Driver Dies After Being Stunned With Taser

[Newsjock]

Source: KCRA News

MERCED, Calif. -- A wrong-way driver died Thursday about a half-hour after a Merced police officer stunned him with a Taser gun, officials said.

According to officials and witnesses at the scene, the 53-year-old man was driving his Dodge truck south in the northbound lanes of Highway 99 near Childs Avenue.

He hit five vehicles, officials said, before officers could stop him. He then climbed onto Mike Overvig's truck.
"I was like, 'Holy cow. You can't believe this, right?'" Overvig said.

The officers got him down from the truck, but an officer stunned the man just as he tried to run into oncoming traffic, officials said.

Read more: http://www.my58.com/news/15249221/detail.html

[ursi]

1. Soon, there will be a national monument to those killed by taser gun ...

[Judi Lynn]

5. It's going to take a deep grave to hold them. At least they didn't resort to using their guns!

That would have been far, far worse for these dead people, wouldn't it?

So they claim they are being humane by using their tasers.

Where is it written police are forbidden to USE THEIR ####ing BRAINS, and try to see people as human beings, first, rather than "the bad guys" they intend to kill before being killed? We've had them slaughtering them for holding their cell phones, pagers, radios, wallets, then the right-wing trolls show up here and claim, "the dead guy should have done what they told him to do, and this wouldn't have happened."

We know what's at stake, and bullies, and scum when we see it. Bullies can find all kinds of ways to get around their responsibilities as human beings, but people DO know, regardless of their ruses, and excuses, and lies, when they put themselves first above everyone else, to the exclusion of everyone else.

That's simply not mature, nor is it civilized. No one really admires a coward who kills people other than his fellow cowards.

[BanzaiBonnie]

7. That all went out with Ronald Reagan

With cuts in funding in communities across the nation, there was a concerted effort to police through force rather than reason.


Law enforcement in the US was really getting the thugs out. They actually had to have much more in the way of personality testing. Stable people who were there to serve their communities were sought out. I know there are good people in law enforcement. I've met some. But they also are burned out and become jaded. Shit rolls downhill and this all comes from top down.

I would suggest we be careful who we elect locally as well as nationally.

[LiberalFighter]

13. Maybe they have run out of bullets or they have become too expensive??

[LiberalFighter]

14. These dumbass, moronic, incomeptent cops need to learn their job.

The officers got him down from the truck, but an officer stunned the man just as he tried to run into oncoming traffic, officials said.

The police got him down and he got away? Excuse me but they knew he was trying to escape and they didn't follow procedures to detain him?

[Mortos]

19. You are ignorant

and I don't blame you for your stupid comment. You just don't know any better.

[Xithras]

20. They were not going to chase him into traffic.

If the guy wanted to run into traffic and kill himself, the officers had two choices: Shoot him and kill him before he could take out some poor innocent sap in the process, or taze him and hope to take him down before he could hurt himself or anyone else.

The cops were NOT going to chase the guy, on foot, across a speeding freeway. Especially not in this part of California, where speed limits are merely an unenforced suggestion.

[Mortos]

18. Build that one right after you build the one showing how many

people criminals hurt or killed. Build it next to the police officer monuments for the brave officers who die in the line of duty fighting with scumbags like this piece of shit they tasered.


Make it a big bleeding heart with blinders on it.

[FiveGoodMen]

28. Wish I could put you on my ignore list more than once

bleeding heart is what the pukes call the decent people of the world

go fuck yourself

[newfie11]

29. I totally agree

I couldn't do their Jobs. They can't win. If they let the idiot run out in traffic they would be blamed for not stopping him.Feel free to put me on your ignore list and I will do the same for you.

[NutmegYankee]

2. From the description, it appears he had other issues.

He may very well have had health issues. And at least they prevented him from running into oncoming traffic and possibly hurting someone else in his suicide by car.

[marshall]

25. What about the people he ran over?

How many were hurt or killed in the cars he ran into?

[NutmegYankee]

31. I have no idea.

It is alas harder to stop a car driven by a maniac, than the maniac himself.

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. "The cause of the man's death hasn't yet been determined." - gimme a break!

.
.
.

He was electrocuted, sheesh!

That's from the posted article:

"The cause of the man's death hasn't yet been determined."

He was already off the road and posed no more threats to travelers - but they killed him anyways.

I don't like this whole "Taser thing"

The guy would be better off if they just shot him in the leg or something.

So I'd update that saying "Don't tase me bro" - to

"Shoot me ferchrisakes -don't tase me!"

[bossy22]

10. cops are

"trained" to shoot at the center of mass, so i don't think your theory would really be the safest

editted for quotation remarks- i dont think 30 min on gun safety and a range test where you fire 15 rounds at a person sized target 10 feet away from you is really "training"

[MarkInLA]

4. The officers will probably argue that they saved the guy from an even more violent death

I believe the tide will eventually turn against these Taser-happy cops. If the guns aren't banned, they should at least turn down the voltage, if that's possible.

[fenriswolf]

24. agreed less voltage

I would think the cops saved some family from accidently killing an old drunk man on the freeway.

[comtec]

6. I admit mixed feelings on this one instance of tazering

mainly because if he had gotten into traffic, his splattery death would have been insignificant compared to the potential traffic nightmare, of people running into other cars, potential deaths from the caused crashes, et al.

admittedly this will be a no-win for the cops. Damned if they let him get away, damned if they shot him, and damned since they tazered him. It is not unreasonable that they stunned him. It IS unreasonable that they still have not gotten first aid training to deal with any possible medical side effects, or called an ambulance. Medical restraints can be quite effective.

IF they insist on using these like they're giving away money, they should at least require a medical training course to deal with the repercussions.

[bossy22]

8. in almost all cases

i would suspect that 9 out of 10 times its safer to be shot with a tazer, than a bullet. If this guy was running into on comming traffic, you have 3 options, let him do it, shoot him with your gun, or shoot him with your tazer. the 3rd option is in most cases, the least lethal, so they chose it. this does not mean cops should get tazer trigger happy- its still a weapon and should be respected and its use limited as much as possible- but no one thinks about the hundreds of other people today or yesterday that are still alive because cops used a tazer instead of a gun. Tazer's should be used as defensive weapons (such as the handgun is used for) and only used in certain extreme cases as a offensive weapon (such as in this case). then again, if the suspect is not violent, there is no use for the tazer gun, and if used, the misuse should be punished greatly. but that will most likely never happen because of their "we are like god" attitudes when it comes to firearm/tazer training. a 1 hour training class seems to make them believe they have some jedi-mastery over these devices and the public can't question them because they are "highly trained law enforcement personnel"

[Dawggie]

9. Another needless death. n/t

[eib1]

11. And I'm damn sure

he was the wrong color.
Wasn't he?

[bossy22]

12. he was one of those

purple people eaters ya know

[Xithras]

23. Nope. White guy.

Most of the meth-heads in this area are white. The hispanics seem to prefer other drugs (or maybe they're just smarter than the white guys and stay away from that crap).

[eib1]

32. Equal opportunity brutalization!

nt

[L0oniX]

15. Who needs an old used electric chair?

[Mortos]

16. I wish every cop hater here would stfu

about things they have no background in. Ignorant comments follow every single story like this and some can't wait to jump in and blame the cops for and stopping some fucking idiot from hurting others.

I know this won't stop the idiots who insist on wishing death on all police officers but it makes me feel better to point out the ignorance and arrogance represented in every post of this type.

A few facts for the retards who are ready to blame the police, from the limited 6 paragraph story:

The suspect was eluding police and driving the wrong way down a freeway and in doing so struck 5 vehicles during the pursuit. When officers went hands on, he was trying to get into an occupied vehicle. He resisted arrest with physical violence when officers tried pulling him from the truck and stopping an attempted car jacking. He hurt 2 police officers and a highway patrolman in the struggle. He was trying to run into traffic on a highway which could have resulted in serious injuries or death to the innocent drivers on that road.

Whatever his reasons for acting this way, he endangered and hurt innocent people. The cops did their job and it sound like they followed policy and were succesful in stoping a dangerous indivual from hurting more people. He died in the process...he contributed greatly to his own demise.

A little supposition on my part. This guy was probably fucked up on drugs, probably meth. His erratic behavior would indicate some type of drug toxification. If he was high on meth or cocaine or some other amphetamine type drug he was already amped up and being 53 years old, his heart was probably already damaged. He contributed to his own death and dictated the level of force used against him.

Again, to all the cop haters, fuck off.

[CRF450]

26. Agreed. Cop bashing here is the norm, and its downright ignorant.

Being drugged up out of his mind, his heart rate was probably going through the roof, so it couldn't handle the tazer shot. But their was no other way how he could be taken down by hand.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

33. No. You fuck off.

People like you are the motherfucking problem not the solution in this fucking country. The police here are rude BRUTES! They need to understand that they work for us and not against us.
I'm not reading your fucking argument about this man getting killed by the pigs, it's your fucking statement at the end that pisses me off.
I hate the police in this country because they have personally made me hate them and I don't break any laws in this country. There's your problem!

Only on DU would the word 'motherfucker' be ok in a spell check. lol.

[BearSquirrel2]

17. Pre-mature conclusions ...

Just because an event precedes another, it does not mean there is a causal relationship. 53-year old men have heart attacks all the time without being stunned by a taser. Chances are this guy was on drugs and that had more to do with his health than the tasing.

Our society is reasonably safe because police officers deal with people like this. There are cooks, and then there are profoundly violent individuals who will very readily widow an officer's spouse and leave their kid's without a parent. Exactly how are you supposed to know the difference?

I have a feeling that everyone's view on the matter would change if they had to do a police officer's job. You would greatly admire the taser for it's ability to safely bring people down without violent altercation. Every once in a while it does cause a lethal injury. But the numbers are far lower than that of guns and nightsticks. Would you rather be shot or tased. Of course ... I'd rather just surrender and take my complaints up with someone whose job it is to listen (lawyers and judges).

[Mountainman]

21. "How many deaths will it take until he knows that too many people have died?"

[Xithras]

22. This happened about 30 hinutes up the highway. He was clubbed, then hit with OC, and THEN tazed.

There was nothing the officers could do. He was combative and they couldn't physically detain him. One of them pulled out a billy club to stop him the old fashioned way, and he just shrugged it off. The police then opened up on him with the pepper spray, and he not only ignored it, he shrugged it off and managed to out-fight the officers to get away from ANOTHER attempt to overpower him.

The guy was tazed when, after all that, he tried to run across the freeway and jump into traffic that was flying along at 70+MPH. Even if he wasn't killed and didn't kill anyone else, he'd already tried to carjack one person to get away. Even AFTER getting tazed, the guy was still fighting so hard that he injured another officer. As they were finally cuffing him, he started slamming his head into the roadway until he lost conciousness.

Up until the U.C. opened a few years ago, Merced was just a small ag-based city along 99 that was known for two things: fairy shrimp and meth. The U.C. may have brought some legitimacy to the city, but environmental fights over the shrimp remain, and the meth never went away.

My guess is that this dude was wired out of his gourd. Every now and then one of these guys will just flip out and it will make the papers. He is making news because of the tazer, but the reality is that most of these guys end in a hail of gunfire.

[NickB79]

27. As much as I dislike Tasers, this use I can agree with

They struck him AND hit him with spray to stop him, but he got away. He then proceeded to run towards oncoming traffic. The cops aren't going to chase a man into traffic, and shooting him in the back with a handgun is out. Letting him go wasn't an option either, because the potential for a catastrophic car accident, killing innocent people as they swerved to avoid him, was far too high.

[pop goes the weasel]

30. agreed

This was exactly the right time and place to use a taser. The guy stood a much, much better chance of surviving a taser than of getting hit with a car or bullet. That he died all the same is unfortunate, but sometimes all the cops can do is go with the least bad option.

[originalpckelly]

34. Poor Mini Driver.

:cry: