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Reasons to Fear Increasing Taser Abuse in NYC

By TChris, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 03:28:15 PM EST
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The headline in the Metro section of today's New York Times only tells half the story:

Tasers Getting More Prominent Role in Crime Fighting in City

The title to this post reflects the other half.

NYPD officers now use their 500 Tasers in limited situations. Expanding Taser use is a perilous experiment. It isn't particularly comforting to know that only sergeants will have the authority to handle Tasers, in light of this:

Stun guns were introduced in New York in the early 1980s, when officers were confronting a higher number of disturbed people because of the rapid and widespread deinstitutionalization of mental health patients. The devices were not seen as a success. ... Several high-ranking officers and sergeants were transferred from the 106th Precinct in Queens after officers were charged with using stun guns on drug suspects during interrogations. [emphasis added]

The most important facts, at which the Times headline does not hint, come at the end of the linked article: [more ...]

On Monday, a 26-year-old man died after he was shocked twice with a Taser by an officer on Long Island trying to keep him from swallowing a bag of cocaine, the Suffolk County police said. The man, Tony Curtis Bradway of Brooklyn, spat out a white powder and “remnants of a plastic bag,” the police said, and he died at a hospital nine hours after the episode.

The next day, news broke that a federal jury in California had held Taser International partly responsible in the death of a Salinas, Calif., man and had awarded his family more than $6 million in that civil case. ...

On Wednesday, Sanford A. Rubenstein, a lawyer, announced the filing of a lawsuit against New York City in the case of a retired police lieutenant’s son who had been hit four times with a Taser after the police responded to a barbecue at his Harlem home last August. The man, Alexander Lombard III, who was 18 at the time, “has permanent Taser marks and scarring,” Mr. Rubenstein said. “And he is getting counseling and getting physical therapy.”

Also on Wednesday, Amnesty International said it had tracked more than 300 cases since 2001 in which people died after being shocked by a Taser. And although studies have not shown what role the devices might have played in those deaths, “extreme caution” is in order, said Larry R. Cox, the executive director of Amnesty.

In light of the well-founded fear that officers will use a supposedly nonlethal weapon inappropriately, either unnecessarily or as punishment, the warning sounded by Larry Cox should be at the beginning of the Times article, not at the end:

“They should be fired in circumstances when the use of deadly force would be the only alternative,” said Mr. Cox. He said that the Taser’s billing as a “safe, nonlethal instrument” was faulty.

TalkLeft has made that point repeatedly.

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    Reasons to Fear Increasing Taser Abuse in NYC | 29 comments (29 topical)

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    It is not a tool; it is a weapon (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by befuddledvoter on Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 04:41:25 PM EST
    In Oct. of 2004 Victoria Snelgrove was killed by "non-lethal weapon," FN303, which are projectile launchers.  She was a junior at emerson college who descended on Kenmore Square with about 30K others to celebrate the Red Sox winning of the AL East Championship.  She was an innocent bystander.  No evidence at all that she was rowdy or unruly.  Really tragic.  

    I was abused by a bullhorn by a sergeant during (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by jawbone on Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 05:24:33 PM EST
    the February 2002 anti-Iraq Invasion rally in NYC.

    Of course, we never got to the rally bcz we kept being funneled onto and up Third Avenue, then eventually penned in by block.  Once we were hemmed in by a wall of cops across each end of the block, I went up to the guy who appeared to be giving orders and suggested, in my best Wisconsin politely reasonable tone, that if he wanted cooperation he might want to use his bullhorn to explain to the people what he wanted them to do, that people would be less nervous and fearful and would be more maleable.

    The officer turned his bullhorn directly into my right ear and began shouting orders to the cops.  It felt like being assaulted; the sound was so loud and directly into my ear that my head was ringing and it took hours to hear well on that side.

    I'm still shocked that the guy went off on me like that. I did absolutely nothing--except try to be reasonable.

    It was then that we were pushed into corners, held in place by an angled wall of cops, with our back and sides closed off by barricades. Later, they had horses pushing the people into tighter and tighter space.  There was no reason for this; no need to do this.

    I was in the front and held my arm out straight, thinking that when the horse felt my hand it would stop moving inward, which is what did happen. There were women and kids behind me sobbing hysterically from feeling they were going to be crushed. One woman, with the most amazing voice, just kept shouting over and over and over, "Let me go home. Let me go home." She perhaps had voice training, as she never got hoarse. People who were simply on the wrong block at the wrong time got caught up in this intimidation tactic.

    It was on my block that, when the horses were being brought into our block, at pretty much a gallop, one of the horses hit some ice and went down.  The police were ordered to use their horses simply for intimidation and thus put those animals in danger. Good grief!!

    It was a stunning example of the government using force simply to make people afraid.

    And, for what? Just to teach people that it could be done to them?

    Mayor Bloomberg said there was nothing wrong with what the police did that day. However, things were far different during the March anti-war march.

    Point being, anything can be misused to enforce, (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by jawbone on Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 05:35:30 PM EST
    well, force.

    Parent
    Why not just hold tasers... (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by dianem on Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 06:48:24 PM EST
    ...to the same standard as guns? If an officer fires a gun in the line of duty he has to fill out paperwork explaining why he did so. I'm certain that taser use could be tracked the same way, and I'm betting that if police officers knew that they'd have to explain each usage they would be far more reluctant to use them. This would also result in better tracking of usage - and a better idea of how often such usage results in serous injury or death.

    it seems to me that tasers can be used (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by hellothere on Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 11:20:30 PM EST
    in a very limited manner in certain situations where an officer would resort to a gun. i am thinking about someone under the influence of pcp where they are out of control and have to be brought down so to speak. it is not a good thing to ever use but if handled properly it is far better than a bullet. when i see a video of someone being abused with a taser, i feel deep anger.

    certainly they are being abused and yes other methods such as talk down should be used first. more training and fast response to abuse come to mind.

    Was does "subdueing" (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by jondee on Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 01:13:52 PM EST
    seem to always have to involve the inflicting of pain?

    I mean, if it's absolutely necessary, couldnt they come up with some nice little cocktail that would fit into a dart?

    They take more care subdueing hyenas than they do humans these days.

    Same with interrogations: I think they could make more headway with a couple of hits of oraganic mescaline and the Brandenburg Concertos ( good cop) or The News From Lake Woebegon (bad cop) on a continuous tape loop than with the black gloved fascistic tactics they use now.

    Why does (none / 0) (#19)
    by jondee on Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 01:14:40 PM EST
    Sheez

    Parent
    It's a tool (none / 0) (#1)
    by nellre on Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 03:38:22 PM EST
    The tools are only as good at the person using them.
    We need better cops.

    If That Were A Practical Solution (none / 0) (#2)
    by squeaky on Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 03:59:14 PM EST
    We would not need to have nuclear disarmament, for example. Seems that limiting the weapons is more practical than finding people that would not abuse them.

    Parent
    I think the Taser has been over-promoted (none / 0) (#3)
    by oculus on Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 04:03:39 PM EST
    as harmless.  However, it is usually much less harmful than shots fired by a law enforcement officer's service revolver.  Using a Taser during interrogation, however, smacks of applying John Yoo's memo to a situation where police practices manuals and training regimens should control.  

    Parent
    WTF do nuclear weapons (non