the guys brother said he has pins in his shoulder so it's hard for him to put his hands behind his back (police said he wouldn't comply with putting his hands behind him = tasing him) and that he had a heart condition. Maybe it was a panic attack or maybe he was having a heart attack. We don't know. But we do know that this guys friend said

        "According to Severence, police told Oliver to get down and put his hands behind his back. Apparently, Oliver didn't put his hands behind his back quick enough and Severence said he watched police use a Taser three times. "They Tased him three different times. They just kept Tasing him. I told the police, 'You're going to kill that man,' so after they did it a third time, I just walked away," said Severence.

        Severence said his friend saw police shock Oliver a fourth time. "

        So end your belligerent tirade and have compassion for once. Sure officers get a bad rap but the problem is that with technology nowadays we can see what they are doing to people. Plus as stated so many times before, once Tasers got the "non-lethal" label police use them for complance and not in place of a gun. A taser was a non-lethal alternative to shooting the guy. Not for making someone do as you wish.
      • spepin, on 08/17/2008, -1/+3fistulator - for your information, i had spent a lot of time preparing myself to head into police work and finished most of the school for it however i've come to the conclusion over the past while that cops get away with whatever the hell they want. whether it's something as simple as running red lights, or killing somebody. it happens way too often.

        sure, there's honest cops, but they're outnumbered 10 to 1 by dirty cops who return half the drugs they picked up off somebody on the street. the ones who taser somebody to death who was most likely not as big of a threat as tasing requires.

        i sincerely hope you are some member of authority, because it would fit the stereotype pretty well and showcase a pretty huge lack of mentality.
    • DCLutz77, on 08/17/2008, -1/+23This is the problem with tasers: whenever a cop fires his gun, he has to fill loads and loads of paperwork, go through after-action reviews, and tons of other works to make sure he didn't abuse his power. these kind of regulations don't happen with a tasing.
    • jerrycurley, on 08/17/2008, -15/+4Because they WEREN'T "killing him" as you say. There was absolutely NO signs that he was going to die while they were doing it.
      • TheSnuffster, on 08/17/2008, -1/+8Common sense. You have none.
      • WoollyMittens, on 08/17/2008, -1/+12Apart from the violent convulsions?
    • mike17032, on 08/17/2008, -16/+3Oh darn, one less criminal in the world.
      • Recessive, on 08/17/2008, -1/+0Hold your job down, and let the zombies crowd around,
        Thanking Mommy's God that it's cops town.
      • WoollyMittens, on 08/17/2008, -2/+10In my world you are innocent until proven guilty.
      • offthewagon, on 08/17/2008, -0/+1Stick it in your rear, Sean Penn.
      • troye, on 08/17/2008, -0/+1I read the article. It was a short one actually. He was acting irrationally, but the article didn't say that he committed any crimes. Maybe because he is black is why certain people think he is a criminal.

    • Sumyunguy, on 08/17/2008, -1/+1great podcast that discusses tasing often www.2guys1brain.com
      2 guys who work in a jail
    • crazycraka, on 08/17/2008, -3/+1Tell me about I gotta live in this ***** state, the laws are too damn strict here..
    • Armando57, on 08/18/2008, -2/+1Let's call it what it is, another "Hunting Trip for Minorities" by these Nazi bastards. These are the same guys who sit around the front porch drinking beers and cheering on the bug zapper for entertainment.
    • fistulator, on 08/18/2008, -0/+0I'm all for serious dialogue but at when it's presented like nomadxx7. What I'm against here is the "***** pigs" comment which is incendiary and divisive. I do have compassion for people, but that includes those that have to work in some of the most difficult jobs out there. Your insensitive comment and the mentality behind it is what drives me nuts.
  • Christianptriot, on 08/16/2008, -30/+88While I do not condone police violence or brutality, NONE of us know the circumstances under which the police felt threatened to the point of repeatedly using the Taser.

    In all the self-defensive pistol courses and shooting I have done, we are always taught to continue to engage the bad guy under the threat is neutralized - i.e., at least unable to continue the fight if not outright dead, or exited from the area. So we do not know what caused the police to start using the Taser in the first place, but if the suspect continued to offer resistance and the officers were not pushed to the point of using deadly force, then the only other options were to continue to Taser, or to pepper spray and beat on him until the suspect breaks off his resistance.

    Dad the homeowner been armed, he would have been justified in shooting and killing the guy outright before the police ever got there, but that is another story and discussion.
    • ThinkOutTheBox, on 08/16/2008, -4/+59I agree with your comment, but I think the big issue is that tasers are marketed as non-lethal weapons and quite a few people have been turning up dead from taser use here lately.
      • ippey, on 08/17/2008, -7/+5True, but we don't have any numbers on the people who have been tazed and lived. I'm sure the living number is much higher, but we only see the dead/abused ones because it makes for "good news". You can kill someone with a pen or a screwdriver; just because an object can kill someone doesn't mean it's a lethal weapon.
      • Notyavgkat, on 08/17/2008, -5/+1exactly my point....these things are supposed to be NON lethal.....how bout a lil false advertising????
      • ledmonkey, on 08/17/2008, -1/+10Wrong, they are supposed to be a "less-lethal" alternative to using a firearm to subdue a criminal. They are only supposed to be used in the same situation that a firearm can be used.
      • natenovs, on 08/17/2008, -2/+8would you prefer that the police shot and killed him with a gun?
      • allengeer, on 08/17/2008, -2/+2yea,a well these tasers are pretty effective the first time. theres rarely a need for 4 tasings.
    • DeskFlyer, on 08/17/2008, -8/+18Well said.

      Another thing to consider is that many of these cases involve the suspect being high on hard drugs, like the following cases.

      Example one: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=228113&src=10 ...

      Example two: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/10/18/Taserinq ...

      Example three: http://www.policeone.com/police-products/less-leth ...

      The list goes on. I'd imagine a jolt from a taser while speedballing will probably mess with your heart, regardless of what caused the police to show up in the first place (probably due to a domestic disturbance or something).
      • Minarchian, on 08/17/2008, -13/+14"Resisting arrest" and "under the influence" are the two biggest excuses police use to beat the living tar out of people.

        I don't buy it anymore.
      • DeskFlyer, on 08/17/2008, -18/+4Hey, guess what, I buried you too, because you are wrong.
      • Minarchian, on 08/17/2008, -4/+10How am I wrong?

        Wrong about what?

      • DeskFlyer, on 08/17/2008, -13/+1I was just drunk. No worries. (although I am up way too early....ugh my head)

        :)
      • Culero, on 08/17/2008, -4/+4Some drugs make you more resistant to feeling pain you know.
      • allengeer, on 08/17/2008, -0/+1I think PCP is the real culprit here.
      • JustinCase18, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2More likely it's because "resisting arrest" and "under the influence" go hand in hand. Most sane people calm down real quick when faced with a gun or a taser. The videos where someone shrugs off the first taser or dares the officer to use the damn thing (either verbally or by charging him with a weapon) don't get a lot of coverage because they don't fit the agenda of most of the people posting videos in the first place.

        In most cases the officer at the scene doesn't get the benefit of your medical history at the time of the arrest. And the reality is no matter what form of restraint is used, there will be some slick lawyer looking to make a buck. ANY form of resistance will resist in some bruising which to some means EXCESSIVE force. Although not perfect, the taser is probably one of the safer forms of restraint in a resisting situation. (The police officer does not have the benefit of knowing the physical condition or training of his perp. A martial artist will embarass an officer with a billy club, but a taser levels the playing field.)
    • zenithmbr, on 08/17/2008, -4/+26So what's wrong with using just OC spray? I worked as a NYS Peace Officer for the past three years and there was never a situation where spray wasn't totally effective in subduing a subject. Even where physical force was required after spraying the subject, it was far better to wrestle the guy into custody than to end up killing him with a taser. It's become increasingly obvious that tasers just aren't safe for police use. Killing a suspect at the scene is totally unacceptable under circumstances where the subject is not immediately endangering the lives of others. This makes the cop the judge and the jury, and is a total miscarriage of justice, regardless of his good intentions. The percentage that die from tasers may be small, but any amount of unnecessary death should be a grave concern. It saddens me that more and more officers are being issued tasers everyday. How many more people must die before these things are outlawed?
      • infiniphunk, on 08/17/2008, -6/+10Good point. Cops use the taser because most of them are LAZY.
      • mike17032, on 08/17/2008, -4/+9Lots of things.

        The two main ones being it doesnt work nearly as well (if the ***** had to get hit with a taser several times he prolly wouldnt blink with OC spray) and second if you are fighting with someone you WILL get the stuff back on yourself too.

        Tasers work. Resisting arrest carries with it the risk of death in several ways, I fail to see the problem here.
      • raybury, on 08/17/2008, -3/+9Next time you're wrestling with a suspect, take note if you feel any sudden nerve reactions. That'll be their knife going into your guts.
      • yingjai, on 08/17/2008, -1/+5I don't understand why there are people who dig you down.
      • EmperorAwesome, on 08/17/2008, -2/+4@raybury
        It's not a safe job.
      • auricomnet, on 08/18/2008, -1/+1Judge Dredge!
      • JustinCase18, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2I recall in college where the Women's Self Defense classes were warning that in the cases with some drugs that pepper spray and mace were not as effective.

        And I remember a few years later where someone died as a result of an allergic reaction to the spray during an arrest and the police force was successfully sued.
      • puter, on 08/18/2008, -0/+01) OC is not even close to being as effective as a taser
        2) if he is on drugs, OC won't even phase him
        3) when you use OC you generally get blowback in your face. This leaves the cop suffering from OC as well as the perp...who if he is on drugs will just be able to shrug it off...That is an extremely dangerous situation
        4) Generally, if you are fighting/on high addrenalin/ high you will be able to shrug off the effects of OC..this is not the case with a taser which induces muscle spasms that do not care what your state of mind is.

        There is no evidence of police brutality in this article. Their safety is paramount over any person that is threatening them, and this man was clearly in a violent state of mind.
    • jerrycurley, on 08/17/2008, -11/+16Shut the ***** up! You are on DIGG! Therefore we MUST all comment as if hte cops drove up to the scene with their tasers already out and ready to go, walked up to the guy and tazed him without saying a word!

      Don't you EVER let logic and reason show its ugly head on this site ever again!
    • gquaglia, on 08/17/2008, -10/+15"NONE of us know the circumstances under which the police felt threatened to the point of repeatedly using the Taser."

      Apparently Diggtard, msaleem, thinks he knows. Otherwise he wouldn't have used the inflammatory title that he did. Story buried for typical Digg Police hating blather.
      • gquaglia, on 08/17/2008, -1/+5Dugg down by one of Saleem's ass minions I see.
    • SphinxatUF1, on 08/17/2008, -4/+8I like that there's no mention as to if this guy had a criminal record or not... I'm all for tasers--I think they should be used WAY more often, and definitely in schools. (You might think I'm joking, but as a number of my friends are little white female teachers weighing less than 120 lbs and having to deal with gigantic drug-dealing high schoolers... a lot of those "kids" are one failing test away from beating the crap out of teacher, and they all know it.) Yay for tasers!
    • WoollyMittens, on 08/17/2008, -0/+11A taser is not a gun.
    • pintomp3, on 08/17/2008, -4/+1"NONE of us know the circumstances under which the police felt threatened to the point of repeatedly using the Taser." the suspect being black seems to be enough for cops these days. this is not the first case of a black man dying in police custody:

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/14/usa2

      the police lied about the suspect struggling and claimed he had drugs in his system. the coroner disagreed and called it homicide.
    • aargh01, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2I always gotta ask, when stuff like this is said... How can one offer resistance while being tased? It essentially paralyzes the muscles while the electrical charge is passing through. It also hurts a lot. But police also know that the paralysis ends when the charge ends, so shouldn't they be moving in, prepared to get cuffs on the suspect before they can recover? Why is the solution always continual tasering and not any actual subdual/arrest? Is causing a person repeated, painful experiences likely to make them more compliant? I guarantee that is not going to be the case for everyone. Some people instinctively fight back when being hurt. It may not even be a conscious decision (the fight or flight instinct). And if they ARE violent, getting zapped may make them angrier, it also may kick their body into fight mode as a response to pain and the threat of pain, with extra adrenaline and instinctive reactions kicking in as the body tries to cope with the repeated disruption of its nervous system. The tactic should be to get the cuffs on as quickly as possible, since only an idiot would think repeated, lengthy doses of electrical current could have a good physical result.
      If the principle of the Taser is to save lives, then the tactics employed with it should be designed to minimize its use, not maximize it, just as all police tactics should be designed to minimize dangers to everyone, civilians, police, and suspects alike.
    • coldgirl, on 08/17/2008, -1/+5@christianpatriot You're completely right! Additionally, the police are not generally in a position to ask a 'hostile' health-related questions: e.g. "do you have any possible heart conditions that may render you dead in the event we use a taser on you?"
      While I do believe that there are officers out there that abuse their badges (there always have been, there always will be) we do not know the full story and lets keep in mind it was reported on by FOX news, so we may never know the actual story as it happened, anyway!
    • Christianptriot, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3RE; the pepper spray argument - I live and work in Alaska. We carry bear spray that is several times MORE powerful than the people variety. In training, the instructor asks for volunteers (i am now an instructor, BTW) to be sprayed with the bear spray to see its effects. This stuff shoots about 30 feet, in a directed cone fog and stream combination. All the volunteer has to do is when they see the spray coming, run at the instructor and touch him. EVERY single time, the volunteer can make it to the instructor even through the bear spray mixture.

      The point is that OC spray is NOT a means of debilitating someone who is enraged, actively fighting you or poses a worse threat than just non-compliance. If a human can fight through bear spray to cover 30 feet and still reach the person with the canister, the human variety of OC will not stop them either. THAT stuff is a deterrent, but not a means of subduing anyone - or any thing.

      That is why we carry the .375 H&H magnum rifles.
    • toefinder, on 08/18/2008, -2/+1I call ***** on that one. Cops are going ape ***** with their tazers all over the US. It seems to bring out the sadist in many of them. They should use them only to avoid having to use their guns and certainly after a suspect has been incarcerated there is no legitimate use for them at all. When a suspect is arrested the police have a duty to preserve the well being of any in their custody.

      If you put an animal in a cage you have the responsibility to feed it and treat it humanely. Why should the police be held to a lower standard than that. After all they are locking up human beings.

      You would see this clearly if you were an innocent man wrongly arrested by the police and they tazed the hell out of you.

      I'm not saying this man was innocent...I just presume him to be innocent and the police have no business passing judgment on people. That is the job of the courts.

      Am I naive, or are you foolish enough to accept this behavior from such important public servants as police. Further how can you sit by and let the good name of real policemen and women have their reputation soiled by gangsters masquerading as policemen.

      This problem is rampant all over the country now. Citizens need to demand an end to this practice while we still can.
  • socivitus, on 08/16/2008, -23/+28People know about tasers when they're resisting arrest. While I don't condone the officers actions or justify the man's death, until more evidence is presented that shows otherwise, this was an accidental death.
    • Minarchian, on 08/17/2008, -19/+12If the police are SO well trained and even have "mental screening" done on them then I would say that deaths under their control are rarely accidental, if ever.
      • 9bpm9, on 08/17/2008, -9/+4You're such a tool.
      • Synchro, on 08/17/2008, -0/+3That's just it, they are not well trained on average. The money is just not there to train them to the level that your average citizen assumes they are. This is not a comment on the skills of the cop as much as it is on the policies of the management and those who hold the purse strings.
      • peoplerstoopid, on 08/17/2008, -1/+3Thats one of the stupidest comments ever made by a human...congratulations
    • socivitus, on 08/17/2008, -14/+10The man was tasered 4 times. The kid with the broken back in the Ozarks was tasered 11 times and survived. The man had a bad reaction to the tasers. Accident until proven otherwise.
      • damack, on 08/17/2008, -13/+7What are you an idiot one hit of that taser will knock out the hulk those tasers can be more dangerous than guns they can even kill people on the first shock.

        No wonder your being voted down.
      • subterfuge, on 08/17/2008, -0/+8why the ***** was a kid with a broken back being tasered???
      • knoxchris, on 08/17/2008, -0/+1@sub

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpzn4ST0C9E
      • smotpoker, on 08/17/2008, -1/+5@subterfuge

        Because to police any form of non-compliance is considered "resisting". The guy fell off a bridge... I suppose he was unable to tell them what was wrong or they were unwilling to listen. They probably told him to "get up" or "come here" and when he didn't they decided it was time to teach him a lesson.

        I don't know for sure though, I only saw the headline and didn't read the article.
    • FairNUnBalanced, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3Right. People "know about" bullets and cyanide, so until evidence is presented, poisonings and shootings will be "accidental". :rolleyes:

      There is a chance of death every time one of these devices is used. Who takes responsibility for that death?
  • artofficial, on 08/16/2008, -26/+36There is never an excuse for murder death kill.
    • iPissExcellence, on 08/17/2008, -2/+9Except when Simon says "Die"
    • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -7/+7Sure there is - there is such a thing as justifiable homicide for citizens, and protections for police who apply force in defense of their life or others - that is what they get paid to do.
    • harrisbradley, on 08/17/2008, -2/+18If anyone came into my house and tried to harm my wife and/or 4 kids, there would be legitimized murder death kill all over the place.
    • OiPunk, on 08/17/2008, -2/+4no ***** there's no excuse for MDK


      That game was ***** hard. No excuse.
    • Br3ach, on 08/17/2008, -0/+3Dont you have someone to kill
    • WafflesID, on 08/17/2008, -0/+1That is just ***** retarded. As if we could have just asked politely for our independence from england, or for hitler to stop invading neighboring countries.

      There are always going to be assholes on this planet, and occasionally the only way to stop these assholes from being assholes is with justifiable mdk. It SHOULD be the last resort, which is the only real debate there. But to say there is NEVER AN EXCUSE, that's just *****.
    • palehorse864, on 08/17/2008, -0/+2artofficial: There is, but it's only justified if someone forgets to use the three seashells.
    • salculd, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1What if somebody took you on a warhellride?
  • villainousT, on 08/17/2008, -8/+34Wasn't this what a small group of people were warning about when police were armed with these things? The technology being abused and people senselessly being killed. Indeedy.
    Sad.
    • Christianptriot, on 08/17/2008, -3/+6ANY technology, object or power can be abused.
    • jerrycurley, on 08/17/2008, -4/+1And you have proof that this was an abuse of the technology? You are just assuming (like the ass that you are) that the cops tazed this man haphazardly? And without ample arning?
    • mike17032, on 08/17/2008, -6/+2Ya its sad dumb ***** morons are still to stupid to comply with police commands.

      Well we have one less in the world now, wonder what dumb ass will get it next.
  • nutz2u2, on 08/17/2008, -19/+31The Florida thugs with badges and guns have done it again!
  • Minarchian, on 08/17/2008, -13/+28The rampage against the people is going at a pretty good clip.

    Until we start seeing cops being sent to hard time we'll continue reading these stories of death by cop.
    • mike17032, on 08/17/2008, -5/+2Your post is so full of retarded fail I dont know where to begin.
      • MarsSentinel, on 08/17/2008, -0/+6try.

        cops/killers literally get away with murder because the system that polices them is...the police. you ever turn yourself in for anything? i didnt think so. neither do they.

        sure, most cops are good blah blah blah...tough job blah blah blah, 2 seconds to decide 2 years to review blah blah blah.

        fact is cops are still the most dangerous people out there and your average citizen is more likely to be abused and harmed by a cop than a different type of criminal.

      • peoplerstoopid, on 08/17/2008, -0/+1More likely to be abused by a cop than a criminal? In a town of 150,000 people there is roughly 1 cop for every 1000 people. 150 cops and only one third of them is on at a time. In larger cities the amount of cops to citizens dwindles to the point where a precint of 150 to 200 police officers have over 300,000 citizens in their zone. Out of those 300,000 how many are all fine young upstarts?

        Criminals outnumber cops 10 to 1 easy. Regardless of what you may think....citizens get "harrassed" more by those ***** than the cops any day. Read the news a bit, go to every website and look at the crime sections...them times that by every city and town in the nation.

        Cops/Killers? You self righteous ass
  • m1cobra, on 08/17/2008, -19/+10 How many volts does the electric chair have? Around here ,the police keep looking more and more like para military. And a lot are ethnic, makes you wonder if we aren't already invaded, and they are waiting for the right signal. It worries me when a public entity, sets itself above the citizenry. And now our police no longer , have "TO Serve And Protect "on their vehicles. They will run stings on prostitution, drunk driving, drugs, But won't permanetly eliminate the gangs, or the illegals.. They have lobbied for too much job security.
    We have 3,000 gang members on our streets, andt hats just the ones with records. How many more they don't know.
    I do knowthis much, if you call the police because you know who commits a crime, they will put you through a interrogation, not the criminal, because you had the gonads to solve a crime. And I have even had the mturn them loose, andthen turn on me and my family. I don't call cops , anymore, which totally elates them.
  • Flushnasty, on 08/17/2008, -17/+114 times seems a little excessive to me....

    1 hit with those is enough to drop the hulk
    • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -8/+10No its not! The guy was probably on drugs or drunk and that Will make your resistance to a shock much greater. In addition if the guy KEEPS resisting arrest or disobeying the legal orders of the police officer he will continue to get tazed until he is restrained.
      • forevernomad, on 08/17/2008, -6/+1That's not the way it should be, the taser was designed for a one shot drop, if you've got in a clean jolt and they're still standing them you go to your spray or your gun, not tase them again.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -1/+7No you are wrong! A tazer has a trigger - if it is DESIGNED to give multiple shocks. A one shot tazer would be easy enough to design if that were the case. It has multiple shots in it because, just like a gun, everyone does not just fall down and start cooperating when hit.
      • peoplerstoopid, on 08/17/2008, -1/+5yeah forever...because after you just tazed a man strong/crazy/high enough to not even notice...its much safer to put your tazer away while the now raging mad criminal waits patiently for you to secure it and then un-button the pouch with your pepper spray, get it out, (all while being comforted knowing that this criminal is being a good boy and waiting for you to be prepared) and then warn him to get down or risk being sprayed by a skin irritant.

        just spewing "facts" out of your mouth about what a tazer was designed to do and how police should react makes you look less than credible.
      • pintomp3, on 08/17/2008, -3/+3"The guy was probably on drugs or drunk" what are you basing that on? someone could just as easily accuse the cop of being on drugs or drunk.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -1/+4Hmmmm - well lets see - was it the cops at 3 am pounding on someones door and yelling at them for no apparent reason? No. So your reverse logic doesn't really work here - or for that matter - anywhere. The cops actually have standards of professionalism and supervision and with VERY FEW exceptions, are drug and alcohol free when they go to work.
      • JustinCase18, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3Got news for you, forever, if he's strung up enough on drugs to shrug off a taser, he's not going to be paying much attention to the spray either.
    • JayKeaton, on 08/17/2008, -3/+4I've heard stories of skinny teenage boys taking 4 hits and still living afterwards, so I do not think your description is accurate. Unless you are a DC kind of guy, then yeah, it wouldn't take much to drop The Hulk, cos da Hulk is just a big pussy who even The Color Kid could drop.
  • poprocksandsoda, on 08/17/2008, -25/+10All these stupid taser death stories makes me long for the good old days when cops used a 9mm to restrain uncooperative criminals. I'll side with the police officers judgement on whether the force used was necessary 100 times out of 100.
    • tomjeff08, on 08/17/2008, -9/+14Just like a good slave.
      • mike17032, on 08/17/2008, -3/+2Well we cant all be so well educated as you diggiots who suck Msaleens ***** for his ***** stories.
      • peoplerstoopid, on 08/17/2008, -5/+1good slave...you got him there ass-clown. Go ahead...try and look tough and act like you don't conform to society's rules. But I'm willing to bet you walk the line vehemently in fear of getting in trouble for doing something wrong...then you go home (if you ever leave in the first place) And talk about how bad-ass you are because you make fun of authority figures behind their back.

        Just like a good puss-bitch
    • spkrcity, on 08/17/2008, -9/+12"I'll side with the police officers judgement on whether the force used was necessary 100 times out of 100."

      Why don't you move to a totalitarian police state like China then? We have no use for limp-dick ***** like you in this country.
    • NuclearIsShit, on 08/17/2008, -3/+7Unless it's your family member being assaulted by one. Cops are human beings and they make mistakes too, only most of the time they don't have to pay for their mistakes, so they go on make more of them.

      • poprocksandsoda, on 08/17/2008, -3/+2Oh no doubt cops are humans and make mistakes. But my point is simple ... go back to the days when suspects realized cops had deadly force and not stun guns ... maybe they will be more cooperative. I'm sorry, but I highly doubt the cop showed up for no reason and started stunning the suspect. You can talk to dozens of cops and never meet one that used their sidearm in their whole career. These incidents are highly escalated and outside the norm.
    • FairNUnBalanced, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2You can still find that in various 3rd world governments around the world. Perhaps you should move there.
  • kingjafee, on 08/17/2008, -24/+17People who are defending the police are ***** idiots.

    The fact is this people: When you are a police officer and you are trained on using a taser you have a right way and a wrong way to use it.

    Right Way: After the probes are inserted you are supposed to apply pressure in 5 second intervals, until the suspect is subdued.

    Wrong Way: Tase the suspect as many times and for as long as you want with no break in the constant voltage.

    Let's remember a taser shoots out 50,000 volts.

    Straight from Taser International: "repeated, prolonged and/or continuous exposures to the Taser may impair breathing and respiration, particularly when the probes are placed across the chest or diaphragm."

    4 times getting tased and he didn't even have a weapon?

    And of course the police are going to say Oh He Was on Drugs so that is why he died. The drugs increased his heart rate and therefore the electrical volts jump stopped his heart....

    *****.

    When the police report is released I bet a barrel of monkeys it is going to say "excited delirium due to methamphetamine abuse.
    • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -4/+4If he had a weapon he wouldn't be tazed brain surgeon - he would have been SHOT!! You don't have a clue what you are talking about.
      • smotpoker, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2Actually, that would depend on the type of weapon, how soon they saw it, whether there was a victim in his reach, just how compliant or irate he was, whether he was running, whether there were witnesses, the disposition of the officer(s) and probably several other factors I cannot think of, brain surgeon.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -2/+2Well - he was threatening people who have called the police - and he is resisting arrest - all of those are the facts that are known about this guy - if he is doing that with a weapon - it doesn't matter WHAT KIND of weapon - a Tazer is clearly contraindicated!! The cops do not have to expose themselves to great bodily harm or death and they certainly aren't going to standby and let some maniac threaten Innocent people with a weapon. That is what the gun is FOR - brain Surgeon. The cops don't get paid to fight fair - they get paid to win fights!! If a guy wants to resist arrest that is what a Tazer is for - if he wants to threaten with a weapon - that is what a gun is for - its that simple.
      • travis1982, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2Why do all your comments sound like you get your information from really bad movies?
      • smotpoker, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2@use2b

        There is no mention he actually threatened anyone and, again, even if he had how the police react once they get to the scene depends on a number of factors. If he was armed, they may not have known it until they already got their and had their tasers drawn. Would they stop, holster their taser first, pull out their gun and then start firing if they thought the man was about to use a weapon?

        What if the "weapon" was a tree branch he just happened to pick up? No one specified what this hypothetical weapon might be or if was in his hand, etc. Perhaps you are right and he would be dead no matter what if he had a weapon, but we all like to believe simply possessing a weapon doesn't mean the police will kill you on sight and they are supposed to be trained to only fire if it looks like he is about to use it on someone.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/18/2008, -2/+1Have you been smoking pot????? Ha ha -- RTFA
        Why do you think the police were called - was this their kid who lost his key and couldn't get in???????
        They felt THREATENED MORON - that is why people call the police. If the guy had stopped his illegal activity and not resisted arrest he would have NEVER been tazed!!
        Get a life you pot smoking illiterate turd!
      • smotpoker, on 08/18/2008, -1/+2Perhaps you should pick up a dictionary sometime...consider consulting a lawyer as well.

        Banging on a door and yelling is not in-and-of itself a threat of bodily harm, nor is it illegal. Based on the information in the article, nothing illegal occurred. Feeling threatened and actually threatening are distinct concepts/acts
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/19/2008, -2/+1You show your ignorance every time you write. It IS illegal if you are on "private property" and if asked to leave you don't. Here is an excerpt form the article:
        " Police say 45-year-old Kenneth Oliver of Miami-Dade showed up at a friend's home early Friday morning, shouting and banging on the front door.The friend, Johnnie Mosely, told police he considered letting Oliver in, but his daughters were frightened by the way Oliver was acting."

        So clearly the daughters were "frightened" and why do you think they were frightened? They were feeling threatened enough that the father called the police!!! Why do you think the father called the police. This is his friend, wouldn't he just leave if asked? So the guy banging on his friends door, refuses to leave, is threatening to the daughters in the house, and resists arrest and or police commands leading to him being Tazered in order to be restrained. And you think no laws were violated?
        Feeling threatened by someone is Assault in the classic sense.
      • smotpoker, on 08/19/2008, -1/+2You're refusing to accept reality or admit the facts.

        I see no mention of anyone asking the guy to leave. You are making assumptions which there is no evidence to support (in the article at least). Banging on a door and yelling is certainly enough to scare some people, however it is not illegal and that is all we know for sure happened. There is no mention of him making threats or being told to leave so why do you assume as much? For all we *know* he could have just be yelling unintelligibly in a fit of rage - which is not illegal (except after 9pm in some neighborhoods if it is too loud)

        Make all of the assumptions and excuses as you want, it is expected and typical but doesn't change the facts. For all you know this guy got ripped off on a deal, found out his friend was banging his wife or thought the people inside were in danger of something and desperately trying to get them out.

        However, because the police used force to subdue him and the people inside were scared, you automatically assume he was a crazed madman who would automatically attack anyone he came in contact with. I will admit your assumptions that his actions were illegal (or bordered on it) does seem to be likely based on what the article mentions but there is no mention he attempted to attack anyone, resist the police or make threats. You are ASSUMING all of that.

        Feeling threatened is not anywhere near assault by any stretch of the imagination.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/19/2008, -2/+1It is called common sense.....are you suggesting that the cops just showed up and without provocation Tazered the guy???!! Now there is a stretch of the imagination. Why did the guy call the police??? You did not answer that fact. Do you call the police every time a friend of yours shows up at your door?
      • travis1982, on 08/19/2008, -1/+2smotpoker, don't even waste your time with this guy. He lives in a bubble of ignorance, he just assumes that "corruption" is a made up word and never takes place in real life. He assumes a lot of things actually, you know how there are the extreme conspiracy theorists making ridiculous accusations? Well he's at the other end of the spectrum, he has COMPLETE faith in authority and doesn't question anything...that's even more dangerous and stupid than the latter. I feel sorry for him actually.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/19/2008, -2/+1In addition - the definition of assault is: "The crime of attempting to physically harm another person in a way that makes the person under attack feel immediately threatened. Actual physical contact is not necessary." Actual physical contact is defined as "battery". Also as long as the police have a good reason to believe that a crime has been committed, it is not necessary for them to obtain a warrant before arrest is made,.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/19/2008, -2/+1Travis is a low life Canadian who likes to stick his nose in other peoples conversations. Canadians have no real influence and are mostly just background noise - here and on the world forum as well.
    • dexter411, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2Show me the part of this article saying that he was unarmed?
  • kingjafee, on 08/17/2008, -19/+27Funny how cases have had little too no drugs in their system yet still that was the official coroners report.

    Looks like some one is covering someone elses ass.

    Tasers are much better than getting shot but put into the hands of people with obviously no proper training on how to deploy them it is basically doing the same thing.

    Killing people.

    Protect and serve my ass.

    The upperclass maybe but the non existent middle class and the lower class get killed by tasers?

    I bet no one heard about the guy who got killed after getting tased for 84 seconds.

    http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-06-28/news/dea ...

    Take a second and count to 84. It's a long ***** time.

    4 times gettin hit with a taser is like his heart was a full battery and the cops are tryin to jump start it.

    Has anyone ever tried to jumpstart a full battery before?

    Try it out and see what happens.

    And for all you accidental death mofos...

    You cant accidently tase someone 4 ***** times.

    sorry for two posts my brain doesnt think fast enough to edit *****
    • teotbote, on 08/17/2008, -2/+7"I bet no one heard about the guy who got killed after getting tased for 84 seconds."

      Wow.. that article is crazy. That cop needs to be tased for even half as long.
      • kingjafee, on 08/17/2008, -3/+7Sadly as you read not a damn thing happened to the cop who did.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -3/+3Actually ALL cops get tazed as part of their training. Bet that is big news to you isnt it?
      • teotbote, on 08/17/2008, -0/+4I actually did know that. They don't get tased for 84 seconds though.
      • smotpoker, on 08/17/2008, -1/+3@use2bcanadian

        "Actually ALL cops get tazed as part of their training. Bet that is big news to you isnt it?"

        For 42+ seconds straight? Learn to read, *****. He said half the amount of force the cop used would teach him not to abuse his taser like that. Or do you think the 5sec bursts they get during training is as bad as the 84 second one he administered?
    • 9bpm9, on 08/17/2008, -1/+8You don't have to hit the enter button every god damn sentence.
    • positron, on 08/17/2008, -1/+6The "Protect and Serve" motto is a PR tool with no basis in law or practice. Judges have consistently ruled that the police have no duty to protect individuals. An officer's sole obligation is to enforce law with no regard to prevention. This is not to say that they can't use crime prevention tactics, but only that they can not be held legally accountable for failure to do so. (see http://www.firearmsandliberty.com/kasler-protectio ... )

      The More You Know
      ==============*
      • toefinder, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1don't worry no one thinks of police as a force that protects and serves. That just what a police force should be.
    • jerrycurley, on 08/17/2008, -2/+2Proof of "no drugs in the system" in cases where the coroner's report claimed there was?
    • peoplerstoopid, on 08/17/2008, -2/+3Funny how cases have had little too no drugs in their system yet still that was the official coroners report.

      And how the ***** would you know if there were little to no drugs in their system....are you the worlds only secret travelling coroner. Walking the highways at night from city to city making right what other coroners did wrong. Presumptive jackass
  • spkrcity, on 08/17/2008, -19/+8***** the police!

    (my favorite scene from Pineapple Express)
  • Tophillious, on 08/17/2008, -8/+23I need to get the ***** outta Florida
    • smotpoker, on 08/17/2008, -1/+6That's what I did after 2 false arrests in Tampa the 9 months I lived there (one of which the cop physically abused me and told me in front of another cop to my face he was going to lie in court)
      • beccabob, on 08/17/2008, -2/+3I have a really strange feeling that with a nick of smotpoker, the "false" arrests were with good probable cause. If you do think that pot should be legalized, great. However, if you use it, be prepared for the punishment.

        I am totally drug free, however, at least for pot I think the government should let up. However, I think harder drugs should be illegal. Also any kind of DUI should be punished more harshly. Make people aware of the consequences.
      • smotpoker, on 08/17/2008, -0/+4@becca

        Why do you assume that when you don't even know what the charges were? Do you assume anyone who uses drugs commits other crimes or must be under the influence and in possession 24/7?

        Neither incident was drug related. The second incident he may have had just cause for suspicion or stopping (two young people sitting on the curb talking around 11pm at night in a suburban neighborhood) but no evidence, victims, witnesses or justification for physical abuse and perjury.
      • peoplerstoopid, on 08/17/2008, -2/+2And no evidence on your part this ever happened. On digg I just can't believe when people say this stuff because as a website with a high amount of cop haters and the idiotic fanatacism the diggtards (not everyone...you know who you are) have, plus the fact that 90 percent of the people on this website think that cops forcing peoples hands together behind their back to cuff them is physical abuse, or any kind of contact. It just seems like almost all of its made up to further the cause of making all cops look like murdering assholes. So if your case is true, that is terrible...and you got ***** by all the liars on digg for ruining your credibility.
      • smotpoker, on 08/17/2008, -0/+1@peoplerstoopid

        I cannot speak for everyone on digg but I have had enough bad experiences with police in enough different locations to believe that it is very likely many of the cop-haters on digg have had at least one or two themselves.

        Granted that I am no stickler for the rules and might appear unsavory to some but I typically treat everyone and their property with respect, including law enforcement. In return, that respect has always been met with suspicion and disrespect in nearly every police encounter.

        Besides the two bad arrests mentioned here regarding Florida, there were 3 others in other places and in two of those the police lied as well. There was also one who pulled me over 4-5 separate times and kept searching me in hopes of finding drugs and wrote two trumped tickets to justify it.

        Again, I don't claim to be an angel but with no victims, no evidence, no witnesses and no disrespect to them, getting stopped/searched/arrested so many times makes it very easy to believe similar has happened to plenty of other people.

        In encounters where I was arrested, questioned or searched, I believe some combination location, time of day, age, race, sex, demeanor (ever since the first few encounters I always get a bit nervous... not really something I can help), clothing, class and a couple of times proximity to a crime were the main factors that made them suspect me but there was nothing compelling enough to make them believe I was guilty beyond a doubt and/or lie out of spite.

        (Oh, and by "physical abuse" I refer to twisting my wrist and threatening to break it because he thought I was lying. He said it was a legal restraint and that he could get away with breaking my wrist by saying I would not stop resisting)
      • peoplerstoopid, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2Yeeeeaaahhh....any credibility you had went out the window right there....when you just happened to remember 8 other times that you were unjustly harrassed for no reason at all. and in each case the cop said he would lie to convict you, or ticketed you out of spite. Sure
      • woodrow8292, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2Sounds like a good case of where there's smoke there's fire. I would say with all those stories that something is up that you are leaving out. Sounds like you need to lay off the dope and realize there was probably just cause for most of it. But I know it's the cops fault....Just remember if you ask all the guys in jail 99.9% will say they are innocent.
      • smotpoker, on 08/17/2008, -1/+1@peoplerstoopid - Sorry you feel that way.... perhaps it has to do with your reading comprehension problem?

        "for no reason at all"? I explicitly stated they had some sort of justification for talking to me or being suspicious in most of those cases and elaborated on them. My point was they went beyond the legal boundaries to act on their suspicion despite my cooperation and their lack of evidence.

        "and in each case the cop said he would lie to convict you, or ticketed you out of spite."
        I never said any such thing. Only in one case did the officer get in my face and say he would lie on me. The other times it was sprung on me in court without notice. The ticketing was most likely a means to justify the stops and safeguard against a harassment complaint, which I thought was clearly implied when I said "to justify it".

        @woodrow8292

        I know good and well what there was and wasn't just cause for. I openly admit I am no angel and there are several other encounters with police that I am omitting as they are not relevant to the discussion since their actions were legally justified and I had done something illegal. The only detail I can think that might be considered relevant that was omitted: I lied about my name initially to the officer who threatened to break my wrist. He was out of uniform and off-duty when I encountered him initially and didn't realize he was a cop.


        As for 99.9% of people in jail... that is a myth judging from the jails I've been to. Most will laugh at you if you say your innocent. At most that figure is probably like 25-30% and from what I have seen/experienced probably a lot of them are being honest.

        The very first time I was arrested I did 2 months for a charge (which they eventually dropped due to lack of evidence) because the arresting officers lied. One slammed me on the hood in front of my family because he thought I was lying and then said my grandmother was lying to protect me in court when she told the judge I was cooperating when he did it.

        If you consider walking around at night or hanging out in the ghetto sometimes or being within 3 blocks of a crime or speeding (and perhaps acting a bit nervous under questioning) just cause to to charge, arrest and perjure, then I suppose I am wasting my time here.

        However, I am being completely honest. Though I can't convince you or even my own family of that, I have to still try to convince people when I can because I honestly believe that even if all cops are not corrupt, most cops are at least some of the time and let their emotions/suspicions compromise their ability to act objectively. Also, I believe, the poorer you are, the less they worry about how legit their charges are.

        Anyway, I suppose this is moot trying to convince you guys but I hope perhaps others might see these comments and think twice before refusing someone a job or distrusting them completely over a criminal record. If I have had police lie on me for half of my arrests separate times in 3 different states, there is no telling how many others it has happened to. I could really care less about all of the hour long searches and questioning but the unjust incarceration and charges has life-long impact for many.
    • Veriander, on 08/17/2008, -1/+3Please don't move to my state - why not go Full Monty and move out of the U.S?
      • toefinder, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1Sounds better every time I hear it suggested.
  • SouljaBoySTFU, on 08/17/2008, -15/+11Another case of police brutality...

    There are certain police that are heroes but certain ones bring shame to the whole profession.
    • peoplerstoopid, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2And of course you get dugg down for even mentioning that cops can be great people.
  • RedAmerican, on 08/17/2008, -15/+9another one to add to the list. Such a shame. People police brutality is getting worse by the day. The Police State is here.

    http://www.infowars.com/?cat=4
  • mooseofshadows, on 08/17/2008, -10/+5It's strange that digg's obsession with tasers has continued far past the "don't tase me bro!" video's fame. Seriously, in all these comments no one has posted that.
  • spamcrusher, on 08/17/2008, -10/+18First of all tasers were never marketed as 100% non-lethal. They are however far less lethal than gun fire, which is the only other alternative right now. Last year a police recruit died in my town when he was hit by a taser during training. If the police recruit wants they can get hit with a taser to see what it feels like and it's something most police recruits do, it just happened this one died from it. My guess is it caused a heart arrhythmia. The only other alternative right now is for police to shoot a threatening suspect, but if I had my choice of taser or gun I'd take the taser, please. I do believe tasers are a good alternative, hopefully technology will get something that is just as effective, cheap, and less lethal.
    • steelersfan7roe, on 08/17/2008, -5/+6Yes. The only alternative to shooting a suspect is tasing him, 4 times.

      I'm sure after the 3rd time he was still threatening the safety of the officers, and the 4th one took him from violent and dangerous to dead.

      The police didn't over-do it at all.

      /sarcasm
    • jerrycurley, on 08/17/2008, -1/+3It is not "if the recruit wants". It is MANDATORY. Same with pepper spray. All recruits MUST subject themselves to a taser (and pepper spray) before they can be issued one.
      • sigg14, on 08/17/2008, -4/+2they should all have to be tasered multiple times like maybe 5-10 times in a row because that would more accurately depict how these devices are being used by the cops.
      • peoplerstoopid, on 08/17/2008, -0/+3If the first taze doesn't affect him then hell yeah you taze him again.
      • jerrycurley, on 08/18/2008, -2/+1***** sigg...in 99% of hte cases, police taze once. When they HAVCE to taze multiple times, they do. If you are too ***** stupid to stop resisting at that point, you deserve what you get.

        I don't give a ***** if you are innocent. Once the hooks are in your body and the juice is on, it is time to stop proving to the world how tough you are and allow yourself to be arrested and sort it out aferward. At that point, you are not going to get away.
    • jessehadden, on 08/17/2008, -2/+2Pepper spray springs to mind as one alternative. Being competent in the art of self defense would be another shockingly radical alternative for our boys in blue to employ. What did they do before they had tasers, guns, and sprays? Going by what the modern day police force would have us believe, the only option would be to run every suspect through with a sword on-sight.
      • JustinCase18, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2How many times do you read about a skilled martial artist dying as a result of a knife or a gun when he tried to resist a mugging? Now multiply that by the number of times a police officer encounters someone resisting arrest. You've got an equation for a lot more dead police officers.

    • toefinder, on 08/18/2008, -1/+1that's no justification
  • timsline, on 08/17/2008, -7/+15Not enough information here. Was the guy on drugs, was he still resisting? So far this article doesn't prove anything, except a man who died was tazed several times.
    • gquaglia, on 08/17/2008, -3/+10Doesn't matter. On Digg, the police are guilty no matter what. How long have you been here.
    • sigg14, on 08/17/2008, -1/+4how about these questions. Was the guy armed? was the guy an immediate threat to a citizens or cops life/safety? after being tazed was the guy in a state where he could have been subdued and cuffed? did the police try to reason with this man before using deadly force? was the man in violation of any laws that would give the police the right to detain or arrest him?
    • Synchro, on 08/17/2008, -0/+3What? You want the media to actually report on what actually happened? With real facts and researched information? Those days are long gone, unfortunately.
  • gunderoo, on 08/17/2008, -5/+9didn't they used to have chairs for this? and formalities to go through before you landed there?
  • Six7Six7, on 08/17/2008, -22/+16Don't want to get tazered by police?

    DON'T DO ***** TO GET THE POLICE CALLED ON YOU

    Is it really that damn hard to not break the law and threaten others? seriously.
    • 9bpm9, on 08/17/2008, -3/+10Of course nobody understand that though, because while they think people who support the police are brainwashed, they themselves are brainwashed by the media.
      • sigg14, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2unconditionally supporting anyone is being brainwashed.
    • JonHs, on 08/17/2008, -4/+9um..

      Boy breaks back = tazered 19 times.
      http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.vie ...

      There are lot of cases where someone gets tasered when not breaking any laws.
      • Six7Six7, on 08/17/2008, -1/+3oh, yeah, i am sure this was a huge mistake. the guy was probably just trying to break into the house so he could bring them cookies.
    • cgruber, on 08/17/2008, -1/+4You're doing it wrong. You're supposed to only post anarchist hippie ***** if you want to get dugg up.
  • leladax, on 08/17/2008, -6/+12mobile electric chair
  • bashturd, on 08/17/2008, -6/+14There are not enough facts here to make judgment in either direction. We have no idea what actually happened.
    • jerrycurley, on 08/17/2008, -2/+3Since when do you need all the facts before jumping to conclusions on Digg?

      Do you really think the worthless msaleem was submitting this in order to generate an intelligent discussion on this?
  • dRun, on 08/17/2008, -13/+6all taser guns should be taken away from every police officer.
    they can't handle it.

    now digg me the **** up!
  • NuclearIsShit, on 08/17/2008, -6/+7Your not supposed to use a defibrillator on people who's hearts are still pumping because they might STOP the heart. The taser is almost the same thing as a defibrillator.

    This is the same kind of situation as most other products. It is not tested enough, and through corporate lobbying and generated hype a product is forced on the the public before we realize that it is not good for us. Then by the time we realize it is not good for us, the company is too well established, and the product is too widely used to be regulated.
    • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -2/+4If you have a heart condition then it is important for you to obey the commands of the police, stop resisting arrest, and most of all, don't break the law that would require the police to respond to your dumb ass because you have placed innocent people in danger!
    • GBowski, on 08/18/2008, -1/+0Do you have any idea how a defibrillator works? because you've been watching too many action flicks if you think a taser is comparable to a defibrillator.

      a defibrillator STOPS your heart by delivering a shock across your chest.
      a defibrillator is only effective with two heart fluctuation patterns, ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia, where the heart is essentially quivering and not pumping blood.

      Defibrillators are automated now to detect these patterns in heart...
      If and only if, these patterns are detected, the shock is delivered, stopping the heart...
      at which point the heart resumes at a normal rate, resumes quivering, or remains stopped.

      Tasers on the other hand are the equivalent of sticking a penny in a light socket (with extreme high voltage, low amperage), disabling muscle functions.
      The end result is extreme pain, possible burns at the origin of contact, and the temporary stunning and debilitation of an otherwise "threatening person" ...

      by your logic, light sockets and Pennies should be outlawed because of their threat to the general population.
      • NuclearIsShit, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1no, by my logic if you get zapped by electricity, it might stop your heart. That is my logic. Although the defibrillator has automated sensors, I was still taught in first aid not to defib someone who's heart is still pumping because it might stop the heart.

        Now, if you get zapped by electricity with a tazer, it might effect your heart. That is all that I am saying.
  • HyperionHK, on 08/17/2008, -5/+5You know, I think there are lots of stories where police use tazers improperly and seem to forget that tazers are less-than-lethal, NOT non-leathal weapons.

    However this title is just sensational garbage. The story linked to doesn't say ANYTHING to indicate improper behaviour by police. The guy was acting aggressively, so it's very reasonable to believe that he was acting aggressively towards the police when they also arrived, which is in fact a valid reason to use the tazer.
  • SilverBlade2k, on 08/17/2008, -11/+4How about banning the use of Tasers completely? Because of so many taser-related deaths, I am beginning to think that the police are going on power trips.
    • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -3/+2OK - thats a great idea - lets go back to NIGHT STICKS and BILLY CLUBS! Brilliant!
      • alecadvent, on 08/17/2008, -1/+0Police still have instruments which cause blunt force trauma.
        Nightsticks are still used, batons are more modern.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -0/+2I have not seen a modern police officer carrying a "blunt force trauma weapon" in YEARS! That is what the Tazer replaces - with much less permanent injury and death resulting from its use. Maybe in third world countries or some renta cop at a mall who is not a real police officer anyways. But not in the US on the belt of a modern police officer.
  • thelif, on 08/17/2008, -7/+20I have to say it is pretty annoying when these cases occur and people proclaim "OMG POLICE STATE" or "OMG ***** THE POLICE". There are probably tens of thousands of policeman in the country and most aren't going to fit the stereotype that people assume. They're people just like you and me, no one wakes up in the morning thinking "Oh man I'm going to kill someone today". It's the same with Digg stories involving doctors that make mistakes, suddenly all doctors can't be trusted and wikipedia is the way to go. Sensationalism is so ***** stupid.
  • ileftfark, on 08/17/2008, -2/+14It's amazing how keen everyone's sense of judgment and justice are, even with zero context. Unless you have additional information outside the given story, you cannot possibly attribute this to either "an out of control criminal" or, on the other extreme, "police brutality". All the article states is that a man acting erratically was tased by police, and subsequently died.

    None of us know if the tasing was the sole direct factor in the man's death, and we do not know if the man was aggressive, on drugs, or was otherwise threatening.

    The only thing we know is someone lost their life yesterday, and that is a tragedy, no matter who the person was. But FFS, stop drawing your own conclusions based on evidence that you either assumed or just completely fabricated, and start ranting on that false premise. It's the antithesis of what "justice" is supposed to be, and it makes you look stupid. That is all.
  • staystellar, on 08/17/2008, -9/+4taser-guns use 50,000 volts of electricity or more! shock the guy once, geeze...
    • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -4/+2Why don't you learn something about electricity - it not the volts that kill you - its the AMPS retard!
    • raybury, on 08/17/2008, -1/+3Most folks who are neither high nor drunk will go down on the first shot. Those who get up get a second. Repeat until they learn.
  • kookbutt, on 08/17/2008, -2/+9Florida = America's Penis
  • isosdcftp, on 08/17/2008, -3/+9Apparently, Oliver didn't put his hands behind his back quick enough and Severence said he watched police use a Taser three times. "They Tased him three different times. They just kept Tasing him. I told the police, 'You're going to kill that man,' so after they did it a third time, I just walked away," said Severence.

    Severence said his friend saw police shock Oliver a fourth time.

    Edwin Oliver said his brother has pins in his shoulders, which make it too difficult to put his arms behind his back. "He can't put his hands behind his back," he explained, "and they just start tasing him and tasing him until they killed him, and, you know, it's sad, it's so many incidents in South Florida with these Tasers, trigger-happy Tasers, and they're killing people and they try to justify it."

    From: http://www1.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI94197/
  • Spade914, on 08/17/2008, -7/+1To make a "don't tase me bro" joke or not to.......that is the question
  • whiteyMcBrown, on 08/17/2008, -3/+5No one here knows exactly what happened. If this guy was fighting back or they thought he was reaching for a weapon... the police would be perfectly in their rights to taser him. Tasers have been getting a bad rap, but considering the alternatives I think they're pretty good. Police have used either guns or clubs, in the past. Because some people, usually with heart conditions or bodies that are already under the strain of hard drugs, can have a fatal reaction, it doesn't mean that the police should be in any more danger than they already are. There are some bad police but they are usually the exception. That guy who died looks like a huge dude. If he was fighting back at me, I would rather taser him than shoot him. I don't think I should have to risk myself by using martial arts to take him down.
  • jaikob, on 08/17/2008, -1/+1I like the Fedora Website.. Am I the Only One?
  • jaikob, on 08/17/2008, -2/+1Ignore this one, Digg doubled my comments -_-
  • jerrycurley, on 08/17/2008, -6/+4Another worthless post by the worthless msaleem.

    And Muhammed..you update your resume lately? If you, you will realize just how badly you ***** up your life once the dot com bubble bursts again.

    Get used to the folowing phrase..."Change mister?"
  • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -10/+5Where did they get that picture of the guy?? You think maybe he has been in trouble with the law before?? I guess according to most Diggers here - he was just a regular guy - out for a little Saturday night fun - involving lots of alcohol and drugs and violence against law abiding citizens who were so scared of the guy they had to call the police. That's is what ALL of us do on Saturday right???? ***** diggtards!
    • FairNUnBalanced, on 08/17/2008, -2/+3The photograph shows only this man's face. I wonder what it was about this man's face that:

      1.) made you post that he must have been "in trouble with the law before", and that he looks like he was involved with "lots of alcohol and drugs and violence against law abiding citizens who were scared of the guy"? Interesting. You got all that from a picture of the man's face. Wonder what it was about his face.

      2.) Caused the same hateful, xenophobic, racist who posted the reason for more taser incident's in south Florida was because there were more "minorities" there, to agree with your post.

      All that from a photo that shows only the man's face.

      I wonder who both of these 2 will be voting for?
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2Actually it is clearly a mug shot - form a previous "police encounter" so - and maybe this is too much common sense for you - but it clearly indicates he was in trouble with the law before - my reasoning being that this is NOT the mug shot of a DEAD GUY!!
    • kaosethema, on 08/17/2008, -1/+1use2bacanadian

      please go back to canada. your limited perspective on race and justice are not needed here. we have enough rednecks digging and burying.
      • use2bacanadian, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1Actually my perspective IS needed here and it has nothing to do with race and everything to do with Justice. Tell me, what would you do if you and your family were a victim of this guys activity on Saturday night? Are you going to handle this guy by yourself, risking great bodily harm or death or possibly getting arrested for fighting? Or are you going to dial 911 and call the police, and expect them to come save your ass? And when they do come save your ass - are you expecting THEM to take unreasonable risks of injury or great bodily harm or death if the guy gets ahold of there gun? Are you willing as a taxpayer to pay the police officers medical costs and possibly his medical retirement for the rest of his life if he is injured to the point were he can no longer work? This is a pretty simple question that takes longer to state than it takes to figure out. Obviously the victims of this guys illegal activity were threatened to the point that they called the police - that is a fact. Obviously the police arrived on the scene and their job is to stop this guys illegal activity with the minimum force necessary. It is obvious that this guy did NOT stop his illegal activity and the police officer on the scene decided that he needed to employ his tazer as the minimum force to get this guy to stop his illegal activity against these innocent citizens that called for his help. If the criminal gets hurt or dies because he is resisting arrest and the police officer is using the minimum force necessary to make the arrest or stop the illegal activity then it is not the police officers fault - it is the CRIMINALS fault. Get an education you moron because every redneck I know is a hell of a lot SMARTER than you are!!!
      • kaosethema, on 08/21/2008, -0/+1I have never dialed 911 because where i am from, they probably won't show up. and when they do show up, they will seldom differentiate between victim and victimized since we 'all look alike'.

        were my family threatened, i would take this guy on. where i'm from, you learn to take care of yourself because the cops don't give two ***** whether we kill each other off.

        you don't know me and you don't know where i am from and you don't know who or what i can handle.

        canada misses you little girl, go home.
  • digglet08, on 08/17/2008, -7/+4I think that wasn't the whole story.

    This might not apply to this story, but I hate how people get up in arms about the actions of officers... AFTER the "victim" in question robbed a bank or raped a young woman or led police on a chase.

    Want to know how to avoid "excessive force"? Don't commit crimes and put police officer's lives in danger! They've got families!


    Once again, the wrongdoing in this story is speculative so I'm not saying thats what happened.
  • JayTee44, on 08/17/2008, -6/+4It's John McCain's fault. He's too old and Obama will save the planet.
  • infiniphunk, on 08/17/2008, -7/+6I was out jogging last night and saw a cop picking up two hookers for his own kicks. Cops are such good guys. They are always right. They should be allowed to taser whoever they want, whenever they want.
  • AManWithNoName, on 08/17/2008, -2/+6Why the ***** does digg have this obsession with taser deaths? Right after the whole "Don't tase me bro" thing happened, we had a bit of a surge of taser-related stories, and that's understandable, since it was the topic of the week. But now, there's no reason to be digging this.
  • ChayD, on 08/17/2008, -1/+4I have to agree with most people - Sensationalist title and not enough information, so buried as inaccurate.
  • Vanzetti, on 08/17/2008, -1/+10I think the problem is most people naturally try to defend themselves when they are getting tasered by a bunch of screaming men. "OWWWW!" *flop around* "STOP RESISTING!!!" *taser*
    • sigg14, on 08/17/2008, -1/+3I agree, let me see anyone put your hands behind your head with 50,000 volts rushing through your body
      • Acolyte357, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1You are right, but the second that juice lets go of me I'll do what ever the ***** they want
  • phre3k187, on 08/17/2008, -10/+4***** the police
  • DivisibleByZero, on 08/17/2008, -2/+4Drugs and tasers don't usually mix.
  • samimnot, on 08/17/2008, -6/+9And to think....all this man had to do was cooperate with the police.
    • sigg14, on 08/17/2008, -7/+3maybe they can put that on his tombstone

      "murdered for not "cooperating with police"
      • Acolyte357, on 08/19/2008, -1/+1"Died for being to stupid to not 'cooperate with the police'"
      • sigg14, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1you would fit in really well in north korea or china.
    • 80min700mb, on 08/17/2008, -0/+0Listening to too much Rage...
  • itsbob, on 08/17/2008, -2/+2Sure, take away the tasers and just start using guns, that makes sense.
    If you don't cooperate with the police they need to do something to protect themselves and you. Sometimes (very rarely) it ends up fatal, but 99%+ of the time it is the perfect solution.
  • getatmedigg, on 08/17/2008, -1/+1So much for non-lethal..Hey, where's "America's Funniest Tarser Videos" when you need it?
  • Notyavgkat, on 08/17/2008, -5/+2***** the police!!!!!!!!!
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