Cops are Going Taser-Crazy: Teens Injured and Killed By Supposed 'Nonlethal' Weapons

Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo at 9:53 AM on January 13, 2009.

There's a lot of talk about torture these days. Among the political elites the parameter of the debate has narrowed between Obama deciding to continue the torture or abandoning it, despite the fact that Obama vociferously denounced it during the campaign. But such is the way that goalposts are moved in Washington. But the goalposts are moving across our culture as well. Here are two stories about the torture of teenagers by police, one of whom died.

In the first case, you can see perfectly how the government now views the use of electrical shock as a benign tool to force compliance:

Salt Lake City police used a stun gun on a 14-year-old boy after they say he refused to leave the Gateway Mall and resisted arrest on Saturday night.

Around 8 p.m. Saturday, police said a group of kids was trying to pick a fight with a second group.

Gateway security officers asked the group to leave the mall, but they refused and at least one boy actively fought with officers, police said.

"He said his group was waiting for someone, and they were not leaving until they did so -- despite what police and security officers were telling them to do," said Salt Lake City Police Department Det. Dennis McGowan.

The boy cursed at officers and clenched his fists, taking "an aggressive stance," McGowan said.

McGowan said the boy refused to turn around to be arrested and pushed back at officers.

"He wouldn't go on the ground, and officers were unable to gain control," McGowan said. "Apparently they were falling on top of each other, so as a last resort, the officer pulled out his Taser."

McGowan said officers told the boy "over and over" to stop resisting and "had no choice but to deploy the Taser."

"It was for this person's safety as well as the officer's safety," he said. "It's much safer for them to do that versus someone getting beaten, or both parties getting beaten badly."

McGowan said the officers tried to work with the boy, and police were justified in elevating the force for the boy's own protection.

"A Taser only lasts for a few seconds," McGowan said. "Once the shock is over, it's as if nothing happened. The person totally recovers. We use minimum force when necessary -- that's what we try to do on every single call."

Tasers were supposed to replace deadly force. This officer doesn't even try to claim that here. He says right out that it's a harmless tool to force compliance when someone refuses to cooperate with police. Officers needn't even be required to physically restrain children anymore since this is such a harmless weapon. Not that we didn't know that, but it's kind of sickeningly refreshing to see it in black and white.

Unfortunately, sometimes the person doesn't "totally recover:"

After Justin Gregory saw a Taser used on his friend, he thought the incident would be good for a laugh.

“I thought Derrick was getting Tased and we’d laugh about it tomorrow,” Gregory said.

He never expected Derrick Jones to die.

But Jones did die, after becoming unresponsive when the Taser was deployed by a Martinsville police officer seeking to subdue the 17-year-old.

A handy new holster from Taser International Inc. holds not only your stun gun but a music player too.

Taser's latest foray into consumer products was introduced Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The holster costs $72.99 on the company's Web site and includes a 1-gigabyte MP3 player.

The company, which also sells its electronic weapons to law enforcement agencies and the military, has been stepping up its consumer product offerings with Tasers in new colors like "red-hot" and "fashion pink."

The latest Taser — in a leopard print and costing $379.99 — "provides a personal protection option for women who want fashion with a bite," said Chief Executive Rick Smith.

Tagged as: taser, police, murder, teenagers, pain, cops, brutality

Digby is the proprietor of Hullabaloo.