Taser Death: Phyllis Owens (Clackamas County, OR)

Two grown-azzed deputy sheriffs felt so scared of an 87-year old woman that they electrocuted her to death on July 8 in the front porch of her Oregon home. The victim is Phyllis Owens. She is unhealthy and suffered from dementia.

Clackamas County sheriff deputy Steve Shelly and his unidentified partner were involved in the taser-related killing. They indicate that she was reaching for a handgun. It seems to me that the police would use a gun if they thought that their lives were in danger from a suspect with a gun. However, in this case Deputy Steve Shelly hid in the shrubs on the front porch and used 50,000 volts from a taser gun ... it just doesn't seem credible that they were in fear of their life. Anyhow, the two deputies have been placed on administrative leave until things can be sorted out.

Dr. Larry Lewman, deputy state medical examiner, said an autopsy revealed that Owens suffered from heart disease and had a pacemaker. He said he needed more information on when she had the pacemaker implanted to determine whether that played a role in her death.

"But let me put it this way: A healthy person would not have died from this," Lewman said.

According to Clackamas County sheriff's deputies, Owens threatened the mobile home park manager with a handgun shortly after 2 p.m. When deputies arrived, Owens was on her porch, still holding the gun. They negotiated with her, trying to calm her down and persuade her to surrender the gun.

Owens put the gun down briefly on her porch railing. But when the deputies advanced, she reached to pick it up again. That's when Deputy Steve Shelly shot Owens with a Taser.

Owens immediately collapsed. Deputies performed CPR in an attempt to revive her. However, she died at a Gresham hospital about an hour later.

It should be interesting to see how this pre-judicial electrocution turns out. In the meantime, I encourage you to share your thoughts. What say u?