November 9, 2010

Taser Death: Robert Neill, Jr. (Mt. Joy, PA)

I think that the Mount Joy Borough Police Department may have screwed up bigtime. They electrocuted a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran and former U.S. Marine with their taser guns last weekend. Robert Neill, Jr. was an unarmed 61-year old man described by those who knew him as a gentle person.

The Lancaster County Vietnam Veterans of America director, Gary Levinson, said
"He was just a really sweet person, a good guy. That's why this was just such a shock to hear something like this."
Mr. Neill made the mistake of calling the police for help. He thought he was being harassed by neighbors. The police thought he had a mental illness and they were coming to take him into custody for a mental commitment.

The police shade their side of the story when it is told to put the dead man in the worst possible light.
Here is what Fox affiliate WPMT reports:
“As the police tried to investigate the harassment claims Neil became very aggressive and combative. Neill continued to struggle with the officers after several attempts to calm him down and the officers used a taser on him which did calm him down.”
No shyt Sherlock!? You think that pumping 50,000 volts of electricity into a person might "calm him down"? Perhaps it is not the best way to handle an UNARMED senior citizen, but, why let the facts get in the way of a good story, huh?!

Anyhow, after unidentified officers from the Mount Joy Borough Police Department had tranquilized Neill through a mild dose of taser-torture, officers from two other agencies — the Susquehanna Regional Police Department and the Pennsylvania State Police — arrived on the scene to “assist” the assailants. Thus fortified in their confrontation with the “aggressive,” “combative” man, the heroes once again deployed the taser against Neill. This succeeded in “subduing” the frantic man, who was collected by EMTs and died en route to the hospital. [SOURCE]






State police are investigating the unidentified Mount Joy Borough officers who used Tasers and mace on Neill.

Autopsy results are still pending. The Lancaster County coroner performed an autopsy Monday, but the results are pending a toxicology report.  


Please let this blog know if you become aware of any new information on the taser-related death.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

All - Here is an update on the taser-killing of Robert Neill, Jr.

Unknown said...

All - The state attorney general's office has cleared the police officers who last year shocked an unarmed Mount Joy man at least twice with Tasers and hit him with pepper spray 90 minutes before he suffered an abnormal heartbeat and died.

Read the rest of the story here.

Unknown said...

All - Family files lawsuit against the police and Taser International. Read the story.

Unknown said...

All - The police officer who used his taser multiple times on an unarmed man had been fired. The family of the dead man won a lawsuit. However, none of that mattered as the police officer returned back to work this month.