It happened again! This time a young 21-year old man, Yuceff Young II, died just minutes after police zapped his body with 50,000 volts of taser-generated electrocity.An unidentified officer stopped Young, about 1:30 a.m. on September 19, because his car appeared to be unsafe, Linndale police. No warrants. No drugs. The police just found a handy excuse to pull the young man over.
"The front bumper was hanging off, there were dents on it, and the windshield was shattered and bowed out, as if someone's head went into it from the inside," said Sgt. Tim Franczak. "The officer couldn't believe that anyone would drive such a car witThe unidentifed police officer assumed the worst about this young man because of the condition of his car ... and then takes that poor image into action by killing 21-year old Young. Young died after his car crashed into a utility pole after being shot with a stun gun by Linndale police just minutes before the crash.h that kind of damage. We don't know how he was able to see through the windshield. The officer thought the driver had been involved in a hit-skip accident."
Franczak said police smelled a strong odor of alcohol from Young and asked him to get out of the car. He refused.
"The window was open, but the door was locked," Franczak said. "Police know better than to reach into a car, so the officer tasered him. Just as he fired the Taser, the car took off at a high rate of speed."Young drove erratically as he sped off, Franczak said. Before the Linndale office
r had a chance to report the fleeing vehicle, Young's car was spotted by a Linndale police officer, who gave chase.Young's car went a short distance and turned onto Tiedeman Road, where it crashed into a utility pole.
"It was horrific, it looked like a plane crash," Franczak said. "I wish it would have ended differently, but our officer did everything right."
Villager's Voice: It appears to me that this situation never happens if the police didn't profile Yuceff Young II based on the condition of his car. What a waste of human life ... and all because the police decided to use a taser gun when it wasn't necessary. 42 people killed in the first 42 weeks of the year after police deployed a taser on them. Do you see a problem here?
5 comments:
Villager,
I want to commend you for keeping close tabs on the tasering situation. The fact that it happened in the O-State makes it even more chilling.
Was this the best way to handle the situation? That will always be questionable in my mind. It seems to me that when individuals are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, using a taser always ends up being a lethal force situation.
Where the hell is Brooklyn, Ohio? I have never heard of this city before. I hope that I never have reason to go through there. It sounds like it might be one of those spots where danger lives in the wide open with a badge and a taser to prove it.
Good post, Villager.
I'm concerned not only with the police's use of the taser but also it's disproportionate use on black males.
My other concern is that black so-called leaders such as members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Where are they? Why haven't they spoken up as a body on this issue? Why should it be left up to bloggers like you to keep reminding Americans that our people are dying because of the misuse of tasers by the police?
Lady D - I think that Brooklyn OH is located up in the Cleveland area of the state. This taser-related death shows us that the issue takes place all over the nation ... including Middle America.
I hope that if we keep shining a bright light on the situation it will help in some way.
MacDaddy - Asante sana! My hope is that Congressional Black Caucus and others will see what is happening all around the nation and take action. For now, I am grateful to Black bloggers who help share this information on their blogs. After all, it was through us that issues like Jena 6 were raised to the national conscience. We just have to keep doing what we do!
this is an older posting, but I found it while looking for something else Brooklyn OH related and wanted to clarify a misinterpretation. LINNDALE police tased Young, not BROOKLYN. Linndale is a Cleveland suburb surrounded by Cleveland and Brooklyn. One must drive through Linndale to get to Brooklyn from Cleveland. Linndale police are notorious for pulling over anyone and everyone; traffic tickets are that tiny villages main source of revenue. It just so happened that Young continued into Brooklyn away from the Linndale PD, where he lost control of the vehicle and died.
To Lady D, should you ever read this post again, Brooklyn, while over the last 10 years has been on a downslide, is one of the better suburbs as far as inner ring suburbs go. I live in Old Brooklyn (a neighborhood within Cleveland that borders Brooklyn) and grew up in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is like Mayberry compared to my street.
Seuse7 - Thank you for the clarification about the Linndale Police. I made the correction in the original post.
I haven't been to either town in the past ... but, I'll be sure to be careful if I'm driving thru Linndale or Brooklyn!
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