Saturday, August 06, 2011

I Don't Know What To Think Here

I support the use of stun guns, but dang... :
An 18-year-old man attending college preparatory classes at the University of Cincinnati died Saturday after a campus police officer used a Taser on him.

Officers rushed to Turner Hall about 3 a.m. after receiving a 911 call about an assault. The dormitory is located on Jefferson Avenue near the intersection with University.

As officers were trying to figure out what had happened, the teenager approached them outside the hall. The teen appeared agitated, angry and had balled fists, UC Assistant Police Chief Jeff Corcoran said.

Officers ordered the teen to stop approaching them more than once but he refused, Corcoran said. The teen was stunned by one cycle of the Taser and subdued...

The fire department and paramedics were called to examine the teen. As he was in their care, he went into cardiac arrest was taken to the nearby University Hospital, where he could not be resuscitated.

4 comments:

Mike Thiac said...

The article is short on details as far as why the officer used intermediate force (the TASER). Knowing what was written, I would assume there was a fight of some sort and they used the TASER to bring him under control. Now the fact he died of a cardiac arrest implies he had a previous unknown heart condition. Autopsy will hopefully clear this up.

We had a similar incident two years ago....the 37 year old died after use of a TASER and the autopsy showed a heart defect.

DADvocate said...

A lttle more information here. Sounds like he was a pretty good kid.

I have a slight arrhythmia that I've probably had all my life (I'm now 60). While it doesn't hinder my physical activities at all, I wonder if a Taser would be more likely to be fatal for someone like me. It seems the police go for the Taser a little to quick sometimes. There is no mention of pepper spray. Seems it should be tried first.

Anonymous said...

The police may well have screwed up.

But the kid (young adult) screwed up too.

When men with guns tell you to stop advancing, you really should stop advancing.

-Mark Roulo

mrelliott said...

Totally agree with anonymous. The police aren't going to act until they warn that person to stop advancing. Clearly the young man did not heed their warnings.

Three o'clock in the morning, the kid is angry and will not listen? I would venture a guess that drugs and alcohol played a role in his behavior.

It's sad the man died, but I don't blame the police for their actions, and they were just trying to stop him, not kill him, hence the stun guns in the first place.