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Indybay Feature
Death by Police Taser
Millions of people were stunned and outraged by the videos that showed Oakland BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) cop Johannes Mehserle draw his gun and kill Oscar Grant. Mehserle quit his job 7 days after the killing to avoid giving any statement about what happened or why he did it. Now Mehserle’s lawyers are working hard to offer a plausible explanation to exonerate the cop for the killing. They say that contrary to what people might think, Mehserle had “no criminal intent” when he fired his gun into Grant’s back at point-blank range. They back up this outrageous statement by explaining their theory that this cop “may have mistakenly deployed his pistol rather than his taser” and did not mean to kill Oscar. He just meant to tase him.
Meanwhile, a little more than a month after Oscar Grant was killed in Oakland, another young man was killed by police taser, 40 miles away in San Jose. His name was Richard Lua, and police killed him in front of his own garage, during a “routine patrol.” Police murder has become so “routine” that many times an explanation is offered only as an afterthought. Like Oscar Grant, Richard Lua leaves behind a young daughter and a grieving, outraged family.
Taser use is so routine in San Jose that Lua’s is the 6th death by police taser there just since 2005. Death by police taser is on the increase, and in California these deaths are not even counted as part of the state attorney general’s official tally of “police involved homicides,” which numbers over 100 every year. Neither are deaths from police chokeholds or from asphyxiation through being maced or hog-tied. All of these weapons and methods are part of an ugly panorama of police brutality that is entrenched and endemic and an indispensable part of the function of police in this society.
Amnesty International reported in 2004 that the organization was “concerned by the growing number of fatalities involving police tasers. Since 2001, more than 70 people are reported to have died in the USA and Canada after being struck by M26 or X26 tasers, with the numbers rising each year.” In 2005, the ACLU issued a report saying that “Since 1999, at least 148 people in the United States and Canada have died after encounters with police who shocked them with Tasers.” A website put up by family and friends of Richard Bagnell, a Canadian man who died after being tasered, now lists 397 people killed in North America. And at least 8 people have been killed by tasers in only the first two months of 2009.
Ev’ry time I hear the crack of the whip
My blood runs cold
I remember on the slave ship
How they brutalized our very souls
—Bob Marley, “Slave Driver”
Tasers have replaced the slave driver’s whip and the prison guard’s cattle prod as one of the high-tech control device used by more than 12,000 police departments and in prisons worldwide.
Taser International claims that its products are a less lethal weapon than guns or even batons, and that tasers are "changing the world and saving lives everyday." But the new tasers deliver a staggering 50,000 volts of electricity. These electro-shock weapons can be used in “stun mode” or with darts. When in “dart” mode, the shocks cause total “momentary neuro-muscular incapacitation” (source: University of California, San Francisco press release), while the stun mode inflicts intense localized pain. Tasers are used extensively around the world, including in Iraq, most notoriously by the same U.S. military brigade accused of "sadistic, blatant and wanton" abuse in Abu Ghraib.
Along with guns, sticks, pepper spray and the choke-hold, tasers are part of an arsenal of weapons employed against the people to inflict terror and pain and even death. And, unlike firing his gun, in most places a cop needs only the slightest excuse to justify using his taser.
In the U.S., far from being used only on supposedly “violent suspects” the Amnesty International study says that tasers are often used against "passive resisters"—people who refuse to comply with police commands but do not interfere with an officer and pose no physical threat. Police use tasers on people who “mouth off,” or people who are distressed or mentally ill and who are not suspected of a crime. Amnesty reported that “at least 1,000 U.S. jails and prisons have adopted the new generation M26 or X26 Tasers, where they are deployed in both dart projectile and stun mode.” Amnesty documents cases of pregnant women having miscarriages after being tasered.
Children
In 2006 millions of people reacted with shock at a brutal taser attack on a student in the UCLA library, but a less-known outrage is that there are hundreds of reported cases where cops have used taser guns on children. In Arizona a 13 year old was tased for throwing a book in a public library. In another Arizona case, a 9-year-old runaway girl who was sitting in the back of a police car, handcuffed, was tased because she was "screaming, kicking and flailing, and would not listen." Would not listen? The youngest reported victim of police tasing was in Miami, a boy who was only 6 years old. He was in the vice principal’s office where he had broken a picture frame, and was waving a piece of glass around. His outraged mother told CNN, "If there's three officers, it's nothing to tell a 6‑year‑old holding a glass, if you feel threatened, 'Hey, here's a piece of candy, hey, here's a toy. Let the glass go."
Taser Confusion
While some media have jumped on the taser confusion bandwagon and trotted out various “experts” to talk about how stressed out Mehserle must have been to mistake a taser for his gun, others have ridiculed this idea as preposterous and marshalled the cold facts. The X26 taser issued to BART cops is a plastic device that weighs only 7 ounces. The Sig Sauer that Mehserle shot Grant with is made of metal, weighing 30 ounces unloaded—more than 4 times as much as the taser. The taser was holstered on the opposite side as Mehserle’s gun, and looks and feels completely different.
But another question needs to be asked. Before he was shot, Oscar Grant was detained, lying on his stomach, with his hands behind his back and with an officer’s foot on his neck. What excuse was there to even tase the 22 year old? Perhaps Officer Mehserle only meant to torture him?
The ACLU and Amnesty International are not alone in condemning tasers. In 2007 the U.N. Committee Against Torture said the use of tasers could constitute a form of torture. This cruel punishment, a brutality carried out by police for the slightest offense, without charges or trial, is increasingly a part of American injustice and part of an international epidemic of state-sponsored violence and murder.
The outcome of the murder trial of Mehserle has great significance. If the cop happens to “mistake” his gun for a taser and kills that person, and if this cop is then judged in court to be devoid of “criminal intent,” then what is to stop any cop from killing anyone at any time for any reason? If intending to use an electro-shock weapon on a person lying face down with his hands behind his back can be categorized as following correct police procedure, then it will exonerate police brutality. What kind of legal precedent will that set and how much of this can people tolerate? Enough is enough.
Sources:
“UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Excessive and lethal force? Amnesty International’s concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving police use of tasers,” Amnesty International report, November 2004
“UN Compares Tasers to Torture,” CBS News, November 26, 2007
“Unregulated Use of Taser Stun Guns Threatens Lives, ACLU of Northern California Study Finds,” ACLU press release, 10/6/05
San Jose Mercury, 2/2/09, 2/3/09
“Did BART cop who killed Oscar Grant mistake gun for Taser? Plan 9 from BART police,” by Junya, San Francisco Bay View, January 6, 2009
“398+ Dead After Taser Use,” April 6, 2008, http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/2008/04/what‑follows‑are‑names‑where‑known.html
Taser use is so routine in San Jose that Lua’s is the 6th death by police taser there just since 2005. Death by police taser is on the increase, and in California these deaths are not even counted as part of the state attorney general’s official tally of “police involved homicides,” which numbers over 100 every year. Neither are deaths from police chokeholds or from asphyxiation through being maced or hog-tied. All of these weapons and methods are part of an ugly panorama of police brutality that is entrenched and endemic and an indispensable part of the function of police in this society.
Amnesty International reported in 2004 that the organization was “concerned by the growing number of fatalities involving police tasers. Since 2001, more than 70 people are reported to have died in the USA and Canada after being struck by M26 or X26 tasers, with the numbers rising each year.” In 2005, the ACLU issued a report saying that “Since 1999, at least 148 people in the United States and Canada have died after encounters with police who shocked them with Tasers.” A website put up by family and friends of Richard Bagnell, a Canadian man who died after being tasered, now lists 397 people killed in North America. And at least 8 people have been killed by tasers in only the first two months of 2009.
Ev’ry time I hear the crack of the whip
My blood runs cold
I remember on the slave ship
How they brutalized our very souls
—Bob Marley, “Slave Driver”
Tasers have replaced the slave driver’s whip and the prison guard’s cattle prod as one of the high-tech control device used by more than 12,000 police departments and in prisons worldwide.
Taser International claims that its products are a less lethal weapon than guns or even batons, and that tasers are "changing the world and saving lives everyday." But the new tasers deliver a staggering 50,000 volts of electricity. These electro-shock weapons can be used in “stun mode” or with darts. When in “dart” mode, the shocks cause total “momentary neuro-muscular incapacitation” (source: University of California, San Francisco press release), while the stun mode inflicts intense localized pain. Tasers are used extensively around the world, including in Iraq, most notoriously by the same U.S. military brigade accused of "sadistic, blatant and wanton" abuse in Abu Ghraib.
Along with guns, sticks, pepper spray and the choke-hold, tasers are part of an arsenal of weapons employed against the people to inflict terror and pain and even death. And, unlike firing his gun, in most places a cop needs only the slightest excuse to justify using his taser.
In the U.S., far from being used only on supposedly “violent suspects” the Amnesty International study says that tasers are often used against "passive resisters"—people who refuse to comply with police commands but do not interfere with an officer and pose no physical threat. Police use tasers on people who “mouth off,” or people who are distressed or mentally ill and who are not suspected of a crime. Amnesty reported that “at least 1,000 U.S. jails and prisons have adopted the new generation M26 or X26 Tasers, where they are deployed in both dart projectile and stun mode.” Amnesty documents cases of pregnant women having miscarriages after being tasered.
Children
In 2006 millions of people reacted with shock at a brutal taser attack on a student in the UCLA library, but a less-known outrage is that there are hundreds of reported cases where cops have used taser guns on children. In Arizona a 13 year old was tased for throwing a book in a public library. In another Arizona case, a 9-year-old runaway girl who was sitting in the back of a police car, handcuffed, was tased because she was "screaming, kicking and flailing, and would not listen." Would not listen? The youngest reported victim of police tasing was in Miami, a boy who was only 6 years old. He was in the vice principal’s office where he had broken a picture frame, and was waving a piece of glass around. His outraged mother told CNN, "If there's three officers, it's nothing to tell a 6‑year‑old holding a glass, if you feel threatened, 'Hey, here's a piece of candy, hey, here's a toy. Let the glass go."
Taser Confusion
While some media have jumped on the taser confusion bandwagon and trotted out various “experts” to talk about how stressed out Mehserle must have been to mistake a taser for his gun, others have ridiculed this idea as preposterous and marshalled the cold facts. The X26 taser issued to BART cops is a plastic device that weighs only 7 ounces. The Sig Sauer that Mehserle shot Grant with is made of metal, weighing 30 ounces unloaded—more than 4 times as much as the taser. The taser was holstered on the opposite side as Mehserle’s gun, and looks and feels completely different.
But another question needs to be asked. Before he was shot, Oscar Grant was detained, lying on his stomach, with his hands behind his back and with an officer’s foot on his neck. What excuse was there to even tase the 22 year old? Perhaps Officer Mehserle only meant to torture him?
The ACLU and Amnesty International are not alone in condemning tasers. In 2007 the U.N. Committee Against Torture said the use of tasers could constitute a form of torture. This cruel punishment, a brutality carried out by police for the slightest offense, without charges or trial, is increasingly a part of American injustice and part of an international epidemic of state-sponsored violence and murder.
The outcome of the murder trial of Mehserle has great significance. If the cop happens to “mistake” his gun for a taser and kills that person, and if this cop is then judged in court to be devoid of “criminal intent,” then what is to stop any cop from killing anyone at any time for any reason? If intending to use an electro-shock weapon on a person lying face down with his hands behind his back can be categorized as following correct police procedure, then it will exonerate police brutality. What kind of legal precedent will that set and how much of this can people tolerate? Enough is enough.
Sources:
“UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Excessive and lethal force? Amnesty International’s concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving police use of tasers,” Amnesty International report, November 2004
“UN Compares Tasers to Torture,” CBS News, November 26, 2007
“Unregulated Use of Taser Stun Guns Threatens Lives, ACLU of Northern California Study Finds,” ACLU press release, 10/6/05
San Jose Mercury, 2/2/09, 2/3/09
“Did BART cop who killed Oscar Grant mistake gun for Taser? Plan 9 from BART police,” by Junya, San Francisco Bay View, January 6, 2009
“398+ Dead After Taser Use,” April 6, 2008, http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/2008/04/what‑follows‑are‑names‑where‑known.html
For more information:
http://revcom.us
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Well over 90% of the "reported" cases of police abuse
go with out any disciplanary action because of the
clauses in union contracts.
In depth reports on the unaccountability of police
titled, "Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and
Accountability in the United States". A report from
Human Rights watch, on the massive amount of police
brutality in the US is posted at:
Human Rights watch http://www.hrw.org
Google search terms;
"Shielded from Justice:
Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States human right s watrch"
Also;
"Police Reform and The Department of Justice: An Essay
on Accountability" by Debra Livingston (PDF report
download) posted at
www.wings.buffalo.edu/law/bclc/bclrarticles/2(2)/livingston.pdf
The following are excerpts from one of my Blogs titled:>
Taser Deaths and Roid a Cops -
Epidemic of Police Brutality & Steroid Abuse (view blog)
Posted at www.myspace.com/justiceishomeless
Excerpt from the cited blog:
The real problem appears to be the
"unaccountable by contract" regardless of
people being shot, tasered, beaten or pepper sprayed.
For example, 90%+ of the "reported" police abuse
in Chicago has gone unpunished.
In reference: Study: Police abuse goes unpunished
by Ryan Gallagher
April 04, 2007 Medill Reports is written and produced
by graduate journalism students at Northwestern University
The article is posted at:>
http://news.medill...northwestern.edu/chicago/news...aspx?id=6125
.......... next
The Google search terms;
"5% responsible for 50% of police abuse"
reveals more information on that aspect.
........ next
Amnesty International has documented over 334 taser deaths.
This amounts to more deaths than those
caused by Firestone tires.
Edit to the cited blog 3-16-2009:>
While I have not been able to find any studies of tasers being
tested to see if the were operating correctly and with in specifications
in such deaths, there are studies that such psyche medications could
be a factor in these deaths, since many of the people tasered were taking
or had been taking such medications.
In reference, report titled:
"Antipsychotics and the Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death"
End of edit to the cited blog 3-16-2009
..... next excerpt from the blog
(more links are active at the blog than this posting)>
How ever, I must stress that an acquaintance of mine was
shot several times in the chest by police. While he nearly
died from his wounds, I expect in all probability that he
would have preferred to have been tasered or drugged (3).
Demetria Kalodimos of Nashville (WSMV) News
did a story about Nashville banning tasers for a
couple of years and using a knock out medication,
in place of tasers (3).
*(3) Article posted with Video:
I-Team: Police Use Controversial Method To Subdue People
After banning the use of tasers, Nashville brought them back with
more restrictions on the use of them and more training for police.
Policies for the use of tasers across the entire
country have resulted in more deaths than Firestone
tires due to the misrepresentation of the dangers
associated with tasers.
While tasers can be and are a useful law
enforcement tool, restrictions on the use of tasers
need to be modified and policies altered accordingly.
Other communities across our Nation have done extensive
studies on the use of tasers and have also reached some conclusions.
Example: UCLA Taser Report August final PDF Report
Excerpt from a well done report regarding the use of tasers
by the Committee on a Civil, Safe, and Open Environment
Quote from the report:
The CSOE Committee recognizes that, as reflected
in the UFPD policy a taser is an intermediate, less
than lethal, weapon, and should be used only when it is
appropriate to use an intermediate weapon.
The CSOE committee has reached a consensus that
the revised UFPD taser policy, which is more restrictive
than State law and more restrictive than the previous
UFPD policy, reflects an appropriate use and limitation
on use of the taser as an intermediate weapon on campus.
End of excerpt from the report by
Committee on a Civil, Safe, and Open Environment
Additional influences on the police abuse:>
End Steroids Use By CopS
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/E_SUCKS/
________________________
Ashort CBS News video that Harrison Pope (Click 4 His Home Page)
from Harvard University was interviewed in,
Police Steroid Abuse On Rise - CBS Early Show News video link
Jeff Glor reports on Steroid Abuse and Police Brutality
Oct 26, 2007 A short documentary on the recent
wave of police brutality and steroid abuse,
now posted at a CBS web page
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3379907n
_______________________
Informative articles on steroid abuse in law enforcement:
Cops on Steroids
It's the "other" doping scandal,
and Mens Health Magazine is breaking it wide open.
A policeman that had been convicted of steroid abuse
states 20% - 25% of police abuse steroids
By: Sabrina Rubin Erdely, Illustrations by: Eddie Guy
Mens Health, Health and Fitness,
Forget ballplayers. More than ever, police officers are
juicing up to get an edge on perps, but at what price?
Men's Health magazine investigates.
________
Where is Congressional investigation of steroid abuse among law enforcement?
"Grits For Breakfast" blog, by Scott Henson, a former
journalist turned opposition researcher/political
consultant, public policy researcher and blogger.
Excellent research and reference links.
----
Spot the Juicer
How to tell if a guy is natural or artificially enhanced
By: Lou Schuler, Illustrations by: Susan Gilbert
Mens Health Magazine
________
Oakland California has instituted such a policy that can also be
viewed as "preventative medicine". If your community does not
have a "proven problem", such a policy could prevent it from
having one. For instance, the Boston police department
was busted by a Federal Grand Jury, for steroid abuse.
A number of other cities have also been busted and more are expected.
_______________________
Commentary;
A National Epidemic that could be stopped with
cost effective ,"Random Testing For Steroids".
Oakland California has instituted such a policy that can also be
viewed as "preventative medicine". If your community does not
have a "proven problem", such a policy could prevent it from
having one. For instance, the Boston police department was
busted by a Federal Grand Jury, for steroid abuse. A number of
other cities have also been busted and more are expected.
Oakland CA now uses random steroid testing.
Chicago Ill is talking about testing police for drugs and alcohol
(including steroids) when ever a policeman
discharges a firearm and or gets abuse complaints.
On or off duty.
http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1243654828&channel=86259178
From the Department of Justice:
Steroid Abuse By Law Enforcement Personnel
A Guide For Understanding The Dangers Of Anabolic Steroids
March 2004
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/brochures/steroids/lawenforcement/
The above web page is at the DEA's Office of Diversion Control.
Google search term:
"Big Guns: When Cops Use Steroids Steroid Abuse Can
Contribute to Police Brutality Even Murder
ABC'Marc Lallanilla May, 2005"
By ABC' News Marc Lallanilla (May, 2005)
ABC News: Big Guns: When Cops Use Steroids
Steroid Abuse Can Contribute to Police Brutality -- Even
Murder ... is quietly unfolding in small towns and big
cities across America -- cops on steroids. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/US/story?id=775659&page=1
_________________________________
Note:
End Steroids Use By CopS
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/E_SUCKS/
About the Yahoo Group "E_SUCKS"
It is meant as a forum, to share relevant articles, news, statistics,
and testimonies to impact legistation about Cops on steroids, and
its mur dertous effect on our community.
It is particularly crucial that we track down cities and counties
were cops must now be submitted to :
* Testing after use of Excessive Force
* Random Testing.
_________________________________________________
Roid a Cops & Police Brutality
This is posted in an attempt to prevent police brutality
and improve the safety of our communities.
No copyright is claimed. Please reproduce at will.
What might you expect to happen when
"Toxic Victims" are called "mentally ill"
and they meet up with a policeman that is
"raging" from steroid abuse (aka roiding) ?
The steroid abuse as a factor in police shootings and
abuse was pointed out to me in correspondences with
The IDRISS STELLEY FOUNDATION
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/idrissstelleyfoundation/
that was started with the money won in a lawsuit for
the death of IDRISS STELLEY after he was
sshot48 times by 9 San Francisco policemen.
"Roid a cops" and police brutality, on a bad judgment call
By the The Toxic Reverend
We as tax payers put out a lot of cash to train a policeman.
They join the force, wanting to do good,help people and try to
make a difference in a very screwed up world.
Some times, I have to wonder what changes ? How do some
of them become "bad apples" and give their entire profession a
bad name ?
For a few years, I have been doing research on the effects of
the "low dose cumulative effects of toxic chemicals" with violence
and abusive behavior.
Law enforcement is not excempt from such toxic chemical
exposures. But they do maintain a harder "front" than most
classes of society, with the "I am fine" presentation. Their
ego's are just that way, or they probably would not be in that
profession. Think about it. They risk their lives on a daily basis
to "uphold the law". They are heroes. And as such, they are
not to prone to saying, they have a problem, of any kind.
While I was researching this issue, I became acquainted
with Mesha. Her son had been shot 48 times by 9 San Francisco
policeman. She started The IDRISS STELLEY FOUNDATION
with the money from the wrongful death suit of her sons murder.
Mesha was very kind and patient the times that I have called.
But the other day, she got me. She admitted that yes, the toxic
chemicals could also impact a policeman's decision to use
deadly force. But then she asked what I thought might happen
when a "Toxic Victim" (as I call "mentally ill") that is acting out,
meets up with a policeman on steroids ?
Mesha agreed that everything that I was on about can apply
to such a situation as an unjustified police shooting. But she
also thought that steroid abuse by law enforcement is inducing
some "bad judgment calls", more than anything else. And that
these factors are being protected by the " Blue Wall of Silence".
So being an open minded hippy, after talking to Mesha, I did
a couple of Google searches on the subject.
The results astounded me. The Google search terms were
"police steroid abuse" and "police steroid abuse testing".
I thought I would find masses of articles about the police busting
people for it. But nooooo, I find massive articles about police
forces around the country being busted.
Si I tried posting "Roid-a-cops and police brutality" at myspace. It would not post. So I sent it to a number of friends at myspace. They could not get it to post. Though Ken said a couple of days later that he was able to post it. Seems there is a tracking program at myspace for censorship. This report has finally posted at Myspace bulletin's and my blog. After some serious complaining is rather public ways, across the Internet. Anyway, I became rather frustrated and called Mesha. What I had decided to do was spread a "true rumor" that did seem to get "their attention". And not just Mysapce's. I called the Sonoma County sheriff and a captain answered the phone. He said that the sheriff was unavailable. So I told the captain that I had done a Google search that shows police departments around the country were being busted by the feds for steroid abuse. I told him the search terms and I could sense the panic in his voice. I told him that the searches reveal Boston police being busted by a federal grand jury investigation. Dallas also came up with the search and too many others to list. Now I only went over the first ten results of the first search term and twenty of the second. When I got to the one about president Bush talking about steroid abuse in a State of the Union address, I stopped. After all, Bush was talking about steroid abuse in sports. Maybe he should have been a bit more specific and included law enforcement. You know .... the people that enforce the laws against such things as drug abuse. Not that I want to snitch out the feds and risk screwing up any investigation that they might have. I am not aware of Sonoma County being investigated for steroid abuse. Maybe it isn't. Maybe it is ? All I know is that I do not want to be charged with "obstruction of justice", for bringing this to their attention. After all, more often than not, "no good deed goes unpunished". What I can point out is what other police departments that have ignored the abuse of steroids like an ostrich, have found. While they are so bent over with their heads in the sand, the feds sneak up and give them an exam that nobody likes. Regardless of sexual orientation. As the prior mentioned search reveals, it was a Federal Grand Jury investigation that busted the Boston police department for steroid abuse. Maybe if all of the San Francisco MUNI bus drivers that have to pee in a bottle for random drug screening became aware of this. They might be able to break the censorship and warn others of the impeding steroid exams .... or a, the investigations that have busted so many police departments around the country ? One of my psychologists had told me that "the good and the bad news it that I am not paranoid or delusional". Now please excuse me .... I need to get back to editing "Toxic Revelations" and my Myspace profile / blog. It is my intention to post this at my blog. If I can ...... Blessings, The Toxic Reverend, is asking Who's a criminal ? Cc The IDRISS STELLEY FOUNDATION A nonprofit organization created through the settlement of Idriss Stelley's vs. City & County and SFPD case and its allocation to his mother Mesha Monge-Irizarry. Her only child, 23 African American honor student was killed by SFPD at the SF Sony Metreon on June 13, 2001, 48 shots, 9 officers, as he stood alone in an empty theater. The Idriss Stelley's case is at the root of the 40-HR mandatory San Francisco Police Departments Mental Health Training, http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/idrissstelleyfoundation/ __________________ ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Iolmisha@.. Date: Aug 19, 2007 10:26 PM Subject: Re: ? Fwd: Re: Police Shootings Fwd: Violence & Toxic Chemical Exposures Fwd:... To: toxicreverend@ ..Well... I am not sure how to relay it back to my son Idriss' murder by PD, you'll be the judge of what is relevant or appropriate to forward. I know that my son got much sicker with his already severe asthma since I purchased a house for him in SF Bayview Hunters Point in 1997, a mile from the shipyard, and a block from Candlestick park. End of excerpt from the blog titled: Taser Deaths and Roid a Cops - Epidemic of Police Brutality & Steroid Abuse (view blog) Blessings, The Toxic Reverend http://www.myspace.com/toxicreverend aka Justice Is Homeless http://www.myspace.com/justiceishomeless
For more information:
http://www.myspace.com/justiceishomeless
Wow..I love this letter, you've expressed everything I've been feeling. These Taser deaths are no coincidence. The Canadians recently adapted much stricter standards for Taser use by RCMP officers, after some horrible Taser deaths.
Yeah. Officer Mehserle wasn't really intending to shoot Oscar Grant to death. He just meant to Tase him. Note that Mr. Grant knew full well the danger of a Taser strike and had begged to be spared it earlier in the altercation.
A guy just got kicked off Glocktalk dot com for discussing the new Canadian Taser standards for law enforcement. and for posting articles about Taser lethality. He had posted three URLs to horrible Taser abuse cases in his signature block. One of them was the Taser death of a 17 year old boy who stole two snacks from the store he worked at. I'm not kidding. Another was of a police officer torturing a brain damaged woman , who was trying to explain that she was brain damaged. Yeah. It's crazy, Man. Taser abuse has got to stop.
Yeah. Officer Mehserle wasn't really intending to shoot Oscar Grant to death. He just meant to Tase him. Note that Mr. Grant knew full well the danger of a Taser strike and had begged to be spared it earlier in the altercation.
A guy just got kicked off Glocktalk dot com for discussing the new Canadian Taser standards for law enforcement. and for posting articles about Taser lethality. He had posted three URLs to horrible Taser abuse cases in his signature block. One of them was the Taser death of a 17 year old boy who stole two snacks from the store he worked at. I'm not kidding. Another was of a police officer torturing a brain damaged woman , who was trying to explain that she was brain damaged. Yeah. It's crazy, Man. Taser abuse has got to stop.
From 2006:
"Behind BALCO: The Hidden Officer Involved Shooting"
If the BALCO case is strictly about drug use in sports, then why is Barry Bonds represented by Michael Rains - a lawyer whose entire legal career has been spent protecting police from prosecution? While we're being distracted by the Bonds saga, are we missing a connection between steroids and police?
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/04/16/18157391.php
Update: Michael Rains is now the defense attorney for Johannes Mehserle, on trial for murdering Oscar Grant on the BART platform New Years Day.
"Behind BALCO: The Hidden Officer Involved Shooting"
If the BALCO case is strictly about drug use in sports, then why is Barry Bonds represented by Michael Rains - a lawyer whose entire legal career has been spent protecting police from prosecution? While we're being distracted by the Bonds saga, are we missing a connection between steroids and police?
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/04/16/18157391.php
Update: Michael Rains is now the defense attorney for Johannes Mehserle, on trial for murdering Oscar Grant on the BART platform New Years Day.
Re-evaluation of policies related to: Taser brand Electronic Torture Devices
The Founding Fathers knew that future Government Officials would be tempted to use Cruel and Unusual Punishment as a means to control the populace. That is why they added the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and why it is repeated in all Fifty State Constitutions. Section 13 and 19 of the Texas Constitution Bill of Rights confirms the intent of the Founding Fathers.
Sec. 13. EXCESSIVE BAIL OR FINES; CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT; REMEDY BY DUE COURSE OF LAW. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishment inflicted. All courts shall be open, and every person for an injury done him, in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law.
Sec. 19. DEPRIVATION OF LIFE, LIBERTY, ETC.; DUE COURSE OF LAW. No citizen of this State shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, privileges or immunities, or in any manner disfranchised, except by the due course of the law of the land.
There is no more Cruel and Unusual Punishment than being slowly electrocuted alive with 50,000 volt fish hook barbs driven deep into the flesh of a human being.
Cruel and Unusual Punishment is a clear violation of the U.S. Eighth Amendment.
Punishment of any kind without due process violates the U.S. Fourteenth Amendment.
The United Nations Declared the use of Electronic Torture Devices to be a potentially Lethal form of Torture.
Many Law Enforcement Officials across the Nation, eager to use Electric Torture Devices, failed to demand verifiable human test results as to their safety from the manufacturer. This resulted in over three hundred fifty Electric Torture Device related deaths in the U.S.
The company Taser International manufacturers and sellers of Electric Torture Devices used by most Police Departments lied to every Police Department from the outset. They could not and did not test their Electric Torture Devices under conditions encountered in by police in the field. It is impossible for the manufacturer to have electrocuted human subjects with electrodes in every possible combination of locations on the body and head as it randomly happens in the real world.
Due to inherent in-accuracy of the Taser brand Electric Torture Devices, the projectiles are apt to hit anywhere on the body. This is compounded if the target is moving when an Officer deploys the device.
Electrocutions would also have to be carried out for the various lengths of times to have any validity. Tests would have to be made on subjects with various physical and mental conditions, again with electrodes in every possible position on the body and for the various times that are likely to occur in field use.
An army of masochist-fools would be required to allow these tests to be made on their bodies and obviously there would be a few killed.
The company Taser International lied to every Police Department when they sold their Electric Torture Devices as non-lethal devices. They bragged that it used excruciating pain to control an arrest subject.
The company realized that agony caused by slow electrocution with 50,000 volts of electricity delivered through barbed electrodes driven under the skin constitutes Cruel and Unusual Punishment . They quickly changed their advertising slogans and no longer bragged that their devices caused severe pain. Now they use the less cruel sounding "Neuro-Muscular Disruption"
When they started to get feed back and law suits over Taser related deaths they announced that a Taser was no longer classed as a Non-Lethal but now a Less-Lethal weapon. They no longer call a Taser a "Conducted Energy Device". It is now a "Electronic Control Device."
These advertisement changes gives Taser's Electronic Torture Device the star-trek like description "neuro-muscular disruption" and calling it Less-Lethal gets them off the hook if someone is electrocuted to death.
Taser International got around the test problem by using Police Officers as Lab Assistants and the Public as Lab Rats. They saved even more money by freely harvesting Para-Medic and Emergency room records and Medical Examiners findings.
In September 2009, Taser International sent out a bulletin to all Police Departments to instruct officers not to aim Tasers for the chest area for fear of possible heart stoppage. This had the effect of further pulling the rug out from under every Police Department and Officer that chooses to use these devices. Due to the device's poor accuracy, each use is playing Russian Roulette with a human life and the company said in effect that it will not stand behind any Officer or Department that causes unintentional death using their devices.
Police Officers who Use Cruel and Unusual Punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution and the Thirteenth Amendment and Nineteenth Amendment of the Texas State Constitution are accountable for State and Federal crimes.
There is no more Cruel and Unusual Punishment Than the use of an Electric Torture Device on a human being and it is a clear violation of the United States Constitution and the Constitution of all fifty States.
Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr. was Electrocuted Alive by a Ft Worth Texas Police Officer using an Electric Torture Device. He had barbed electrodes shot one half inch into his neck and chest and 50,000 volts of Electricity flowed through his head and body for fifty-four screaming, agonizing, seconds before his nerves were seared and his young healthy heart was stopped from beating.
Michael Patrick Jacobs Junior was neither charged nor convicted of anything yet he suffered thirteen times more screaming agony than a Convicted Felon would suffer from electrocution in the Electric Chair.
Use of The Electric Chair was declared to be Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
Michael Jacobs treatment at the hands of Ft Worth Tx. Police was a clear violation of both of the U.S. and Texas Constitution. His Death was declared a Homicide. His killer goes unpunished.
Don't let another person be Tortured to Death
Support
The Michael Jacobs FAT-COP- LAW
The Michael Jacobs Federal Anti Torture by Civilians Or Police Law
Outlaw the Manufacture, Sale, Possession or Use of Electronic Torture Devices in the U.S.A.
sclctarrantcounty [at] yahoo.com
Contact Reverend Kyev Tatum
S.C.L.C. P. O. Box 60700 Ft Worth, Tx. 76115
817 966-7625
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