Taser Death + Myspace = Another Myspace Investigation Post

I gotta say, the law enforcement in the county I live and work in use the old Taser quite a bit. I think for the amount of times it's used (they keep stats) there seem to be too many resulting deaths.

I realize there are many possible issues that are not always taken into account (drugs and prior medical condition of the individual being tased) when people are screaming at the cops to stop a certain technique that always seems to cause more harm than good but this is something that just blows my mind. I can't understand why we citizen's continue to allow shit like this to go on.

The reason I bring this up is because I came across this news story while zipping through my noticias and coffee this morning:

Police Stun Gun Kills Teen With Bible

Oct 31 8:42 AM US/Eastern

A teenager carrying a bible and shouting "I want Jesus" was shot twice with a police stun gun and later died at a St. Louis hospital, authorities said.

In a statement obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, police in Jerseyville, about 40 miles north of St. Louis, said 17-year-old Roger Holyfield would not acknowledge officers who approached him and he continued yelling, "I want Jesus."

Police tried to calm the teen, but Holyfield became combative, according to the statement. Officers fired the stun gun at him after he ignored their warnings, then fired again when he continued struggling, police said.

Holyfield was flown to St. Louis' Cardinal Glennon Hospital after the confrontation Saturday; he died there Sunday, police said.

An autopsy was planned for Tuesday.

The statement expressed sympathy to Holyfield's family but said city and police officials would not discuss the matter further.

It's a short read but towards the end, the news brief says this:

The rise in deaths accompanies a marked increase in the number of U.S. law enforcement agencies employing devices made by Taser International Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz. About 1,000 of the nation's 18,000 police agencies used Tasers in 2001; more than 7,000 departments had them last year, according to a government study.

Ummm...Is anyone else paying attention to this?

I've also see the resulting injuries from the Taser on client's and it is not a pretty thing...especially when the little pronged metallic barbs attach themselves to someone's face. Yeah. Not good.

The Myspace Connection

One of Roger Holyfield's friends, Chut Up! posted this in her blog about him, the incident, and the aftermath:

Sunday, October 29, 2006
Tased

Current mood: irate

Today was a bad day.I found out this morning that something horrible happened to one of my close friends. Someone who was practically my brother.

Let me give you some background info: he's bipolar, been in and out of juvy/jail/mental institutions for years, but he's also a good kid. He's just got a mental problem. So he has a record and is immediately discriminated. People are biased against him.

Last night sometime, he was sitting on the corner by walgreens, clutching his bible and screaming for jesus. A cop pulled up and asked what was wrong, after he refused to answer for a while the cop tased him. The kid then started screaming more and obviously freaked out a bit. The cop continued to tase him. More cops arrived due to a call for backup and the fact that 4 witnesses freaked at the constant tasing and called the police thinking it would help. It didn't. Approximately 5 tasers total were shot at the kid and then voltage was repeatedly sent through his body. Even after they had gotten him handcuffed.

The kid went into cardiac arrest. That means your heart shuts down. For nearly an hour he was legally dead. He was revived and now has permanent brain damage. Last I heard it wasn't declared so, but all the doctors were positive that he was Brain Dead, which means your brain is, well, dead and your body is still living...for now.

He was going to be baptised tomorrow.

The police in Jerseyville killed a kid who did nothing wrong, except for to scream for jesus to save him.We don't know which cops did it, which cop started it...but we will find out. And they WILL be punished. And if there is a hell, they will burn in it.

Read the comments at the end of the post. It's sad and of course nothing is confirmed but five taser's shot at the kid is a bit more than what was reported in the news brief.

I'm also very curious to find out whats going to happen to the cops involved.

More later...