It happened again! We enter into the 40th week of 2009 ... and we report on the 40th taser-related death in America. One per week...This time the tortured man is 38-year old Derrick Humbert. Police pulled Humbert's BICYCLE over at 12:18 am because he didn't have a light on the bike. Humbert got off his bike and ran through the yards of several houses in the neighborhood. Bradenton Police Officer Del Shiflett used his Taser in a fatal ending to the chase.
Before he was to be taken to the Manatee County Jail, paramedics took Humbert to Manatee Memorial Hospital for treatment, but he died there at about 1:00 am.
The penalty for running away from the police should not be death by electrocution. Yet, here we are again with a dead man at the hands of a
so-called non-lethal weapon.It took no time for the police to wave the druggie accusation. They immediately released the fact that Humbert was wanted on a warrant for possession of marijuana.
At this point everyone waits for the autopsy report.
4 comments:
Villager: Thanks for the info. But I have to confess that I'm getting really angry and really sick about this. In addition to telling about these new deaths, I think that you and I and some other bloggers need to talk about what people are doing in the cities where this is occuring. I'm hear people are holding hearings about this issue, but it hasn't reached the organizing against the taser level.
I want to hear more about people fighting against these unnecessary deaths. What do you think?
MacDaddy - I think that you will find some kindred spirits for a blogger action re: taser deaths within the AfroSpear. I'm not up to leading an effort ... however, I will continue to see updates on taser-related deaths and post them ... and I'll participate on any conference calls that you (or others) set-up.
I guess I shouldn't be, but I am still amazed that the law enforcement agencies continue to use tasers when so many deaths occur from using them. They should be banned.
Shae - I appreciate your comment. Personally, I don't want them banned. I just want the police to take responsibility for when they are used incorrectly or inappropriately. Too often the police immediately start blaming the victim.
In this case, the young brother should NOT have dropped his bicycle and run from the cops. However, a busted bike taillight is not an excuse to kill a man. That is what the police did ... they killed this man.
Post a Comment