Phoenix Man Dies After Being Tasered

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...16440001150542
&dt=20050503164400&w=APO&coview=

13 Taser related deaths in the U.S. and Canada in the first three months
of this year, compared with 6 for the same time period last year.
Interesting. I listen daily to the police radio in my area, we have at
least one Taser Queen officer, she must literally Tase 10 people a month,
at the least. Yesterday, two male officers on a call for a psychotic
patient, were asked by the dispatch if one of them had a Taser. The one
officer replied "oh yeah", in a very exuberant manner. Guess what? He
called in minutes later, asking for an ambulance, as he had to Tase the
man. Imagine that.

Every time they Tase someone here, they take him/her to the hospital.
Recently, the officer remained the Tased patient at the hospital for at
least 2 hours, and had to be relieved by another officer. Too bad that
the hospital doesn't give priority to Tased patients, but then again, I
guess they would need to build another wing.

This area doesn't have the manpower to waste babysitting Taser victims in
the hospital. Of course, those of you that are blindly Pro law
enforcement will balk, after all being a cop is a dangerous job. But so
is being a fireman, a lineman, a chemical plant worker, a Lobster
Fisherman, etc. If the officers are so intimidated by their work, they
have the freedom to get a desk job somewhere.

We can't condone the sacrifice of the Rights and Freedoms of ordinary
Americans to make the world a safer place for cops. Of course, none of
this will happen to you. My sons were accosted by 2 Pittsburgh cops after
my son had made an illegal left turn. He had his license, owners and
insurance card, the car was registered and inspected. Ordinarily, they
issue a ticket and you're on your way. Not so this time. One officer
proceeded as expected, the other stood there and tried to instigate my
sons into an outburst. The stereo in the car was removed for service (I
had it at my house), and one officer asked about the missing radio by
asking "what the **** is the story with the hole in the dash"? My son
explained. Shortly after that, the same officer, while looking at the
outside of the car said "what a piece of **** this car is, but I guess
there's an ass for every seat".

He continued by insisting that my son was drunk, they reached in and
searched the inside of the car, such as in the door storage areas, and he
kept saying "we know that you have drugs, just tell us, and we'll let you
go". This went on for about 15 minutes, when my oldest son (28 years old,
he wasn't the driver), finally said "our uncle is a police officer". The
2 cops got a chuckle out of that, and they said "oh yeah, where does he
work"? My son gave them the details. (their uncle is a detective with the
Pittsburgh Police). The officers grew silent and went off to the side to
talk to each other. They returned and said that they were going to let
them go, as long as my son thought he was fit to drive.

What would have happened if my sons lost their temper? Taser time! Never
mind that they didn't have anything for the officers to hold them for.
They were just going to anger my sons until they got mad, and charge them
with something. Yes yes, he did make an illegal turn, this would justify
a ticket, not the harassment.

Dr. Artaud