Taser Lawsuit: Craig Prescott (Modesto CA)

Money talks. It may take losing some taser lawsuits in order to get the attention of the 'powers-that-be' around the nation. As such, I'm encouraged to learn that the family of former sheriff's deputy Craig Prescott who died in the aftermath of an altercation at the Stanislaus County Jail has taken its first steps toward suing the county. [SOURCE]

The family claims that deputies mistreated him in a drawn-out struggle that preceded his death in April 2009.

The claim alleges violations of civil rights, wrongful death, assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, citing the use of "unreasonable and excessive force against Mr. Prescott including the use of Tasers and clubs."

It alleges jail staff knew of the psychotic episodes that plagued Prescott, 38, and failed to provide him "adequate medical and physical care, thereby proximately causing his death."

This blog continues to follow the story of taser-related killings taking place all across America. Let us know if you have any thoughts on this lawsuit?

Taser Lawsuit: Alton Hall (Modesto CA)

Alton Hall, 45, died after a taser was used on him while in police custody at the Modesto jail. Police officials claim that the taser was used in an appropriate manner. Hall's family disagrees. The family submitted a claim against the county, alleging negligent jail officials are responsible for his death.

The claim states "the county of Stanislaus and its employees did not adhere to the restrictions on the use of the Tasers and as a result thereof Alton Ham died."

The claim is a possible precursor to the family filing a lawsuit against the county, seeking damages.

Read more.

Independent Autopsy Says Taser-Killing of Craig Prescott Was Not an Accident

38-year old Craig Prescott, a former sheriff's deputy, died in a taser-related killing back in April 2009 while he was in custody at the Stanislaus County Jail. The original autopsy concluded that the death was accidental. [SOURCE]

The autopsy ruling didn't seem right to Prescott's family. They commissioned an independent autopsy on April 15 by Dr. David Posey (Glenoaks Pathology Medical Center). Dr. Posey's autopsy concludes that the accident was not an accident. This autopsy report says that Prescott died from a lack of oxygen to the brain during a struggle with jailers.

Marilyn Prescott, Craig Prescott's mother, said she believes jail officials subdued her son in a manner that suffocated him, so they are responsible for his death.

"He was deprived of oxygen, so he couldn't breathe," she said. "It just saddens me to read this report, because now I know this was an egregious act."

The Stanislaus County coroner's office conducted its own autopsy a day after Prescott's death and released a report of its findings in early June. Pathologist Dr. Eugene Carpenter performed the autopsy under contract with the coroner's office.

Sheriff Adam Christianson has said jail officials followed departmental guidelines in trying to restrain and move Prescott.

In early October, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager said the jail officials were not responsible for Prescott's death. He died in a Modesto hospital two days after deputies at the jail used Tasers and pepper spray to subdue him when he acted out in their custody.

Fladager's report culminated a six-month inquiry into whether jail deputies acted criminally April 11 in subduing Prescott. She determined they did not, citing a coroner's report that said Prescott died of hypertensive heart disease and determined his death was accidental.

Posey's independent autopsy concluded a different cause of death.

Taser Death: Alton Ham (Modesto, CA)

It happened again! 45-year old Alton Ham, an inmate at the Stanislaus County Jail in downtown Modesto died after unidentified jailers killed him with a taser gun meant to subdue him as he was being moved to another cell on September 16. Soulclap to Rosalio Ahumada (Modesto Bee) for her excellent reporting on recent taser-related deaths in the Stanislaus County Jail.

This is the third time in five months an inmate has died while in custody after law enforcement officials used tasers to subdue the men. All three were being held at the sheriff's downtown Modesto jail when they died.

Ham was arrested by Sheriff's deputies on September 15 on suspicion of home invasion robbery. The deputies were trying to move Ham to a cell for his safety because he had "exhibited irrational behavior and was combative." Ham stood 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 200 pounds.

"Some of the details we don't have because this is still under investigation," Sheriff's Capt. Tim Beck said. "I don't know how many people (the detectives) still have to interview."

Beck said he did not know where in the jail Ham was being held when the jail staff noticed he was acting strangely. But about 2 p.m., the deputies decided to move Ham to the safety cell, also known as a "sobering cell." Less than 40 minutes later Mr. Ham was dead.

Inmates are placed alone in the safety cell so they can't harm themselves or other inmates. No indication of where Modesto prisoners are sent to be safe from the taser-wielding jailers. As the deputies were moving Ham, "he started fighting," according to the news release. When asked if Ham was punching or kicking the deputies, Beck said he could not release those details.

It was unclear how long the struggle with the jailers lasted. Beck, who is a sheriff's spokesman, said he didn't have information about how many deputies were involved in the struggle, how many deputies used a Taser on Ham or how many times Ham was struck by Tasers.

Beck said the deputies and medical staff stayed with Ham in the cell until he became unresponsive. Medical staff tried to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful. Ham was pronounced dead at the jail at 2:38 p.m.

Sheriff's officials said an autopsy showed that Ham had an enlarged heart and coroner officials are awaiting toxicology results before they can determine a cause of death. Beck said it could be four to six weeks before the toxicology results are returned.

Two other inmates at the downtown Modesto jail have died while in custody after officials used a Taser to subdue them.

Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said these deaths involved pre-existing, contributing factors such as drug abuse, alcohol abuse and mental health illness. He said Tasers have proven to be nonlethal weapons used successfully by law enforcement agencies across the country.

"Tasers are used every day on the street and people don't die," Christianson said.

He said downtown jailers follow specific departmental guidelines in using Tasers, and the Sheriff's Department will conduct an investigation into Ham's death the same as for the other two inmate deaths.

Villager's Voice: It seems that Sheriff Christianson isn't aware that his so-called nonlethal tasers are killing people at the rate of once per week.. I imagine that I'm going to have to count up the number of these taser-related deaths in which the victim would have died of their own accord ... with the taser gun and it's 50,000 volts being merely a coincidence. In this case the police want us to think that Ham would have dropped dead from his "enlarged heart", not the multiple jolts from police taser guns.

Ain't it time for congressional hearings?

Taser Death: Craig Prescott (Modesto, CA)

On April 11, jailers used Tasers and pepper spray to subdue Craig Prescott, 38, of Modesto, during an altercation with jailers as they tried to move him to a safety cell. Prescott was taken to a Modesto hospital, where he was pronounced dead two days later.

A pathologist determined Prescott died of hypertensive heart disease, something his wife disputes. The Sheriff's Department has handed over the investigation to the Stanislaus County district attorney's office.

Prosecutors will determine whether a crime was committed in Prescott's death. The investigation is ongoing!

Villager's Voice: - It amazes me how often the powers-that-be determine that a person would have died a natural death within moments of being shot by a 50,000 volts of electricity by a taser gun. We're supposed to believe that this guy died of heart disease and the taser shots were non-consequential?

Taser Death: Manuel Dante Dent (Modesto, CA)

It happened again! Stanislaus County Sheriff's officers used a taser in the death of 27-year old Manuel Dante Dent while he was in their county jail. Of course, the police are not acknowledging any responsibility for the taser being a part of his death.

Instead, the sherriff's office claims that Dent died from an overdose of methamphetamine while in their custody on August 27. Police claim that an autopsy showed that Dent had swallowed a bag made of plastic wrap and believed to be filled with drugs. Toxicology results determined the drugs caused Dent's death. [SOURCE]

Do you wonder how an inmate under the custody of the police can swallow meth?

Modesto police said Dent swallowed the small bag as he tried to escape from officers shortly before his arrest Aug. 26. The officers caught up to Dent, but he put a bag inside his mouth, said Sgt. Brian Findlen.

He said the officers placed a Taser gun directly against Dent's skin to prevent him from ingesting the bag. The technique is called "drive-stun mode" and used to apply momentary pain and achieve compliance from a suspect, Findlen said. The Taser applies a short shock, but the darts are not fired.

The officers arrested Dent on suspicion of possession of heroin in liquid form, destruction of evidence, resisting arrest and violating probation.

Police took Dent to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, where he was medically cleared before he was booked at the county's downtown Modesto jail.

Undersheriff Bill Heyne said Dent was awaiting his arraignment hearing and lying on the bed in his cell at 6:09 a.m. Aug. 27 when the jailers found him unresponsive.

Heyne said sheriff's deputies and jail medical staff started CPR procedures. Dent was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Villager's Voice: Once again the police disregard the impact of the taser gun and instead focus on the excuse of drugs. In my view the police are using the taser gun as a tool of convenience and control and not in the manner it was originally designed ... to protect lives. That's my thought. What say u?

Most Racist City in America

I see that Modesto CA is the worst city in America. The city scored poorly for its high cost of living, high unemployment rate, lack of activities, and the highest car theft rate in the United States.

Forbes claims that Stockton CA is the most miserable city in America. Stockton was ground zero for the housing boom and now the subsequent bust. Home prices more than tripled between 1998 and 2005 and then came crashing down last year. Stockton had the country's highest foreclosure rate last year at 9.5%. Things are not looking much brighter in 2009 as housing prices are expected to fall another 36% on the heels of a 39% drop in 2008. Also, unemployment is expected to jump to 13.3% from 10.4%.

Both of those cities can be glad that they are not Paris TX. I am convinced that Paris TX is the most racist city in America. There are only 26,000 people living in Paris TX, yet the town's racial animus keeps it in the national spotlight.

Paris first drew national scrutiny in 2007, after a 14-year-old African American girl, Shaquanda Cotton, was sentenced by a local judge to up to seven years in a youth prison for shoving a hall monitor at Paris High School. Three months earlier, the same judge had sentenced a 14-year-old white girl to probation for the more serious crime of arson. National civil rights protests, petition drives and media attention forced Shaquanda's early release from prison.

Then last year, a 24-year-old African American man, Brandon McClelland, was murdered by two white men who dragged him beneath a pickup truck until his body was nearly dismembered. The accused killers are awaiting trial for murder, but McClelland's family and civil rights leaders have pressed prosecutors to add hate-crime charges as well.

Only a few weeks ago, race relations had reached such a low point in the troubled east Texas town that federal Justice Department mediators were called in to try to bring together Black and white citizens, but the public meeting quickly dissolved into rancor.

Now we learn from the Chicago Tribune that fresh racial tensions are erupting inside one of the town's biggest employers, the Turner Industries pipe fabrication plant, where Black employees charge that hangman's nooses, Confederate flags and racist graffiti have been appearing throughout the workplace for months.

One worker, Karl Mitchell, took pictures of the offensive symbols in early February and filed a formal complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week. Other African American employees assert that they've repeatedly complained about the racist symbols to their bosses, only to be ignored or told to keep quiet.

"Somebody had to step forward," said Mitchell, who also alleges a pattern of wage and promotion discrimination at the plant stretching back nearly two years. "They are so wide open with [the racist displays] and so certain that African Americans aren't going to say anything about it."

John Fenner is Turner Industries' lawyer claims that the company only learned of the discrimination allegations last week, when photographs of the racist symbols began circulating on the Internet.

"All of us in management find all of that offensive. We do not condone any displays of this type. I can promise you that in the event we uncover that any of our people participated in the display of any of those matters, they may very well lose their jobs."

It must be a damn nightmare to be a Black man, woman or child in Paris TX. After all, it is now the reigning champion as 'Most Racist City in America'.