Cops Use Stun Guns In A Racial Manner — Just As They Use Their Guns

Adapted from an Illustration provided by Karl Anderson.

By DAVE COLLINS
Officers last year fired stun guns at blacks and Hispanics at a higher rate than at white suspects, and warned but didn't fire at white suspects at a higher rate than they did blacks or Hispanics, according to preliminary data from the first state to require police to document their use of stun guns.

The new data from Connecticut come as police across the U.S. face increasing scrutiny over their use of force, in the wake of high-profile fatal shootings by officers, especially of black suspects. Although stun guns have been billed as non-lethal alternatives to guns, they have resulted in deaths, and reliable information on how police use them has been lacking.

Among the figures revealed in the raw data, obtained and reviewed by The Associated Press ahead of an official report expected in coming weeks:

— State and municipal police reported 641 incidents involving stun guns last year, including 437 actual firings and 204 threats of use.

— Within the overall number of stun gun incidents, officers fired them 60 percent of the time in cases involving whites, 80 percent of the time in cases involving blacks and 69 percent of the time in cases involving Hispanics.

— Officers warned about firing but did not do so at white suspects 40 percent of the time, black suspects 20 percent of the time and Hispanic suspects 31 percent of the time.

— When officers fired their stun guns in 2015, 43 percent of the suspects were white, 35 percent were black and 21 percent were Hispanic. But when officers only threatened to use stun guns and did not fire them, 61 percent of the subjects were white, 19 percent were black and 20 percent were Hispanic.

— Thirty percent of the people involved in the overall incidents were black and 21 percent were Hispanic.

A 2014 law made Connecticut the first state to require all police departments to report every instance in which an officer discharges or threatens to use a stun gun. Researchers at Central Connecticut State University are reviewing the data and will submit a report with analysis to state officials, possibly by the end of February.

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Police Militarization Takes Big Jump: Weaponized Drones Authorized — With Tasers, Tear Gas, Rubber Bullet, Bean Bags, Will Also Be Used To Spy On Citizens

The law allowing drones to attack and spy on citizens was allegedly "forced" on North Dakota state legislators by "pro-police" groups. It was signed into law by the governor. The original law was supposed to keep weapons off drones. This demonstrates how the money of lobbyists can achieve the opposite of what was originally intended by sponsors of a bill.

Police in North Dakota can now legally target American citizens with  remote controlled aerial vehicles.
(Photo by Debra Sweet)

By Laura Wagner
With the passage of a new law earlier this year, North Dakota has become the first state to legalize law enforcement use of armed drones.

RELATED STORY: First State Legalizes Taser Drones for Cops, Thanks to a Lobbyist

Though the law limits the type of weapons permitted to those of the "less than lethal" variety — weapons such as tear gas, rubber bullets, beanbags, pepper spray and Tasers — the original bill actually aimed to ensure that no weapons at all were allowed on law enforcement drones.

The sponsor of the original bill, Republican state Rep. Rick Becker, said he wasn't happy with how that part of the law turned out.

A typical police commando unit (SWAT) is more heavily armed than US troops were
in Iraq. (Photo by OR Dept of Trans)

"In my opinion there should be a nice, red line: Drones should not be weaponized. Period," Becker said at a hearing in March, according to The Daily Beast.

Originally, the intent of the bill was to require police to obtain a search warrant before using a drone to look for evidence. It also prohibited weapons aboard drones.

But to get a measure passed that would require search warrants, Becker had to compromise on the weapons issue.

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Cop Tasers A Man Who Tried To Stop Their Brutalization of a Woman (Video)

Black Americans Killed by Police Twice as Likely to Be Unarmed as White People — Cops Also Killing People at Twice Rate Calculated by US Government

By Jon Swaine, Oliver Laughland and Jamiles Lartey
Black Americans are more than twice as likely to be unarmed when killed during encounters with police as white people, according to a Guardian investigation which found 102 of 464 people killed so far this year in incidents with law enforcement officers were not carrying weapons.

An analysis of public records, local news reports and Guardian reporting found that 32% of black people killed by police in 2015 were unarmed, as were 25% of Hispanic and Latino people, compared with 15% of white people killed.

The findings emerged from a database filled by a five-month study of police fatalities in the US, which calculated that local and state police and federal law enforcement agencies are killing people at twice the rate calculated by the US government’s official public record of police homicides. The database names five people whose names have not been publicly released.

The Guardian’s statistics include deaths after the police use of a Taser, deaths caused by police vehicles and deaths following altercations in police custody, as well as those killed when officers open fire. They reveal that 29% of those killed by police, or 135 people, were black. Sixty-seven, or 14%, were Hispanic/Latino, and 234, or 50%, were white. In total, 102 people who died during encounters with law enforcement in 2015 were unarmed.

The figures illustrate how disproportionately black Americans, who make up just 13% of the country’s total population according to census data, are killed by police. Of the 464 people counted by the Guardian, an overwhelming majority – 95% – were male, with just 5% female.
Steven Hawkins, the executive director Amnesty International USA, described the racial imbalance as “startling”. Hawkins said: “The disparity speaks to something that needs to be examined, to get to the bottom of why you’re twice as likely to be shot if you’re an unarmed black male.”

Relatives of unarmed people killed by police in high-profile incidents during the past year – including Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tony Robinson and Walter Scott – described the Guardian project as a breakthrough in the national debate over the use of deadly force by law enforcement.

“Giving this kind of data to the public is a big thing,” said Erica Garner, whose father’s killing by police in New York City last year led to international protests. “Other incidents like murders and robberies are counted, so why not police-involved killings? With better records, we can look at what is happening and what might need to change.”

The initiative was also praised by a range of policing experts and by campaigners who are urging government authorities to make the official recording of fatalities mandatory for all 18,000 police departments and law enforcement agencies operating in the US.

“It’s troubling that we have no official data from the federal government,” said Laurie Robinson, the co-chair of Barack Obama’s task force on 21st-century policing. “I think it’s very helpful, in light of that fact, to have this kind of research undertaken.”

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Cops Fired For Abusing A Mentally Disabled Woman With a Taser: Shocked Her Many Times Without Giving Her A Chance to Comply

The sadistic cops were fired and face a year in jail, and the city of Marion has been hit with a lawsuit seeking $2 million in damages

By Travis Gettys
Two former South Carolina police officers could spend at least a year in prison for repeatedly shocking a mentally disabled woman with a Taser without giving her time to comply with their orders.

Federal prosecutors are recommending prison for Eric Walters and Franklin Brown when they are sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in October to deprivation of rights under color of law, reported the Associated Press.

Walters encountered 40-year-old Melissa Davis during an April 2013 patrol in Marion, when he spotted her leaving the yard of a home for sale and suspected she might have broken into it.

The officer asked Davis what she was doing and then shocked her with a Taser, court records show.

Walters ordered the woman to place her hands behind her back after she fell to the ground and then shocked her four more times before she had time to comply, prosecutors said.

Brown arrived at that point to provide backup, but Walters had determined that Davis had done nothing wrong and was removing the Taser probes from her back.

But Brown noticed one of the woman’s hands slip from the handcuffs – which Walters had applied improperly – and shocked Davis three more times until she rolled over to be handcuffed again.

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'Reserve' Deputy Who Killed Man 'By Mistake' Allowed To Go On Vacation in Bahamas While Victim's Family Mourns

By CBS
A volunteer sheriff's deputy plans to vacation in the Bahamas while facing a second-degree manslaughter charge in Oklahoma, his attorneys told a judge Tuesday, drawing immediate criticism from the family of the man he killed.

Robert Bates pleaded not guilty during the hearing in Tulsa district court. The 73-year-old former insurance executive has said he confused his handgun for a stun gun when he shot Eric Harris after the suspect ran during a sting investigation involving gun sales.

Bates' lawyers told the judge that Bates, a reserve deputy with the Tulsa County sheriff's office, and his family planned to take their previously planned vacation ahead of his next court date in July.

"It's really not an issue," Corbin Brewster, one of Bates' attorneys, said in an interview after the hearing.

Harris' family criticized the trip, saying it sends a message "of apathy with respect to the shooting and Eric's life."

"At a time when we are still mourning the death of a loved one that he shot down in the street, Mr. Bates will be relaxing and enjoying his wealth and privilege," the family said in a statement released Tuesday.

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'Reserve' Sheriff's Deputy Kills A Man 'By Mistake': FBI Say There Was 'No Wrong Doing' — Never Mind the Dead Body

"The FBI has completed their investigation, and they found no wrong doing at the Sheriff's Office," Sheriff Glanz said. "Of course, they look at civil rights violations." The family of the dead man was offered "an apology" by Sheriff Glanz.

Eric Harris (right) with brother Andre.  Eric was shot in the back and killed by a "reserve" deputy who
says he thought he had a taser in his hand instead of a gun. The "reserve" deputy shot Eric in the back
while he was face down on the ground.

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Two deputies reassigned in wake of fatal shooting by Tulsa county reserve deputy

By Jarrel Wade
The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office has reassigned two deputies involved in the undercover sting that led to a fatal shooting earlier this month, Sheriff Stanley Glanz said at a Monday morning press conference.

RELATED STORY: Man Brutalized, Shot in Back, and Then Cursed By Cops As He Lay Dying (Video)

Meanwhile, attorneys who represent the family of the man killed in the sting held an afternoon press conference that focused on an alleged void in the qualifications held by the reserve deputy who fired the shot.

RELATED STORY: Oklahoma Sheriff Apologizes to Family of Man Shot By Reserve Deputy

Monday morning's press conference was the first where Glanz talked at length and took questions about the fatal shooting, which occurred April 2 when 73-year-old Reserve Deputy Robert Bates mistook his gun for a Taser during a sting operation, killing Eric Harris.

The news conference followed the release on Saturday of official records detailing Bates' training and certification. Bates served as Glanz's re-election campaign manager in 2012 and has donated cars and equipment to the Sheriff's Office.

The victim was already face down on the ground and collared by the cops
when the "reserve" deputy decided to taser him — With a gun. The
victim was cursed by cops when he complained.

Bates’ training and relationship to Glanz and the Sheriff’s Office as a donor have been a focus of the fallout.

Deputies Joseph Byars and Michael Huckeby have come under scrutiny for their actions after the shooting, which occurred after an undercover gun buy. In a video of the shooting, Byars can be heard saying, “F--- your breath,” to Harris as he lay on the ground after being shot, and Huckeby is seen kneeling on Harris’ head. Harris had just said something about not being able to get his breath.

Glanz said the two deputies were reassigned due to threats they and their families have received.

"The deputies have been reassigned for their safety," Glanz said. "There have been some threats against them and their families. They have a family and kids, and I'm very concerned about their safety."

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It's Not Just Guns. Police Often Use Tasers All Wrong, Too

Adapted from an Illustration provided by Karl Anderson.

By German Lopez
Eric Harris, an unarmed, black 44-year-old man, was pinned down on April 2 by multiple officers when one of them yelled, "Taser!" But the sound that followed wasn't the typical click-clack of a stun gun — it was the distinct blast of an actual bullet, which hit Harris, fatally wounding him. Robert Bates, the white, 73-year-old reserve Tulsa County, Oklahoma, deputy who fired his gun instead of his Taser, almost immediately realized his mistake, saying, "I shot him! I'm sorry!"

RELATED STORY: Woman Tasered to Death by Deputies While She was Cuffed, Shackled, and Masked

Harris's death has drawn national attention because Bates, who's now been charged with second-degree manslaughter, shot an unarmed suspect who was already on the ground. But less frequently asked is whether Bates should have even tried to use his stun gun at all, given that Harris was already restrained by multiple police officers. Did Harris really present a threat that required extra force?

Law enforcement experts have increasingly criticized how police use stun guns in recent years, particularly as police use of force comes under mounting scrutiny following the deaths of unarmed black men like Eric Garner in New York City and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

"Sometimes cops go to Tasers too early and too often"

When stun guns were first introduced to police forces over the past few decades, they were originally designed and marketed as strictly nonlethal devices that could be used in place of a gun to incapacitate a violent suspect without deadly force. But it turns out the devices can kill, even when used against otherwise healthy targets.

RELATED STORY: Cops Taser Handcuffed, Mentally Ill Black Man to Death in Albany New York - Protests Begin (Video)

Yet cops have continued using stun guns as if they're nonlethal weapons, including in situations where a suspect, such as Harris, is being apprehended and doesn't appear to pose a threat to others.

The misuse and deadly risks of Tasers have pushed some law enforcement experts to question whether cops are too trigger-happy with stun guns. "It's what we call the 'lazy cop syndrome,'" Geoffrey Alpert, an expert on police training at the University of South Carolina, said. "Sometimes cops go to Tasers too early and too often."

When stun guns were first introduced to police forces over the past few decades, they were originally designed and marketed as strictly nonlethal devices that could be used in place of a gun to incapacitate a violent suspect without deadly force. But it turns out the devices can kill, even when used against otherwise healthy targets.

Yet cops have continued using stun guns as if they're nonlethal weapons, including in situations where a suspect, such as Harris, is being apprehended and doesn't appear to pose a threat to others.

The misuse and deadly risks of Tasers have pushed some law enforcement experts to question whether cops are too trigger-happy with stun guns. "It's what we call the 'lazy cop syndrome,'" Geoffrey Alpert, an expert on police training at the University of South Carolina, said. "Sometimes cops go to Tasers too early and too often."

In February, deputies used a stun gun on Natasha McKenna, a mentally ill woman at the Fairfax County, Virginia, jail who, according to the Washington Post's Tom Jackman and Justin Jouvenal, was restrained with handcuffs, leg shackles, and a mask. When the officers couldn't get McKenna to bend her knees to sit on a restraint chair, one of them delivered four shocks from a Taser. Within minutes, McKenna stopped breathing and died.

Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid told the Post the department defended the use of a Taser on a restrained prisoner, saying it was meant to gain compliance from McKenna without resorting to physical force. This appears to be the norm: previous surveys found that police department policies generally allow officers to use Tasers to help restrain someone who's physical with an officer, even if the suspect isn't actually attacking.

But police training experts are increasingly skeptical of using stun guns in this way, in large part because cases like McKenna's show that these weapons can sometimes kill.

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Cop Who Shot Walter Scott In Back — Video of Him Tasering Man Lying Face Down

Unnecessary tasering of prisoners by police is becoming a national epidemic.  Eric Harris and Oscar Grant were both killed by police who "thought" they were tasering a prisoner when in fact they were shooting the prisoner. Recently, Dontay Ivy and Natasha McKenna, both of whom were mentally ill, were tasered to death by law enforcement. 

Michael Slager tasered Julius Garnett Wilson (above) while
he was already face down on the ground.

By Jason Sickles
Allegations of excessive force used on minorities are mounting against the South Carolina police officer recently caught on video fatally shooting unarmed suspect Walter Scott in the back.

Julius Garnett Wilson alleges in a new lawsuit that he was tased by officer Michael Slager last August while lying face-down on the pavement.

The North Charleston police officer, who is white, was terminated and charged with murder last week after a bystander’s video captured him firing eight shots at Scott after a traffic stop. The 50-year-old unarmed black man was running from the officer when he was struck four times in the back and once in the ear. He was buried on Saturday.

The case has brought protests to North Charleston, where some residents say minorities have been unfairly targeted for decades. On Monday, Wilson and his attorneys met with reporters on the steps of city hall to hand out copies of their lawsuit and police dashboard video of the alleged abuse.

“In my lifetime, I have witnessed violent acts by police officers,” Wilson, a 35-year-old with a prior criminal record, told reporters. “Without proof of such acts, the word of police officers is always taken over the word of the victims forced to endure their violent acts.”

Slager is among three patrolmen named as defendants in the suit along with the city of North Charleston, the police department and police chief Eddie Driggers.

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Cops Taser Handcuffed, Mentally Ill Black Man to Death in Albany New York - Protests Begin (Video)

The Murdered Man's Name Was Donald Dontay Ivy

As usual, the police have no viable explanations for Iv's death:
The police are hoping you'll ignore it and he dies in vain.

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Watching the Watchmen: Are Police Officers' Body-Worn Cameras a Win for Accountability?

"Helmet Cam " (Photo by Richard Masoner)

The presence of the officers' helmet cameras certainly didn't prevent the officers from taking Boyd's life, even though the officers were reportedly carrying nonlethal Tasers in addition to their guns.

"I'm not overly optimistic [body-worn cameras] will lead to any change because we hear about video recordings, and we see the most egregious forms of police misconduct already, and in so many cases police officers are not held accountable." —Brigitt Keller, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild's National Police Accountability Project.


By Candice Bernd
We wouldn't know that James Boyd was turning away from three Albuquerque Police Department (APD) officers when they decided to fatally shoot him March 16 in the Sandia foothills just outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, if it wasn't for the body-worn cameras embedded in the officers' helmets that captured the gruesome events.

But the presence of the officers' helmet cameras certainly didn't prevent the officers from taking Boyd's life, even though the officers were reportedly carrying nonlethal Tasers in addition to their guns.

Boyd, who was homeless and had a history of struggling with mental health issues, was confronted by the APD officers for camping in an unauthorized area near Albuquerque city limits. After the officers' woke him, a three-hour stand-off followed until Boyd offered to go with the officers. But as Boyd gathered his belongings, a flash grenade was fired, and he dropped his items and, reportedly, revealed a pair of knives. He then turned away as two of the officers shot six live rounds, using assault rifles, into his back. The FBI is now investigating the shooting.

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