Woman tasered numerous times by police officer

[Richard]

Officer On Leave After Woman Tasered

WYTV
Thursday September 20, 2007

WATCH THE VIDEO

The Warren Police Department is under fire for another accusation of abuse of force.

The latest incident happened during a September second arrest in the parking lot of a popular nightclub.

33 news is the only station that requested the dash camera video of the arrest.

Reporter Peggy Sinkovich and photographer Nck Rich show us the video and reaction from city officials.

We warn you some sequences of this video are graphic and very disturbing.

It's this shocking video that has warren city officials in an uproar.

It shows a woman being tasered numerous times by warren police officer Rich Kovach.

Who had been called to the Up The Creek Bar back on September 2nd, for a disturbance inside the night club, after being handcuffed.

The woman was placed in the back of Kovach's cruiser.

At one point she can been seen trying to kick out the window of the car and Kovach tasers her again.

Afterward the video shows the woman distraught and pleading for him to stop, but Kovach can be heard screaming at her.

Finally other officers arrive at the scene and Kovach removes the woman from his car.

As she is walking out of the frame, she is tasered again, the horrified expressions of onlookers can be seen on the tape.

Kovach in his report claims the woman fell after being tasered again.

This time falling to the ground and being knocked unconscious.

City officials saw the tape for the very first time with me this afternoon, and i spoke with them afterward.

Doug Franklin, Safety-Service Director says, "Yes, we placed him on administrative leave...terms of that."

Although this incident happened september second the only action police officials took was to reassign Kovach to other duties.

It was not until today, that Kovach was actually placed on leave, which happens to also be the day we asked for the tape.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/sep...asered.htm

[Richard]

Family To Sue Over Death Of Woman Shocked With Taser

56-Year-Old Died After Being Shocked 10 Times 

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. -- A Clay County woman's family said it is seeking justice after their loved one died shortly after being shocked 10 times with Taser guns during a confrontation with police.

The family of 56-year-old Emily Delafield said it would take the Green Cove Springs Police Department to court.

In April 2006, officers with the police department said they were called to a disturbance at a home in the 400 block of Harrison Street just before 5 p.m. 

In a 911 call made to the Green Cove Springs, Delafield can be heard telling a dispatcher that she believed she was in danger:

Dispatcher: And what's the problem?

Delafield: My sister is waiting on my property.

Dispatcher: Your what?

Delafield: My sister (inaudible) is on my property trying to harm me.

Officers said they arrived to find Delafield in a wheelchair, armed with two knives and a hammer. Police said the woman was swinging the weapons at family members and police.

Within an hour of her call to 911, Delafield, a wheelchair-bound woman documented to have mental illness, was dead.

Family attorney Rick Alexander said Delafield's death could have been prevented and that there are four things that jump out at him about the case.

"One, she's in a wheelchair. Two, she's schizophrenic. Three, they're using a Taser on a person that's in a wheelchair, and then four is that they tasered her 10 times for a period of like two minutes," Alexander said.

According to a police report, one of the officers used her Taser gun nine times for a total of 160 seconds and the other officer discharged his Taser gun once for a total of no more than five seconds.

A medical examiner found Delafield died from hypertensive heart disease and cited the Taser gun shock as a contributing factor. On her death certificate, the medical examiner ruled Delafield's death a homicide.

The family said it plans to sue the Green Coves Springs Police Department now that it has all the reports regarding their loved one's death.

"We're going to try to compensate the estate and the family and try to get justice," Alexander said.

He said he believes the evidence weighs heavily in favor of Delafield's family and that justice will be served.

"I think that this evidence is going to show, along with some of the evidence we've collected outside of here, that there is no reason Emily Delafield should have died that day," Alexander said.

He said he plans to file a notice to sue sometime before the end of the year. 

http://www.news4jax.com/news/14144292/detail.html

[Richard]

Give a cop a taser, and everyone he encounters will need zapping!

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