You can click here to read or download the police report.
However, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is video recap with detailed explanation of what occurred on Nov 18
th at the Trotwood Police Station when Officer Wilmer decided to use his taser gun on the back of the neck of Valreca Redden. You be the judge. Does this look like a righteous use of a taser gun?I'm surprised to learn that Officer Wilmer is still working. No suspension. No administration duties assignments. He puts a pregnant woman down and it appears that his brothers in blue are surrounding him in love as if what he did is appropriate. Of course, it could be that police enjoy using that taser gun on people who pose no theat to them.
Villagers, what say u? Am I being too sensitive? Or does it seem like we are becoming a Taser Nation?
15 comments:
I too have found the number of taser incidents to be disturbing. I also find it cruel and unusual that our government is now using what I consider to be torture devices on us...Oh but our gov't has already shown that it will resort to torture. I guess this was the logical progression.
I hardly know what to say on this issue. Like so many others, I am so mad that I'm practically speechless! There is nothing about this that makes sense and I am just enraged at the level of disrepect that this young woman is being shown. It could be any of us.
AJ - Here in Cincinnati the tasers were added to the police force about three years ago as one of the reactions to an uprising (some call it riot) that occured. I'm surprised that police are allowed to use tasers against children.
Shelia - We need to turn our outrage into tangible action. Do the police in your town use tasers as part of their force continuum?
FYI-Another video has been released of a brother being tasered by an Austin Police Officer:
Post
This incident is old.
Here's the thing. The woman went voluntarily to the police station to give up her child. Most states allow that with no questions asked since so many little white girls and Mexican girls slay the children and put them in trash dumps. This black woman was not a criminal and ended up ta-zed and arrested. It's no different than the Arab woman who was gang raped and then imprisoned for breaking Islamic law. Jeez Louise. White people in law enforcement make any excuse to harm blacks and most blacks couldn't care less. Just like when blacks were lynched during Jim Crow or killed during slavery. That dishonest Captain said we had no idea she was pregnant. Hell, they should have left her alone the A holes.
AJ - Thanx for the link to the Austin taser incident. I hadn't heard of it before.
I don't think we're becoming a "taser nation". For a great deal of these cases (not all), I believe it's opportunistic people trying to make a quick buck off of the recent media frenzy regarding tasers and claim they were abused, like that Utah idiot.
However, in this particular case, the officer certainly did something wrong. Whether or not she was visibly pregnant, or if she informed him of her pregnancy, is surely debatable, but it seems as though extreme force was used.
Woozie - I hope you are right. However, how many mistakes can we afford ... especially by police inflicting 50,000 watts of energy into Black folks? I agree that the Trotwood police officer seems to have gone too far. Why is he still on the payroll?
I'm sure alot of cops that abuse tasers are sadistic enough to enjoy it. What makes that problem far worse, is that the Taser lets cops get away with it because it doesn't leave any lasting marks. So cops can torture people and it looks perfectly harmless, and they know they won't get disciplined for it.
There hasn't been any outrage about tasers until recently, as cops have used them more and more and people are figuring out what tasers are about. But the only way anything will happen is if tasing is recognized as cruel and unusual punishment and outlawed.
After the Polish guy died in the airport in Canada, Canadian politicians have started talking about doing something about tasers, so maybe that will catch on in the U.S. too.
Thanks for the links, by the way.
Virtually - Thanx for sharing your village voice with us. I understand that the United Nations is getting involved with this whole taser situation ... equating it with a form of torture.
Anyhow, did you see that the cop who tased the pregnant woman is getting fired from his job?
Yes, he is being fired, but not for the Taser incident. As per most police "use of force" policies, use of the Taser in this incident was justified and warranted. The officer did not know she was pregnant, she did not disclose this information and refused to answer questions about the reasons for abandoning her child with the police department. The child was not a newborn, so the Safe Haven laws did not apply. Point fingers all you want, but the Taser gives police a less than lethal option to take control over potentially dangerous situations. The officer did not know the woman was pregnant, she reufsed to give her identity. How could the officer be sure the child was even hers, and not one kidnapped from it's real parents. With the lack of information provided by her, how could the officer be sure she was not armed herself, or a black belt able to seriously harm the officer. Police officers do not go to work hoping to hurt people, they go to get a paycheck, just like you.
Police don't have to be... - I'm not an officer so I don't have insights into their thoughts. However, the woman came to a place that she thought was a sanctuary ... and she ended up tased; arrested; and stranded at a hospital without transportation. Obviously, the Trotwood police feel that the woman had a reasonable expection for the police station and its officers to protect and serve not tase and abandon.
I respect that the young man came into the office to do his job. I think he forgot his job is to protect citizens ...not treat them, including pregnant Black women, as if they are perps.
Anyhow, I appreciate your village voice and hope you will come back often in the future.
The first thing that they should have done when presented with this situation is take care of the child.
First, it relieves an obvious stressor from the mother, who is asking for help (of a sort).
Second, the child would have been protected by an officer, and could be removed from the room if the mother still refuses to cooperate
(leaving aside the question of the appropriateness of the actual response.)
Post a Comment