December 7, 2007

Wichita Police 'Regret' Using Taser on Innocent Deaf Man

Wichita Deputy Police Chief Robert Lee is getting negative feedback from the afrosphere and around the globe for the unwarranted use of a taser gun on Donnell Williams ... an innocent, unarmed, naked nubian inside his own home. Deputy Chief Lee wants to assure people they are looking into the incident. "We regret it. I know he does and our goal is to learn from it, to see if there's anything we need to do to make sure it doesn't happen again," says Lee.

The police plan to meet later this week with a group representing deaf and hearing impaired people. The department has also opened a full investigation into the officers' actions as a result of support provided to Donnell Williams by the Wichita NAACP. There will be a civil rights lawsuit filed with Justice Department in the next few days.

[video source]

5 comments:

Shelia said...

I swear, I think that these people go to work with the use of lethal force in mind! Regretting the use of lethal force in the aftermath is boggus. Learning how to do their damn jobs would be something of use.

Unknown said...

Shelia - I noticed that the chief of police in Wichita is Black. I wonder why the deputy chief is the one taking all of the media hits on this one?

Black Women in Europe said...

Villager, maybe it's a PR move to have the deputy chief handle the press so that the chief doesn't look like he's sympathetic to blacks, deaf people. Ridiculous, I know. And somewhere in my move to Europe in 2002 I missed the transition of getting beat down by the police with billy cllubs and getting electric shocks.

AJ said...

It seems some disciplinary action is in order. I'd like to know how this half naked man posed a threat warranting this type of force.

Unknown said...

Adrianne - Billy clubs are so 1970s... (smile). Actually, the use of taser guns by the police is a relatively new phenomenon. It seems that the police use it in lieu of talking with people...

AJ - I'm looking to see the discipline as well. At this point, I haven't heard the names of the cop who used the taser.