Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens gave the following account to a reporter from the Kansas City Star:
Officers were called after Stevenson reportedly came into a local bar and claimed he had been shot. When police arrived, Stevenson was lying in the street. An ambulance was called, and police put Stevenson in the back of a patrol car while they waited.
Stevenson, whom Kitchens described as combative and aggressive, began to kick and butt his head inside the vehicle. Officers removed him and tried to get him under control. He was shocked by unidentified police officers at least three times with taser guns.
An ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. There is no evidence of any gunshot wounds on Stevenson ... despite the earlier reports.
Why did the unidentified police officers pull their taser guns and shoot this guy? HE WAS NO DANGER TO THE OFFICERS OR ANYONE ELSE. Even if you think that he was a danger to himself ... pumping him full of electricity through multiple taser gun shots wasn't appropriate.
Next step? Let's see what the autopsy results tell us. However, I can't see how the unidentified police officers get out of this taser-killing without some criminal repercussions.
What say u?
5 comments:
He was removed from the vehice and he was combative... sounds like a danger to me.
Let's go back to the beginning. The police were called for an alleged gunshot wound, they found the man lying in the street. The cops called an ambulance and placed the guy in the car to wait.
Once in the car he got violent STOP> They had every reason to take him out of the car... at theat point he wasn't a suspect for any crime. He was removed from the car, and he fought the officers.
He fought the officers.
No reason to tase him?
WRONG.
Gunfighter - Why did the police take him out of the back of the squad car? He was a victim ... not a perp. He was lying in the street when they arrived. Why don't they wait for the ambulance and the medical folks to arrive? Instead they open the back door of their squad car and begin to pump taser darts into this guy.
That seems wrong to me ... especially when the result is that the guy is now dead.
He was not a perp ... not a suspect in a crime. Now he's dead.
That is WRONG!
WOW you people have no idea. There has been no evidence that the taser kills people. People kill people. If it was inhuman the US goverment would ban them. They are a great device for Law Enforcement. They have saved more dangerous people then they have hurt. I am a Police Officer and I have been tased. Didn't hurt me. But it sure put me on the ground and took the fight out of me. Educate yourself before you comment about something you know nothing about!
OneBadAzzCop - I am not a LEO. As such, I cannot see the issue with the eyes of a LEO. I simply see the numbers as they continue to pile up. 107 taser-related deaths in the past 92 weeks ... more than one per week.
Something is wrong... Either with the tool or the training. No problem with the cops ... it is either the taser gun itself or the training that is causing such a poor outcome.
All - No charges were filed against the police officers involved in the taser-related killing of Edward Stevenson. Read more...
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