Charlotte Police Want a 'Safer' Taser Gun

The Charlotte Police Department suspended use of taser guns after the taser-related killings of 17-year old Darryl Turner and 21-year old La'Reko Williams. After a two-month review the Charlotte Police Department wants to throw out their current inventory of tasers and spend $1.8 million to purchase a new model that is supposed to be safer. [SOURCE]

Among its safety features: the shock stops at five seconds regardless of how long an officer holds the trigger down.

The Charlotte City Council agreed to spend the money for the new tasers.

This blog feels that such a safety feature is a good one. It's a shame that it's taken weekly taser-related deaths for safety to be factored into the creation of these taser guns.

Taser Lawsuit: Jury Awards $10 Million to Family of Darryl Turner (Charlotte NC)

The shocking taser-killing of 17-year old Darryl Turner by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer was one of the early cases of its kind covered by this blog. We've spent a lot of time covering taser-deaths since then ... but, Turner's case was particularly appalling. A young, vibrant teenager killed because a police officer thought it was a good idea to pump his body with 50,000 volts of electricity for 37 seconds.

The city of Charlotte knew it was wrong. That is why they settled with the family for over $600,000.

However, Taser International continued to hide behind its junk-science of 'excited delirium syndrome'. A federal jury decided it was time to put Taser International in its place. The jury ordered Taser International Inc. to pay $10 million to the family of the 17-year-old teenager who was killed in March 2008 at a Food Lion in northeast Charlotte

Police at the time said the officer violated policy when he shocked Darryl Turner for about 37 seconds (see store surveillance video), contributing to the teen's death. Turner fell to the floor during the confrontation and died.

The jury returned its verdict Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.  Lawyers for Turner's family persuaded jurors that the manufacturer knew the product could cause heart problems if it struck near the heart but failed to warn customers.

Good for them!

There have been hundreds of these taser-related killings in America over the past few years. I hope that we begin to see many more of these successful lawsuits brought against the manufacturer of these taser death-ray guns!

Our prayers remain with the family of Darryl Turner. The money won't bring Darryl back ... but, it does provide some measure of justice against the people who took him away in the first place.

Taser Lawsuit: Darryl Turner (Charlotte, NC)

One of the first taser-killings that this blog tracked took place in Charlotte, NC. 17-year old Darryl Turner was killed by Officer Jerry Dawson, who zapped him twice for a total 37 seconds.

The city of Charlotte never admitted wrongdoing in the incident but paid the Turner family $625,000 to settle the case.

Now the Turner family is taking the fight to the maker of the stun gun.

"We've alleged that Taser (International) became aware of information relating to the inherent dangers concerning the deployment of the Taser into the chest area," attorney Ken Harris said. "This lawsuit is not about whether or not the Taser should be taken away from police departments; it's about how the Taser should be used properly."

The Turner lawsuit against Taser International is expected to go to trial late next year. What are your thoughts on this lawsuit?

Taser Settlement: Darryl Turner (Charlotte)

The City of Charlotte settled for $625,000 with the family of Daryl Turner, a 17-year-old who died in March 2008 after being killed by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer with a taser.

Read more...

Case Study: The Death of Darryl Turner

Amnesty International is tracking taser abuse as a human rights abuse issue in the United States. Since June 2001, more than 320 individuals in the United States have died after being shocked by police TASERs. Most of those individuals were not carrying a weapon. Amnesty International is concerned that TASERs are being used as tools of routine force -- rather than as an alternative to firearms.

They recently posted a case study about the taser-related death of Darryl Turner.

Darryl Turner, age 17, died in March 2008 after he was shocked by an officer from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina. Turner, who worked in a grocery store, reportedly went home for lunch with two snacks for which he had not paid. His mother told him to return to the store and admit what he had done.

When he returned to work he got into an argument with the store manager. A store video recording of the incident shows that Turner entered the store's customer service area and pushed an object off the counter. He walked out but came back into the room and pointed at the manager. A police officer entered the room with his TASER, which he immediately fired at Turner, who was standing behind the counter with his hands at his side. There was no visible attempt by the officer to talk to the teenager or calm the situation. With the TASER probes in his chest, Turner moved past the officer, after which he reportedly collapsed out of view of the camera.

Downloaded data from the officer's TASER shows that he held the trigger down for 37 continuous seconds until Turner collapsed -- and shocked him again when he was on the floor. Attempts to revive Turner were unsuccessful. The coroner later ruled cause of death to be a fatal disturbance of the heart rhythm due to stress and the TASER shocks. A police investigation subsequently ruled that the officer's initial decision to use the TASER was within departmental procedures, but that holding down the trigger was not justified. The officer was suspended for five days.

Baron Pike Joins Other Black Men, Women and Children Victimized by Taser-Happy Cops

UPDATE: Former cop Scott Nugent indicted for manslaughter!

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We often discuss improper use of tasers by police. However, I must admit that this story went under the radar for me until reported by Tony Brown, Francis Holland and Howard Witt. Here is Howard's article:

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At 1:28 p.m. last Jan. 17, Baron "Scooter" Pikes was a healthy 21-year-old man. By 2:07 p.m., he was dead.

What happened in the 39 minutes in between--during which Pikes was handcuffed by local police and shocked nine times with a Taser device, while reportedly pleading for mercy--is now spawning fears of a political cover-up in this backwoods Louisiana lumber town infamous for backroom dealings.

Even more ominously, because Pikes was Black and the officer who repeatedly Tasered him is white, racial tensions over the case are mounting in a place that's just 40 miles from Jena, La. Jena is the site of the racially explosive prosecution of six Black teenagers charged with beating a white youth that last year triggered one of the largest American civil rights demonstrations in decades. And in a bizarre coincidence, Pikes turns out to have been a first cousin of Mychal Bell, the lead defendant in the Jena 6 case.

No novelist could have invented Winnfield, a place so steeped in corruption that they built a local museum to try to sanitize it all.

You can read the rest of the article here.

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I am tired of reading these stories about Black men, blind men, women, pregnant women and children irresponsibly tased by the police.

I've taken time to document and understand the use of force continuum to better understand when tasers are supposed to be used. Yet, I see no excuse for the homicidal behavior of police officers in Winnfield LA or Charlotte NC.

I join with African American Political Pundit in saying, "We are not against taser use as an alternative to deadly force. We are however against taser abuse by rogue cops who consider the taser an apartheid electrocution whip of the 21st century."

I suspect that you will hear more and more about taser abuse from other bloggers in the afrosphere. What say u?

5-Day Suspension for Darryl Turner's Taser-Killing Cop

We reported to you earlier that the Charlotte District Attorney refused to press charges against Officer Jerry Dawson for his deadly use of a taser gun on 17-year old Darryl Turner. Turner died after being tased for 37 seconds with 50,000 volts of electricity.

The Charlotte Police Department issued their ruling on the shooting today. While Dawson will keep his job, authorities say the prolonged use of the Taser was not justified and the officer will have to get additional training to use the Taser guns. He has also been suspended for five days.

Punishment for killing a 17-year old boy in Charlotte NC is getting a week's vacation. Does it seem right to you?

Charlotte Says 'No Problem' to Officer Jerry Dawson for Taser-Kill of Unarmed Black Teenager

Charlotte Observer reports that Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Marsha Goodenow said Monday Officer Jerry Dawson Jr. was justified in using the Taser on Darryl Turner during a confrontation at a Food Lion earlier this year in Charlotte. The prosecutor said a video camera at the grocery captured the incident between Turner and the police officer. The video shows the teen throwing items at the store manager, then moving toward the officer, she said.

“It's clear he's advancing on the officer,” Goodenow told the Observer. “The officer was justified in using the Taser – which he had been trained was non-deadly force – to control the situation. Unfortunately, it had very tragic results.”

Goodenow said the 17-year old Turner was shocked more than once. Yet the prosecutor claims, "The officer used the appropriate force."

A Taser is a weapon that uses compressed nitrogen to shoot two tethered needle-like probes that deliver an electronic shock. It's designed to temporarily subdue a person, although one study found that the improper use of Tasers has contributed to the death of at least 11 people in North Carolina over the past four years.

Turner's autopsy shows that he died from cardiac arrest. Family attorney Ken Harris said he's still reviewing evidence collected from Food Lion and police. However, he was quick to note that Turner had no intoxicants in his body and that the Taser specifically played a role in his death – a fact rarely mentioned in Taser-related deaths across the country, Harris said.

Co-workers, including a supervisor, said Turner was a reliable employee who had never been reprimanded at work. They said he had some disagreements with the customer service manager, who had asked him to tuck in his shirt and complained about Turner wearing gold teeth and big earrings.

Goodenow said Monday that when Turner returned to the grocery after lunch, a supervisor told him to remove the sucker from his mouth and tuck in his shirt. The teenager began cursing, the prosecutor said. The supervisor, a white woman, called the store manager to report what was happening. She said Turner was cursing and angry, and told the manager she felt threatened and was going to call police.

After the manager arrived, Turner began taunting him to get him to fight, Goodenow said. He threw a plastic counter-top display at the manager, she said, then picked up an umbrella and threw that at the manager. Then he advanced on the manager who was behind the customer service desk.

Goodenow said a witness recalled the police officer, who had witnessed at least part of the confrontation with the manager, yelling: “Freeze. Don't move. Stay where you are.” Turner then began walking toward the officer, who had already pulled his Taser. When Turner was a few feet from Dawson, the officer fired the Taser.

Goodenow said Turner's body stiffened after being shocked, but the teen kept walking. When Turner got to the front of the store he tossed a metal grocery bag holder, she said. It's unclear when the officer fired again or how long the shock lasted.


“He gave the officer a look like he was going to break him in half…,” the manager told police. “I don't know what was bothering him, but he was not himself. The officer told him he needed to stop. And that's the last warning you're going to get. And he just kept on going.”

Villagers, my view remains the same as before. Turner didn't have a weapon. He was just an angry teenager. I suspect that the Food Lion supervisor, Food Lion manager and Officer Jerry Dawson simply over-reacted to the situation because of their pre-conceived fear of 'the angry black man'. They saw a monster and they killed him. I see a 17-year old high school graduate working hard and planning for a future that was snuffed out by taser-happy cop. Personally, I hope that a civil suit puts a big hole in the taser budget of the Charlotte police department.

What say u?

Autosopy: 'No Drugs' for Taser Victim Darryl Turner

You may recall the story of 17-year old Darryl Turner who police killed with a Taser back in March.

We learned this week that Turner's autopsy report says the stress of the situation and the shock from the Taser was too much for his body to handle. It says he died of acute ventricular dysrhythmia and ventricular fibrillation. In other words, his heart was pumping so fast and irregularly that he died.

The report states Turner did not have heart problems and he didn't have drugs in his system except for the medicines emergency workers used trying to save his life.

It stuns me that anyone would think that the police are justified in killing this young man. He did not have a weapon. Police said Turner had been threatening the officer after having disagreement with his employer. It just seems that the penalty for disagreeing with your Food Lion boss should not be execution.

Turner's family has not said whether they plan to sue police. They hired an attorney in March.

Police are doing their own internal investigation to see if the officer who used the Taser followed the rules. That officer is back on active duty after being put on administrative leave following the incident.

I haven't written about taser deaths in a few months. Do you think that the taser issue is slowing down? Have the police been better trained as a result of the incidents we reported on in the past? What say u?

Witness Says Taser-Cop Lied About Darryl Turner

Villagers, a witness from the Food Lion store gives a very different account than police. The attorney for the family claims that he has a witness who says 17-year old Darryl Turner did not threaten the officer before being killed by 50,000 volts from the officer's taser gun. A statement from the witness reads, "The officer told Darryl to ‘step back!’" The witness said Turner simply obeyed the officer's command to step back and was then hit with the Taser. He later died. [SOURCE]

The police are working overtime to find justification for this taser killing ... going so far as to say that the young man suffered from 'Excited Delirium Syndrome'. Personally, I never heard of this syndrome before this week, although I see others were hip to it earlier. Imagine my surprise to learn that there is a blog devoted to this syndrome!

What do you think about these recent taser deaths?

Taser Death: Darryl Turner (North Carolina)

UPDATE: Cops say his death might be 'Excited Delirium'. WTF?

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Drumbeats from Pam's House Blend gave us the sad news about a 17-year old tasered-to-death by Charlotte police for shoplifting his lunch from local grocery store. Turner had worked as a cashier and bagged groceries at the Food Lion at 3024 Prosperity Church Road, where the incident happened.

His mother, Tammy Fontenot, indicates that Turner graduated from Crossroads Charter High School last year. He had wanted to go to Central Piedmont Community College and be a personal trainer. He didn't have any health problems and had never been in trouble, she said.

Around lunchtime on Mar 20, Turner had come home to eat and told his mom that he had stolen a couple of Hot Pockets from the store. A supervisor planned to get a district manager involved and he feared disciplinary action, she said.

She said she told him to go back to the store and face up to what happened. A few hours later she was informed that her son was dead.

Villagers, since when do our young people get the death penalty for shoplifting? What were the police thinking? It is hard for me to understand how the force continuum calls for using a taser on a young man without a weapon (...believe me, if he had a weapon, we would know about it!).

Tasers may have a place in law enforcement, however, it is becoming evident that law enforcement officers in Charlotte and elsewhere need better training on how to use the dayum things. What say u?