Inmate dies in Jefferson Parish prison (taser)

[struggle4progress]

In Louisiana ...

Inmate dies in Jefferson Parish prison
5/6/2005, 5:19 p.m. CT
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An inmate at the Jefferson Parish jail died .. after reportedly suffering seizures and being hit with a taser ... Lawrence Berry .. was arrested last weekend ... He began having seizures ... Deputies said he began screaming he was on fire .. and at that point they used a taser on him and placed him in an emergency restraint chair .. Berry then went limp, and was rushed to the hospital ... "In all three cases .. the taser had no effect on him." Lee said an autopsy has been scheduled ...

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1115417236169370.xml&storylist=louisiana

and in Florida ...

Man dies in Miami-Dade jail after police use Taser stun gun

Stanley Wilson, 44, of Miami, was found unresponsive in a Miami-Dade County Jail cell and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, police Detective Nelda Fonticiella said.

An autopsy was to determine the cause of death.

Wilson was found around 12:30 a.m. in a street, dodging traffic and acting irrationally, Fonticiella said.

Police used stun guns to subdue Wilson when he resisted arrest and attempted to strike the two officers, Fonticiella said. <snip>

http://www.local10.com/news/4460193/detail.html

and in Canada ...

N.B. police probe death of man after Taser incident outside bar

MONCTON, N.B. (CP) - The RCMP is investigating the death of a 34-year-old man who collapsed and died after Mounties used a Taser gun to subdue him.

Cpl. Terry Kennedy, a spokesman for the RCMP in Moncton, said Friday that officers from Fredericton have taken over the investigation into the death of Kevin Geldart, 34, of Riverview, N.B. Geldart died after Moncton RCMP officers shocked him with a Taser gun, a high-voltage stun device, at a bar in Moncton late Thursday. <snip>

Kennedy said officers handcuffed Geldart after he slumped to the floor. It was then that they realized he was unconscious and unresponsive.

An ambulance was called, but Geldart was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

http://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050506/CPA/24128021

In all three cases, mental illness may have been responsible for the problem behaviors ...

[Maddy McCall]

1. Anyone who defends Tazing as "necessary force" is crazy

I've heard people, even here on DU, say that Tazing is ok, that being hit with a jolt of electricity is better than being hit with a bullet.

What they fail to see is that law enforcement officers now use Tazing when NOTHING would have been used before. In the past, a prisoner would not have been shot because he argued with a guard. A suspect would not be shot because he asked for what he was being charged. Those people are now being Tazed, when before, at worst, they would have been just handcuffed or restrained.

I hope that the lawsuits that will emerge because of Tazing will result in its eventual lead to its demise.

[SouthernDem2004]

2. They would have been sprayed and then physically restrained.

[Maddy McCall]

10. I'd rather be maced than tazed.

[SouthernDem2004]

13. I agree.

[seriousstan]

3. May I use an already referenced link?

At an inquest earlier this month in London, Ont., Dr. Jim Cairns, Ontario's deputy chief coroner, said that nine Canadians have died since 2003 shortly after being shot by a police Taser.

------
All nine people, Cairns testified, were determined to have died from the same cause: cocaine-induced excited delirium, which allows the rampaging person to feel no pain and exhibit superhuman strength before crashing.

"The evidence is overwhelming that (Tasers have) saved many, many lives," Cairns told the Ontario inquest. "Taser me before you shoot me - I'll take that.

"None of the deaths in Canada can be attributed to the Taser being used."

http://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050506/CPA/24128021


The officers said that when they tried to restrain Wilson he became volatile and violently resisted the officers and hit them. Police said that Wilson was 6 feet tall and weighed 295 pounds. When the officers couldn't control Wilson, they shocked him with a Taser gun.

Wilson was then transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital for medical clearance before being taken to jail to face criminal charges and to get a psychological evaluation. During booking, Wilson again became violent and had to be restrained, according to officers. After he was put in a cell, the officers said that Wilson became unresponsive. He was taken to Cedars Medical Center. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.

http://www.local10.com/news/4460193/detail.html
Comment: A rether delayed response to the Taser. He was healthy enough to become combative .....again. The article doesn't say they Tased him again.

An inmate at the Jefferson Parish jail died Friday, after reportedly suffering seizures and being hit with a taser, Sheriff Harry Lee said.
Lawrence Berry, 34, was arrested last weekend on parole violation, drug distribution and other charges. He began having seizures, but refused treatment and was under observation in a medical area.

Deputies said he began screaming he was on fire Friday morning, and at that point they used a taser on him and placed him in an emergency restraint chair for his own protection. Berry then went limp, and was rushed to the hospital.

"In this particular case he was left in the chair for one hour and then he was removed," Lee said.

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1115417236169370.xml&storylist=louisiana

The original poster had a very peculiar use of omission. -----
The ENTIRE original post appears to say the inmate was having these seizures almost a week ago when he was arrested and refused treatment. That might be a contributing factor.

[struggle4progress]

11. It's unclear to me how immediately death must follow taser use ...

... for you to consider the possibility of a linkage.

The taser is a device which causes spasmodic muscle contraction by electric shock; the heart is essentially a muscle; and your post suggests you believe exhaustion can contribute to death in some cases.

Why, in the case of someone already at risk, from some heart disease (say), do you consider that an additional stress on the heart, from taser use, could not cause collapse somewhat later?


My "peculiar use of omission" resulted from an effort to capture the story while honoring potential copyright restrictions. I think that, if you reread the first sentence of the post that you're criticising, you'll see it unambiguously refers to the seizures ...

[Daphne08]

4. Lawsuits and the eventual public outcry

will put a stop to it one day, I hope.

I don't think a lot of people are aware of the abuse yet. TV News hasn't focused on it enough.

[liberalnurse]

16. No it won't.

Law enforcement has the upper edge here.

[shanti]

12. it's basically state-sanctioned killing

and being taken advantage of fully. this must stop.

[liberalnurse]

15. I'm sorry to disappoint you Maddy

but I support and advocate the use of the Taser. That said, I support appropriate utilization of the tool. Cowboys who "tase" without rationale justification piss me off. The Taser is a great tool, I've been grateful many times for its intervention. As a nurse in the field, my opinion carrys much weight.

[lavenderdiva]

5. Sheriff Harry Lee in Jefferson Parish Louisiana

is about as crooked a guy as you could ever imagine...

[Miss Chybil]

6. Where are the lawyers on these things? Seems there is a lot of money

to be made from the taser company. How many more have to die before this stuff is stopped?

[amazona]

18. you sue Harry Lee in Jefferson Parish and show us how

I am serious. I would be amazed if you did not meet up with a terrible tragic accident or find some other life-changing incentive to find a different career.

This is small beer compared to the time in 89 or so when his law partner decided to get deputized by his good old buddy the sheriff to go hunting humans and then went that night and put 10 bullets through the face of a recovering drug addict who was just sitting there in his car with his hands over his face...and in front of witnesses...and he didn't even get a chance to plant drugs or gun on the guy so he could claim he was making a valid arrest with his 24 hour toy deputy card. And he still walked. Because as the witnesses told the grand jury, "I didn't see anything. I have to live in this parish."

On edit-- the only time any authority has "gotten" Lee on his many outrages was when a brave wildlife official in Mississippi got him fined $500 for hunting over a baited field, and Lee had the gonads to complain about that being a terrible, terrible injustice! I mean, hunting over a baited field is just as it should be for that type of hunter, right?

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[funkybutt]

7. I bet you $20 that the Jeff Parish inmate was black

sounds to me like this man was tortured...yeah, that's good american values

[struggle4progress]

8. Bingo!

Inmate Dies After Restraint In JP Jail(Lawrence Berry)


Man Dies While In Police Custody(Stanley Wilson)

[thecai]

9. OUTLAW THE USE OF TASERS

These deadly tasers need to be outlawed, and the police and prison guards who abuse them need to be removed from their positions and charged for their crimes, "to the fullest extent of the law"...

[Daphne08]

14. I think even the general public can buy them

Is that so, or am I mistaken?

[thecai]

19. Stun Guns Are Different From These Deadly Tasers

I'm not sure if these tasers are available to the public like stun-guns are. The difference is that a stun-gun feels barely like a bee-sting, and the operator must make contact on the skin with the stun-gun, where these tasers can be shot from a distance, as wires make the contact, while the operator can deliver stronger, continual, or repeated shocks.
Usual stun-guns were ineffective, hence the new deadly tasers.
Are these the same tasers Chertoff invested in? (Or whoever Bush had assigned to Homeland Security, that declined acceptance due to tax-evasion and having an illegal immigrant housekeeper).

[amazona]

17. tazing is not an appropriate treatment for seizure

The guards and supervisors who did this should be prosecuted for manslaughter. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you don't taser someone who is already undergoing multiple seizures. Unfortunately, as another poster said, Harry Lee is as corrupt as they come. He's probably still striving to be invited to become the first Chinese-American KKK member.

The fish rots from the head down, and Lee is a menace.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72