Environmental activists get a shock in Vt. Brattleboro Cops taser protesters

[Ian David]

Environmental activists get a shock in Vt.

By Kristi Ceccarossi, Globe Correspondent | July 28, 2007

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- Activists opposed to development planted flowers and herbs in a gentle protest that stretched through the night. In the morning, when they refused to leave a vacant lot where a truck stop has been proposed, things got ugly. The protesters were Tasered by police.

"It was torture," said Janisse Ray, one of the protesters, who witnessed Jonathan "Slug" Crowell and Samantha Kilmurray being shocked.

Police acknowledged that they used the devices Tuesday, but said they had to use them to get the protesters to move.

<snip>

Brattleboro police have been criticized by some in the community for their use of force. In 2001, two officers killed a man, Robert Woodward, during Sunday services at a church. He was armed with a 4-inch blade he refused to drop. Police shot him seven times.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2007/07/28/environmental_activists_get_a_shock_in_vt/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City%2FRegion+News

[kenny blankenship]

1. ...with Freedom of Speech for all--if you can stand 150,000 volts

[Ian David]

2. Freedom isn't Free

[IChing]

3. I hope someone recorded this protest

kick

[Oilwellian]

5. Someone did

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZWJQ7I4Tw0

[Trillo]

4. Sounds like 'pain compliance'

Is pain compliance cruel and unusual punishment?

[eShirl]

6. whatever happened to the days of handcuffing & carrying away peaceful protesters?

I guess that doesn't make them writhe around in agony on the ground, I mean move. ("Police acknowledged that they used the devices Tuesday, but said they had to use them to get the protesters to move.")

[struggle4progress]

7. Town may seek independent investigation of Taser use

July 28, 2007

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. --Town police did not complete an internal report into police use of Tasers while arresting two protesters and the town may seek an independent evaluation of the incident, said acting Town Manager Barbara Sondag. ~snip~

The Select Board held an hour-long, closed-door meeting Friday to discuss "personnel." Sondag was the only official to speak after the meeting.

Two people protesting possible plans to build a gas station on a vacant lot were hit with Tasers Tuesday and arrested for trespassing after chaining themselves to a barrel and refusing to leave when asked. ~snip~

http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2007/07/28/town_may_seek_independent_investigation_of_taser_use/

[struggle4progress]

8. Man Tasered in Brattleboro had history of protesting (!)

By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff
Saturday, July 28

BRATTLEBORO -- ~snip~

Since 1998, Crowell has been arrested nearly a dozen times -- for protesting at an Economic Union summit in Greece in 2003, the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999, the World Economic Forum in New York City in 2002 and in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in the late 1990s, where he protested against neo-Nazi and Aryan groups. He was also arrested in 2002 for participating in a "lockdown" in then-Sen. James Jeffords office in Burlington.

Crowell, who grew up in New Jersey but has lived in Dummerston for the past six years, told the Reformer Friday afternoon that he was passionate about the causes he believes in and is willing to stand up to injustice when he sees it, even if it means he might be arrested. He has been cited for misdemeanors such as trespassing and disorderly conduct, but has never been convicted. ~snip~

He filed a complaint against police in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and settled out of court and is pursuing a complaint against the New York City police for their actions against him at the World Economic Forum. ~snip~

http://www.reformer.com/headlines/ci_6486191

http://www.reformer.com/headlines/ci_6486191

[struggle4progress]

9. Stunning news

July 28, 2007

~snip~ Tasers are not as deadly as firearms, but their use requires restraint, nevertheless. It appears the Brattleboro police were far from exhausting other means for removing the protesters before using their Taser. Using a Taser merely as a goad to make people move along seems dangerously excessive.

It turns out that Vermont police receive no systematic training in the use of Tasers. It is up to each department to provide guidance to its officers. The state police is sparing in how it deploys Tasers. Only the 14-member special tactic unit has them.

In recent years Vermont has witnessed what seems to have been a high number of killings by police subduing people who they believe are threatening them. Adding the apparently unnecessary use of Tasers to the toll of firearms death will only cause public confidence to wane. ~snip~

The protesters in Brattleboro were certain to annoy people. Their cause was quixotic, to say the least. But police ought to be able to contain their annoyance without resort to a dangerous weapon. ~snip~

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070728/OPINION/707280308/1018

[marions ghost]

10. Sadistic

no excuse for this.

[shance]

11. Tasers have been known to cause heart attacks. How is this not assault with a deadly weapon?

n/t