280 US Citizens Murdered By Cop Tasers Since 2001

[Richard]

After a Death, Use of Taser in Canada Is Debated

By IAN AUSTEN

OTTAWA, Nov. 15 — A video recording showing an emotionally wrought immigrant dying after being hit with a police Taser at an airport last month has touched off a fierce debate in Canada on police actions in the case and the rules governing use of the weapon.

The 10-minute recording, which was widely broadcast Wednesday night, was made last month by another passenger and initially seized by the police. It shows a Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, being hit just 46 seconds after four members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived to subdue him at the airport in Vancouver, British Columbia. The recording also supports accounts from witnesses who said the police officers did not appear to be in danger when the weapon was fired at least twice.

Mr. Dziekanski was the 18th person to die since July 2003 after being hit by a Taser in Canada, a country where the weapons may be owned only by police forces. Amnesty International estimates that in the United States, a country with roughly nine times the population of Canada, 280 people have died after being struck by police Tasers since 2001. Tasers can also be used by civilians in many states.

Alex Neve, the secretary general of Amnesty International in Canada, which has called for a suspension of Taser use, said, “There is a very good likelihood that the Taser was used well before the situation called for it.”

The federal minister for public safety, Stockwell Day, said in Parliament on Wednesday that he had ordered a review of the police use of Tasers in Canada shortly after Mr. Dziekanski’s death.

Mr. Dziekanski, a 40-year-old construction worker, arrived in Vancouver on Oct. 14 to begin a new life with his mother. After a 10-hour delay caused by immigration processing, Mr. Dziekanski became upset when he could not find his mother, Zofia Cisowski, who waited several hours before returning to her home in Kamloops, British Columbia, under the mistaken impression that her son had not arrived in Canada.

Unable to speak English, Mr. Dziekanski became distressed and began shouting in Polish, moving furniture around, shoving a computer off a desk in an arrival area and, at one point, throwing a chair. His actions soon attracted the attention of other passengers and security officials.

The recording shows that when airport security officials first appeared, passengers could be heard shouting to them that Mr. Dziekanski did not understand English.

Moments later, four members of the Mounties arrive in the waiting area wearing bulletproof vests. Mr. Dziekanski repeatedly shouted either the Polish word for “help” or “police,” which sound similar, before walking away with his arms raised in the air. There was a brief conversation followed by a loud sound, apparently a Taser shot, and Mr. Dziekanski fell to the ground screaming in pain.

The recording captured what appeared to be a second Taser shot as three officers piled onto Mr. Dziekanski to subdue him. One minute and eight seconds after the police arrived, Mr. Dziekanski appeared to have stopped moving, and the recording ended shortly afterward.

An autopsy showed no evidence of alcohol or drugs in his system, but was unable to determine a cause of death.

The Polish government has sent two lawyers to Vancouver to investigate the death and raised the issue with Canadian officials and diplomats. After watching the recording, Piotr Ogrodzinski, the Polish ambassador to Canada, said he found the use of a Taser on Mr. Dziekanski to be excessive.

“He was desperately in search of assistance or help,” Mr. Ogrodzinski said. “He did break a computer and throw a stool, but there was no gesture suggesting that he intended to fight anybody. Here was a very helpless person, a disoriented person.”

When the police seized the recording at the airport from Paul Pritchard, who was returning home to Victoria, British Columbia, they characterized it as an important piece of evidence. Mr. Pritchard recovered the recording after threatening legal action and it was released it to the news media late Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Mounties, Cpl. Dale Carr, said, “It’s just one piece of evidence, one person’s view.”

A coroner’s inquest, which will not determine legal fault, has been ordered for the case. Some critics of the police are calling for criminal charges against the police officers.

The case is being reviewed by an independent commission that investigates complaints about the Mounties.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/world/americas/16canada.html?em&ex=1195362000&en=d7cac1bee2c827a0&ei=5087%0A

Public Execution By Taser

Video Shows Cops Killing Immigrant With Taser

UK Police Taser Diabetic In Hypoglycaemic Fit

Sober Diabetic Man Tasered By Cops, Accused Of DUI

Chicago Cops Taser 82-Yr Old Mentally Ill Grandma

Citizens Guide To Surviving A Police Encounter - Vid

[Astrojewels]

The police force are no longer taught and trained with any logic, they ‘shoot and ask questions later’, I in no way would ever defend the police force, yet the people who join are controlled through vaccinations and mind controlled that citizens are enemies, this is again a controlled manipulative thought from the illuminati.
It structures we the ‘citizen’ to have negative thoughts to the force of policing, doing this to an elderly man makes us angry, yet it also puts fear into the population, therefore the general population that are shopping, driving or doing whatever see a police vehicle or officer and instantly have fear of ‘what might happen’.
You have to look past your emotions of the occurrence, this actual event is very sad for all involved but one must look beyond the illusion of what it seems to be.
It is this type of occurrence that opens the door for military policing, because the citizens who are blinded by the truth will demand change, and if you create the chaos you already have the solution!

[AndrewX]

I hate to say this, but I feel there would have been MANY MORE DEATHS if the tasers weren't introduced because without them the cops would have simply SHOT the person in the same circumstance that they taser them in... and when the y shoot, they are trained to shoot to kill, not to simply subdue like shooting one in the foot or leg.

So most of the taser shootings that have NOT resulted in death may well have if the taser wasn't used... if you see what I mean.

[Astrojewels]

I understand what you are saying Andrew X, and you are right, many years ago there were many shootings by the police. If they get rid of the Taser there will be another weapon, they could not ‘police’ without something it is just the way they are programmed.

[Sily]

[user=3]Richard[/user] wrote

...280 people have died after being struck by police Tasers since 2001...

Taser use on hyper people sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.  Their body is already under stress -- heart beating a million times a minute, adrenaline pumping and then what happens?  They are shot with a device that screws up their nervous system., disorients them, makes certain muscles not work. 

I know people can become both a danger to themselves and others.  I've seen it many times.  But there has to be a better way to protect the perp. and police.  Is this all -we- can come up with?  Guns and tasers?  There's got to be a better way. 

There should be immediate stoppage of all use of tasers.

[Richard]

I don’t think in all cases cops would have shot the person if they didn’t have a taser. Like for example the student that asked John Kerry a question. I doubt cops would have shot him. I think cops are more likely to use nonlethal weapons than lethal ones when they can. Before cops had taser guns they would just use Billy clubs and mace when they could.

[Sily]

Add one more person to the list dead - yesterday in Frederick, Maryland ( the state I live in ) another man dies after encounter with taser.  Story link here.

[Astrojewels]

I agree silly that they need to look at who is the target, the Taser is not a lethal weapon unless the body is under extreme stress, usually the Taser would give a shock and the person can then be restrained, but when you are doing it to a person who is high on amphetamines or totally triggered from something- extremely anxious, the electromagnetic field sends off constant strong energies and if hit with a Taser constantly, the body goes into cardiac arrest.
What could they use? And your latest post shows it is not stopping, but citizens must be aware not to give power to the illusion either.

[Sily]

...What could they use?...


...citizens must be aware not to give power to the illusion either....

What could they use?  Well, I would hope that since this issue involves life and death issues involving both the Police and Public, something that is pretty important, that some great minds could gather to discuss alternatives that don't kill either the police or person out of control. 

But if you're looking for an answer right now from me, to come up with an alternative to tasers, I say this: 

1. call for back up and then try to physically restrain the out of control person. 
   
2. Or how about a gun that shoots an indestructable net-like device the person gets caught in, then handcuff them.
   
3. How about a spray that makes people take a nap.
   

The illusion that I'm trying to not give power to, is the one being sold by the Taser Company that these devices are safe, not torture and non-lethal and the only alternative to the use of a gun.

[Richard]

Another killing. It sounds like it's time to take away taser guns.

Jacksonville police: man dies after being Tasered during struggle

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Jacksonville authorities say a man died after being Tasered during a struggle with police.

A Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman says an officer had pulled over the man's car. But when the officer approached it, he took off running.

The officer caught up with him and during a struggle, authorities say the officer used his Taser to subdue the suspect.

Rescue workers checked the man and cleared him to be placed in the back of a police car. The sheriff's office says he then became unresponsive. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy is planned. The man's name has not been released. It's not yet clear why he was pulled over.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_TASER_DEATH_FLOL-?SITE=FLTAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT