What Do Illinois, New Mexico and New York Have in Common? Death by Taser

A couple of you emailed this one in for the Taser files — I’m sure there are plenty more where this came from.

A man died Tuesday night after Chicago police shocked him with a Taser stun gun because he was combative during an arrest on the West Side, authorities said Wednesday morning.

Police sources say the man was on drugs and “acting suspiciously,” walking away from police near the 2600 block of South Trumbull Avenue in the South Lawndale neighborhood. When police tried to stop him, he was combative, and was sprayed with a chemical spray and shocked with the gun, sources said.

…The Taser used was one of the department’s newer models, equipped with a camera that allows the incident to be videotaped. Investigators will be reviewing that tape, said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.

A new and improved model, you don’t say? Now the suspect had a rap sheet and was a known gang member, so we’re not talking about a choir boy. But the issue here is that a “non-lethal” weapon seems to be proving itself to be dangerous. In this case, the police would have been better off shooting the guy in the arm or leg in a non-fatal area than Tasing him, but because the device is being used at what seems like the drop of a hat, we’re seeing more incidents like this.

Like what happened in Roswell, New Mexico.

KOB.com:

A confrontation between officers and the suspect, Javiar Aguilar, ensued Thursday afternoon when Aguilar allegedly made threats to his health care providers. Police say Aguilar was mentally-ill.

…”When they responded and advised him that he was going to be taken to a mental health facility for treatment, he refused to go,” Roswell Deputy Police Chief Scott Douglass said.

Douglass said the confrontation turned physical and officers had to use pepper spray and a stun gun to subdue Aguilar. Authorities then took him to Eastern New Mexico Medical Center where he died 40 minutes later.