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Time to Zap the Taser
Canada all but abolished the death penalty in 1976. It still exists for special cases in the military, though it is never used.
The last legal execution in this country was 1962 in Toronto's Don Jail, when two men, shall we say, dropped into history. Between 1867 and 1962, 710 people were executed in Canada.
It is a point of pride for millions of Canadians that we no longer hang our citizens.
Well, if you are one of those millions of Canadians, feel some shame that we continue to allow our police forces to Taser citizens to death.
Worse still, when we had executions, a prisoner could only be hanged for murder, rape or treason. Today, we let the police Taser people to death for mental illness, drug addiction or making a fuss at an airport.
Since 2001, Canadian police officers have killed at least 20 people with Tasers. That number could be as high as 25.
The poster corpse for Tasering gone wrong is Robert Dziekanski, 40, who died more than a year ago at Vancouver International Airport.
The world has watched the video of four RCMP officers casually approaching the frustrated man, then Tasering him to his eventual demise.
Let's look at some other lesser-known victims:
- Jason Dean, 28, in Red Deer, Alta., while running from police in August 2006;
- Roman Andreichikov, 25, high on cocaine and being restrained by Vancouver police in May 2004.
- Perry Ronald, 28, while being restrained by Edmonton police after jumping from a window in March 2004;
- Clark Whitehouse, 34, while running from the Whitehorse RCMP after being stopped in traffic in September 2003.
It is likely police had no cause to shoot any of these alleged criminals with a gun, yet they had the legal cause to blast 50,000 volts of electricity into them.
Sadly, the results would have been the same had they shot them in the head.
Death without trial.
On May 23, 2007, Amnesty International completed the report Canada: Inappropriate and Excessive Use of Tasers.
Here is the opening two sentences of that report:
"Children continue to be the victims of abusive use of Tasers by Canadian police officers. There have also been a disturbing number of cases where police officers have used Tasers inappropriately when there was no serious risk either to themselves or others present."
Just last week, Tasers were involved in two Alberta deaths:
- Gordon Walker Bowe, 30, was Tasered when police were called to investigate a suspicious person and a break-in;
- Four days earlier in Edmonton, Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died after police twice used a Taser following a struggle near a city pawnshop.
In light of these two deaths, Alberta Solicitor-General Fred Lindsay said he doesn't see any need to revisit the Taser guidelines.
Well, we disagree.
We don't think there should be any guidelines because we don't think the police should be allowed to use Tasers.
A death count of 20 to 25 as a result of Tasers is more than enough tragedy to call for a ban.
These people did not murder, rape or commit treason, yet they ended up in the same place as those two men in the Don Jail in 1962.
As the world saw in the Robert Dziekanski video, Tasering isn't police work. It's too easy. It's certainly a lot easier on the conscience than pulling out a gun and shooting the suspect.
But sadly, too often, the result is the same.
- Posted in
16 Comments so far
Show AllHere's my take on this topic. Any form of force termed "non-lethal" will soon be used indiscriminately just because of that title. And we've seen it happen on both sides of the border more than I'd care to see happen. Such as "rubber bullets", until they hit at the right spot at the right angle - they become lethal. Are they held accountable? No. Because that's not what they intended.
What if I tossed a rock at someone to "dissuade" them, but happened to hit them in the head and killed them - do you think I'd get a pass because I meant it in a non-lethal way? Probably not. Even though it's not what I intended.
These middle-of-the-road methods of "suppression" must be eliminated. But I doubt like hell that they ever will. 'Hey, we're trying to be humane, but accidents will happen". BS
They would probably just write these deaths off as "collateral damage". Such callous disregard of human life, whether practiced overseas or at home, is reason for anger and alarm.
The NYPD has tasered to death several mentally ill people within the last couple of years. Just a few weeks ago, in Brooklyn, a young guy whose medications were just changed, was in distress and while his brother was coming to take him to the doctor, he was out on a ledge, 10 feet above the sidewalk when a NYPD Lt. ordered a uniformed cop to taser him. He was tasered, landed on his head, died and the NYPD Lt. who ordered the tasering committed suicide not many days later. Taser is used as torture too. There are many stories in the US. Check October 22 Coalition Against Police Brutality. Also, DemocracyNow has been covering the taser story for a long time.
I really don't know why Mayor Bloomberg thinks tasers are a good idea. There are better ways to subdue someone.
"There are better ways to subdue someone."
Maybe we can put together a list, anyone?
Police departments are supposed to use psychiatric emergency units. They are trained in how to deal with people in crisis. People are rarely violent, when they are in psychiatric crisis. There is a list.
Well that's nice, but I think "people in crisis" may be an over simplification of the plethora of situations that cops deal with.
I tried to find the article in the Harrisburg Patriot-News archives but without success. This happened within the Patriot's coverage area. I don't recall all the details. I don't remember whether the police were looking for this particular individual for whatever reason. But, the pertinent part of the story is this. A man, in his own home, asleep on his sofa, was tasered by police. And, then, before he could recover from the initial shock, he was tasered again. Fortunately, he was not killed. I'll continue to try to locate the story so that I can provide complete details.
-- EKATON --
Okay, I found the story, not in the Harrisburg newspaper but in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It seems that the man was tasered for sleeping while black, and was then arrested for "being belligerent" after being tasered three times in his own home after committing no crime whatsoever.
Tasered at his own home: the Shawn Hicks story
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When Shawn Hicks returned to his North Braddock home on Stokes Avenue after a Saturday night out on the town with friends, he didn't bother turning on the lights.
Instead of heading to his bedroom, Mr. Hicks, a 29-year-old business major at Point Park University, plopped himself face down and fully dressed on his cream-colored leather sofa in his living room. He also neglected to deactivate his home security system, which has a silent alarm.
Surrounded by the darkness and familiar comforts of his home, Mr. Hicks was asleep within five minutes. He didn't know it at the time, but he was not destined to have sweet dreams that night.
"I felt a lot of voltage going through my body," Mr. Hicks said recalling the events of that late July weekend. "That's what woke me up."
Jumping to his feet, Mr. Hicks was aware of an intense sensation between the shoulder blades of his 150-pound body. It didn't stop there. His whole body felt as if it were on fire.
When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, his heart skipped yet another beat. Two North Braddock police officers, Gerard Kraly and Lukas Laeuricia, were standing in his living room. To this day, Mr. Hicks still doesn't know which is Kraly and which Laeuricia.
The shorter of the two officers did most of the talking. His mustached partner was a burly over-6-footer in his late 30s or early 40s. He held the Taser, the prongs of which were sticking in Mr. Hicks' back.
The polite family newspaper version of what Mr. Hicks said in response to being electrified translates roughly as "What's going on here?"
The shorter cop, whom Mr. Hicks remembers as blond, asked him to calm down. The officer said that North Braddock police received a call from the security company monitoring Mr. Hicks' home. They believed a break-in was in progress.
The cops had entered the home, turned on the light and found Mr. Hicks asleep on the sofa. If they identified themselves or ordered him to get up, Mr. Hicks said he did not hear it. He said he wasn't aware of their presence until he was shot in the back with a Taser.
According to Mr. Hicks, the cops were skeptical. "How do we know that you're who you say you are?" the shorter of the two cops asked.
At that point, the cop holding the Taser squeezed the trigger, sending Mr. Hicks into paroxysm of agony. It was not a short jolt like the first one he received. He fell to the floor. His screams woke the neighbors.
"What do you want?" Mr. Hicks asked. "Please stop [shooting] me." The shorter cop helped him to his feet. Swaying unsteadily, he offered to show them his identification. They searched him and found his wallet. After inspecting it, they threw the wallet on the coffee table.
"I told you I lived here and that I'm the legal resident," he shouted, believing he finally had justice, common decency and the angels of heaven on his side. A staff member at the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania, Mr. Hicks counts himself on the side of the law-abiding citizen.
The cop with the Taser squeezed the trigger again, anyway. Mr. Hicks flapped his arms wildly, but didn't fall. All he could do was scream loud enough to be heard all over the Mon Valley.
After removing the pellets from his bloody back, the cops handcuffed Mr. Hicks and led him out his front door to a police van. They did not read him his rights, Mr. Hicks says. The back of his shirt was soaked with warm, sticky blood.
Meanwhile, cops from six neighboring boroughs searched the house for other "burglars."
Mr. Hicks' mother, Arlene, arrived just as her son was being escorted out the door. She had Mr. Hicks' 11-year-old daughter and a niece in tow. "Why are you arresting my son?" she asked. The taller of the two cops answered that he "didn't have to tell her anything."
When Mrs. Hicks persisted, he said her son was being arrested for "being belligerent."
In the van, Mr. Hicks said he told the cops he needed medical attention. He says they told him he would wind up in county lockup if he insisted on it. "Never mind," Mr. Hicks said.
Mr. Hicks sat in a holding cell until 5 a.m. The cops returned. "We're not filing charges," they told him. "You're free to go, but if you get into trouble in the next year, we will file charges."
Mr. Hicks staggered into the parking lot and began walking the 10 minutes to the Braddock hospital, refusing another officer's offer of a ride home. He was examined and released that morning. Mr. Hicks filed a detailed police complaint the following Monday, but the case didn't come to public attention until the New Pittsburgh Courier's front-page story last week.
The North Braddock police department referred inquiries to the borough solicitor, John Bacharach, but he declined to give the officers' side of the story. "I know about the incident," Mr. Bacharach told me. "I don't want to comment because I am not confident enough in the facts to say one way or the other." He promised that "the matter will be investigated."
Mr. Hicks will be moving forward with his legal strategy if he doesn't hear from North Braddock soon. You don't have to be Johnnie Cochran to know what's going to happen next.
First published on September 11, 2007 at 12:00 am
Tony Norman can be reached at: tnorman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1631.
-- EKATON --
Am I the only one skeptical that this is what actually happened? The story certainly is one sided, even recognizing that the police really can't publically comment at this point.
Taser guns and their use are part of the new POLICE STATE We The People are now living in. The San Diego police carry taser guns on their belts along with their regular gun, night stick and flashlight. We've all become desensitized to their presence and use.
Hell, I've seen cops that need suspenders to hold their belts up because they have so much crap dangling from it. Insane.
Tasers were presented to the Canadian Public as "An Alternative to deadly force" with the claims it would help save lives.
A study was done across canada using statistics before and after the introduction of taser.
Deadly force by the Police, that being where they had to pull a gun was something like 5 time sin one major Canadian City pre taser.
After the introduction of the Taser...while taser use was in the HUNDREDS in the same city, the police still had to pull their gund and use deadly force 5 times.
In essence there was no reduction in the use of deadly force. The use of a taser just became more and more commonplace for incidents where no one would hvae thought of using a gun before.
Its now become a "You pissed me off so I am gonna taser you". Now in the old days if police used excessive force, a victim would have bruises or broken bones to show for it. Now they get tased....a form of torture really and it very hard to prove "excessive force" in the courts.
pk
The Taser is by definition a deadly weapon, but orders of magnitude less deadly than firearms. The same rules should still apply; deadly force is only justified to prevent death or grievous bodily harm to the police officer or other people. Taser incidents should be investigated in the same manner as police shootings, and officers who use them inappropriately should be prosecuted for aggravated battery, second degree murder or other felonies.
Alex
Tasers don't kill people.Pigs kill people
15 feet. Pretty common distance for an attack. Two big steps and you have a knife in your chest.
I will keep my taser thank you.
In the states, there was a guy coming at the police with a knife. They shot him in the heart and he was still able to stab an officer to death within that range.
jakenewton
There's something you don't seem to understand. If the police continue to do as they're doing, eventually they will lose the good faith of the public... and then a lot more of them will be hurt and killed by that same public.
Deal.