For a while I have been reading the police use of Tasers articles and while it disgusts me, I have not really been afraid of actually being Tased myself.
For one thing, I rarely have any instances in which I interact with cops. I try not to break the law or give myself any reason to be around the police. Secondly, even though I don’t trust cops, if I do have an instance to be around them, I try to be respectful and not give them any reason to think I’m being difficult or obnoxious.
So, until reading this particular story, I wasn’t really frightened of the Taser. Now, I certainly realize that it absolutely CAN happen to anyone. And even further, these types of things are becoming more common and less the case of “isolated incidents.”
Consider this, and then tell me honestly and with a straight face that Taser use is not out of control.
Donnell Williams was in his own home, and had been bathing. He is a hearing impaired man.
So, there Mr. Williams was, in a towel and without his hearing aid when police barged into his home and Tased him.
Someone had falsely reported a shooting at his residence, so the cops forced their way into his home. When they began shouting orders at him, without his hearing aid he couldn’t hear them. As a result they shot him with the Taser gun.
When they realized their mistake, they apologized to Mr. Williams.
Here is the full story: Hearing Impaired Man Tasered By Police
So, are you scared yet? If not, I can’t figure out why not.
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46 responses so far ↓
1 digg // Dec 8, 2007 at 5:57 pm
fo sho
2 Jesus // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Because I can hear.
3 George Bush // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:04 pm
If you aer not guilty of something, you have nothing to fear.
4 Joel // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:08 pm
As much as I don’t want to get tazed either, the cops probably tazed the dude to remove all doubt. Think about it, they got a report of a shooting, they go into the house, (probable cause), see some dude, dude is not responding, they use a NON-LETHAL form of control. The tazer.
Everyone lived. Would you rather them barge into the house and start shooting?
5 JC // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:22 pm
What rights do you lose when you get pulled over for a traffic infraction or when you make a disturbance in a public area or smoke drugs in the privacy of your own home? The right to argue with a cop? The right to be left alone? The right not to be touched or harmed or subdued? Someone ought to hammer these things out and make them public knowledge and part of cop training.
6 Steve // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:24 pm
I cant imagine any police officer walking in to a private residence after just one shooting call. Especially if it was a cell phone call, not a land line tied to that address.
Real shootings usually get several residents calling at the same time. Cops listen keenly for the dispatecher to say “several calls coming in” or they listen to hear “police by radio” (which means a actual police officer is calling the shooting in on a portable radio). If that is not happening and the cops did barge in that is just rookie police work. I still love cops and America!
7 Gerri // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Joel - I see your point. It’s just scary to think that you could be in your own home and this could happen just out of the blue.
8 Lol at Joel // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:26 pm
How effing dumb are you Joel a taser isn’t non-lethal when people die from them repeatedly. Pull your head out of your ass.
9 LJM // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Joel, that’s a false choice.
Why not ask, “Would you rather they waterboard him?” “Would you rather they rape his mother?”
Come on. I’d rather they were sufficiently trained so as not to be so afraid of naked people that they have to tase them. I’d rather they have the balls to approach a naked guy, ready to restrain him if need be, but only willing to tase a person who’s dangerous.
That’s not too much to ask of the police.
10 Meta4 // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Every time a Taser story comes out I get so f***ing steamed. I was having a discussion recently with my step-father (an african-american) and he put a unique ngle on this tapering phenomenon.
“you see” he says. “The cops shoot black people, they taser white people”
Which I think is a pretty damn profound statement. Cops shoot whites with tasers because there are no consequences. Cops shoot blacks for the same reason.
11 esecasco // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:31 pm
to Joel,
hold on a second…so you’re saying it would be okay if someone misreported a shooting at your place of residence. The police came barging in, and tazed you for just to remove doubt?
please give more thought to what you’re going to say before saying it.
12 blinkin // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Blame here doesn’t fall on the police. As was mentioned earlier, they were acting on probable cause going into a situation that their best information said was hostile. HOWEVER, the guy was naked and (presumably) unarmed, so what kind of threat was he? The responders should have had no trouble clearing him with another nonlethal means that did not cause as much trauma.
The real blame here rests on whoever called in the false tip. Hopefully they were dumb enough to have called from a personal cell or home phone and will get a reaming from law enforcement and Mr. Williams legal team.
13 Kharnivore // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:35 pm
In may 2007 Amnesty International reported over 150 documented cases of death where the primary cause was a taser. Hmmmm yes, that sounds non-lethal to me.
The United Nations Committee against Torture considers the use of Tasers to be a form of torture and specifically warned against the high risk of death involved with their use.
Tasers should be used by Police as a LAST RESORT when the only other alternative is to shoot the target. Police are using tasers against targets which clearly pose no threat and could easily be restrained, but the taser is used to intimidate and inflict pain.
The bottom line is that police at the very least need to be educated about the dangers that tasers can pose and preferably would have to justify any use of the weapon to their superiors.
14 Romwell // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Joel, are you nuts ? Have you ever realized that there are other means of restraining a heavily outnumbered naked dude, like, say, holding his hands, etc. ? Did you ever think about how the police was supposed to work BEFORE tasers ? I am not saying that cops should be black-belt martial arts/judo/karate masters, but you’d think several cops could somehow hold a deaf unarmed huy coming out of shower without using weapons. There are many reasons why taser is being abused, mainly, sadism, cowardry and physical inaptness of the policemen that do that. Instead of (literally) kicking someone’s ass, they just push a button. You might say that “taser is not lethal, hence good” - but that is why it’s bad: cops don’t feel bad to use it; however many shooting incidents there are, it is widely recognized that shooting an unarmed man is ‘bad’, whereas tasering is ‘good’. If cops were deprived of tasers, they would be forced to use their own hands, which IMHO is more peaceful.
15 jared // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:45 pm
“NON-LETHAL form of control. The tazer.”
Taser Death by RCMP at Vancouver Airport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqdUhotL6Fw
Canada: Debate over Taser use rages after second death
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071018/mtl_taser_071018/20071018?hub=Canada
Taser Death in Milwaukee
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/07/11/837/23570
No charges in Iola Taser death
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/delia-ks/TN4BD6C7H7N81HODP
N. Fla. has 2nd Taser death in 3 days
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071121/BREAKINGNEWS/71121001/1086
Lafayette responsible for Ryan Wilson’s Taser death
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/aug/03/lawsuit-lafayette-responsible-ryan-wilsons-taser-d/
2mins worth of browsing google, this doesnt list all, just ones from the first page
care to tell the families of these people that tasers are non-lethal?
16 in responce to joel // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Yeah its too bad that the Taser has MANY recorded deaths.
Think of it this way, when your heart stops what do they do? Jolt you with electricity. When you do this to a heart thats functioning normally what happens? The heart stops. What a fucking concept.
17 Gerri // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Meta4 - I don’t recall reading that Mr. Williams is white.
18 Zach // Dec 8, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I’m still not afraid. I’m not a 100 year old deaf man whos naked, and I dont break the law.
19 Peter // Dec 8, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I think Joel’s correct here. For everyone that’s arguing that the taser is lethal…sure, everything CAN be lethal. If I hit you with a bat in the face, there’s definitely a chance you will not surive, but the intent of a taser is not to kill.
To LJM’s comment about waterboarding or raping his mother I ask, what the hell are you talking about?? How are those in any way similar to being tasered? Your comparison here is so wildly ridiculous you should re-evaluate your life.
The cops did nothing illegal by eliminating a threat through non-lethal means. Think for a second if you’re a police officer, who goes into random houses all day with the possibility of getting shot, stabbed, or whatever else have you, and you have a naked dude (that would make me think he was on drugs) who isn’t responding? What do you do? I would definitely use whatever means I had to gain absolute control of the situation.
Ps- I’m very liberal.
20 Jenni Borsa // Dec 8, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Gerri: thanks for the link to this article.
I wonder if you can touch upon a subject for me in an upcoming post. What are some good ways for people who have been (surprisingly) arrested to find a good lawyer?
Imagine a situation like the above where the individual is taken into custody and just has his one phone call. What are some good ways to find a good legal defense when all you have is one phone call?
Please keep up the good work. Thanks.
21 Hehe // Dec 8, 2007 at 8:20 pm
I lol’d
22 Ian // Dec 8, 2007 at 9:13 pm
There are always going to be people questioning why the police did this, why did they do that. Rather than focus all our attention on this device, that will and has saved the lives of countless suspects and police officers, we should look at the training of officers to use it properly.
Do I think in this situation they should have physically taken the guy down, maybe, but that also poses a risk of the person being seriously hurt or the officer.
There is no such think as non-lethal, people can die from all forms of physical control. Including using hands and arms to subdue someone.
Its very easy to dig up stories of the police making a mistake or even a bad officer doing something wrong, but every single days thousands of police officers put their lives on the line to protect us. We should try and see the situation from the officers perspective, in the moment, not with 20/20 hindsight. Think of the fear, maybe its dark, maybe the cop is alone. That takes a lot of guts to go out day after day and maybe that’s the day that some random person getting pulled over pulls a gun.
Its a very real and very scary risk, Most people would not be willing to put up with what cops have to deal with day in and day out.
23 Taser Abuse: Deaf, Naked and at Home. at DygiScape // Dec 8, 2007 at 9:15 pm
[…] incident (link via Digg) involving more Taser abuse from law enforcement, even if you are physically […]
24 smartass // Dec 8, 2007 at 9:23 pm
The police went into a private residence without a search warrant or arrest warrant. Cha-ching. They then find a naked guy (big threat) who is committing no crime. Cha-ching. They then fire a pain inducing weapon at him, causing severe trauma. Cha-ching. Violation of constitutional rights and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (failure to accommodate deaf, law-abiding, bathers in their own home through alternate means of communication). They should just drop a release in his lap and pay him $100,000 tomorrow. That will be far better than the $200,000 in legal fees to fight that case.
25 Re: Peter (#20) // Dec 8, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Indeed, a lot of things can be lethal even if that is not the intended purpose. A baseball bat can be lethal when you hit someone in the face with it, just like a taser can be lethal. But cops do not go around hitting people in the face with baseball bats and calling it non-lethal and perfectly okay to do.
Do you think it is okay to use “baseball bat to the face” as a non-lethal means of stopping potentially dangerous people. Would you defend the popo if instead of tasering this poor deaf American, they hit him in the face with a baseball bat? After all, baseball bats are not intended to be lethal.
26 Alex // Dec 8, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Why does this scare you? You overlook the fact that “Williams was not hurt in the incident.” I’m getting sick of everyone overlooking that fact. Tasers have been around since the 90s at least. People get Tased all the time. It’s scary but if you don’t make a big deal out of it than the adrenaline and fear fades after a while. I’m more scared of pepper spray than tasers. I have very sensitive skin and nose and I think in my case ending up with a major rash or screwed up sense of smell from pepper spray is more likely than heart failure or psychological trauma.
27 LJM // Dec 8, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Peter,
I exaggerated to make a point. Joel says we have a choice between tasing and shooting. That’s a false choice.
It’s as unnecessary to tase a naked man in a tub as it is to rape his mother, meaning entirely.
Your position seems to suggest that if a cop is frightened, he or she should simply tase. That makes things easy for the police, but as Charlton Heston said in A Touch of Evil (and I’m paraphrasing), “A policeman’s job is only easy in a police state.”
My position is that if a cop is justifiably frightened he or she should tase. If you would be afraid enough of a naked man in a tub to tase him, I’m glad you’ve chosen not to become a police officer. It’s not the duty of citizens to sacrifice their well-being so that frightened cops can feel at ease.
28 rr // Dec 8, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Are you a retard or something?! Move away from USA before it blows up (that is going to happen if you keep pissing of everybody, specially islam-freaks).
29 Michelle // Dec 8, 2007 at 10:01 pm
As nutty as this is, I can only partially blame the individual officers. It goes back to what I have said before, namely, that the police need better training. I mentioned mental health issues before but the fact is that the police in many jurisdictions need training around recoginzing and dealing with individuals with all types of disabilities. And quite frankly, we don’t know how hectic and chaotic things were at that moment. Still you would think they at least could have heard the poor man screaming that he couldn’t hear them.
On the other hand, deaf or not, he might have had the sense to put his hands up in that type of situation, no? Even if it meant dropping the towel …
30 Gerri // Dec 9, 2007 at 12:29 am
Michelle, it’s nutty for sure.
I am not deaf.. but I can only imagine if I were getting out of the shower and saw police coming towards me - it might be like that time when I was a kid and got so scared of a “ghost” falling out of a tree right beside me on Halloween - the fear paralyzed me and I couldn’t move, I couldn’t scream and for a minute or so I couldn’t even breathe. God help if someone had been shouting orders at me.
I can only think that I might react the same in this situation, if it were me, only knowing for sure that it was real, I’d probably need to shower again after it was all over. Umm.. assuming I was as “lucky” as Mr. Williams and survived.
31 Peter // Dec 9, 2007 at 6:41 am
this is an unfortunate that this happened to this person. i’ve been hearing about taser stories on the news and they keep getting worse and worse. it could be the media focusing more on them but this story just does it for me. police should treat tasers like a weapon, not handcuffs.
32 Gerri // Dec 9, 2007 at 7:01 am
Peter,
I completely agree.
33 Kerry // Dec 9, 2007 at 7:08 am
Police are sufficiently, or should be, trained to subdue resistant people with the use of defensive force. The last time I’ve checked police have self-defense trainings. If that’s not working, then using tazers is just spelling out a bigger problem within its force. You don’t see the military police using tazers.
34 American Veteran // Dec 9, 2007 at 11:39 am
It is impossible to train certain animals to do things which are unnatural to a species.
Having said that, it is a waste of time, money and effort to train the types who seek to becaome and are alreay on the police force.
Let us peruse what are these types;
The common applicant is one who has more often than not been bullied, has been one who “snitches” to the teacher, is angry, lies to get others in trouble and did not fit in and/or play well with others.
Many of them are physical cowards(when alone).
Therefore, they see being a member of a police force as a way to get even with all those who they perceive as having harmed them.
They see how these members protect themselves and almost never have to answer for the physical and emotional harm they do to the public.
This makes them feel all powerful and they act this out.
They act iit out on the elderly such as the older, naked hearing impaired man, an 82 y/o lady who suffered from dimentia and a list which goes on and on and on.
It is NOT training which will stop these angry abuser.
It IS full and completely detailed psychological testing to weed out those who are unfit to be armed with this power to abuse whoever they choose WITHOUT question by their superiors.
Too often their “superiors” are the same psychological type who saw the same way to act out their need to ‘get even”.
It is imperative that this testing be implemented immediately as, the “cleqar and present” danger is increasing daily.
BTW-I am a business owner, home owner and, other than a few traffic citations, have not been “arrested”.
Finally, the types who support the actions of these abusive types are just that, abusive types who would do thre same to others if they had the opportunity.
We MUST do everything possible to FORCE
35 American Veteran // Dec 9, 2007 at 11:41 am
Finishing my above post which was inadvertently submitted without being complete.
We must do everything in our power as American citizens to FORCE the respective governments to “protect and serve’ the public’s right to be safe from those who clearly seek to harm others.
36 Gerri // Dec 9, 2007 at 11:49 am
American Veteran,
AMEN!
And thank you for your service to our country.
Gerri
37 Denver Dem // Dec 9, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Prop’s and ^^^5! to American Vet. He knows what he says and he says what he means.
38 Michelle // Dec 9, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Pretty harsh words, American Veteran.
No doubt true about some officers but don’t you think its a little extreme to paint them all with the same brush? I personally know more than a few good cops. But just like any other profession and occupation, you will find some bad apples. Hey, I’m sure you don’t appreciate all veterans or currently serving military personnel being portrayed as power-hungry, low functioning brutes and thugs, right?
So suddenly I seem to find myself on the other side of the equation … for all you ranting about the police taking away your basic freedoms and being evil instruments of the state (if not in this thread then in the previous taser post), who you gonna call? The first time you hear someone prowling around outside your house late at night or you’re car-jacked or your elderly grandmother has her purse snatched? Who you gonna call? Right.
39 American Veteran // Dec 9, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Thanks for the nice sentiments butt, just being there doesn’t make me anything special.
What/who was special was what some of my buddies did there and, some of them sre STILL there.
Was was NOT “special” was hiding behind a bar and daddy’s pull in Alabama during Nam.
40 M // Dec 9, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Tasers are VERY safe when properly used on people in GOOD HEALTH. But they can be LETHAL when used on a person whose health is POOR. They were originally developed for the military; soldiers are young men in the prime of life who have passed a physical, hence a group in very good health. Now they are being used on all ages, both sexes (& even pregnant women) without regard for the widely varying states of people’s health and other risk factors. In certain circumstances, they can even be lethal for perfectly healthy people! The training currently received by law enforcement is NOT ADEQUATE to ensure the SAFE use of Tasers on the general population. [It’s perfect for using Tasers on soldiers in a war, though!]
41 Chris Grooms // Dec 10, 2007 at 10:10 am
You idiots. Tazers are about as “non-lethal” as a 7 year old hitting you in the chest with a sledgehammer. You’ll probably be fine. Then again, you’re heart might stop or that 7 year old might be a lot stronger than you thought and crush your chest.
42 smartmynz // Dec 10, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Well, I Honestly think that cops are alittle too loose with the tasers but not but ten years ago they were too loose with the bullets. Seems like a step in the right direction to me. It seems like thease type of situations will continue to happen and people will continue to be disgusted with its out-comes. But most of you all make good points. There is no such thing as NON-LEATHAL. but id take a taser over a 9mm or 40cal any day of the week. Most people wont have to deal with thease situations because they dont commit crimes. good for them. But i doubt youve never had any issues ever. What if you got tasered in this situation, I know id be steaming pissed because the cops decided to go gung-ho. BTW if you in a towel in your home and the cops come in, they would be pretty pussy to need to pull out the taser. This is a clear incident where no one stopped to think for a second during the situation.
43 Michelle // Dec 11, 2007 at 8:25 am
M, I’m curious. You said:
[It’s perfect for using Tasers on soldiers in a war, though!]
In a military action, I couldn’t imagine that there would be too many situations when/why would you would want to use a taser. I would think that more lethal force would be what you were after there. With the difference between law enforcement and the military, I’m just curious. I can picture the occasional situation but … Enlighten me, please.
44 American Veteran // Dec 14, 2007 at 11:28 am
TO: M,
It is clear that you have NEVER been there/done that.
When you’re in a situation where you’re close enough to have to taze someone for your own safety, YOU ELIMINATE THEM.
You do NOT give them a nap.
There is a distinct difference here.
When in combat, you are in danger of being killed and, the correct way to NOT be killed is to eliminate the enemy.
As for cops, THEY are the enemy of the public, ALLOF THE PUBLIC and, they are NOT in combat when they are tazing an Alzheimer sufferer in her 80’s or a deaf person who is naked in the bathtub.
the cops ARE the aggressors and are nothing more than angry and hateful bullies.
45 Steve // Dec 18, 2007 at 11:24 pm
bottom Line Cars kill-we still drive them. stop with the goofiness! Tazers are the safest thing for the cops! They don’t have to fight as much with tazers. I am much more concerened about the safety of our public heroes “Cops” than anyone that was killed with a mix of cocaine lithium alcohol and 100,000 volts of a tazer.
Yes I know your gonna bring up trigger happy low blood sugar cops. Probabbly about 0.001% of the public heroes “cops”. Stop hating authority and support the local and federal law enforcement and you will feel better at night.
46 Joel // Dec 31, 2007 at 1:43 am
it’s funny that this all came up. Friend of mine was tazed the other night. twice.
he said it was the worst experience of his life, however, he also stated that he would have rather been tazered then shot.
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