Using Tasers on children

Police officers must make split-second judgments in volatile situations. But shooting children with Taser stun guns -- except perhaps in the most dire cases -- is unacceptable. In the past two weeks, however, police in Miami-Dade County used stun guns to subdue two children. ... Tasers have their place in law enforcement as an alternative to deadly force, but must not become the option of first resort when less-risky intervention tactics exist. Considered a non-lethal tool, Tasers deliver a highly painful 50,000 volt charge. Their use has possibly contributed to a number of deaths, and their safety has never been adequately established by independent studies. Most important, we know virtually nothing about how they might adversely affect children, who are quite different physically from adults. The Miami-Dade Police Department should issue a moratorium on using Tasers on children until the two cases are investigated and officers are retrained to react with more prudence. ...

• Official Urges End to Stun Guns on Kids [more]
• Lawyer Targets Taser Policies With 10 Lawsuits [more]

Mentally Ill Black Man Shot & Killed by Shelby Police

A Shelby police officer shot a man Wednesday afternoon during a struggle to take the man to a mental health facility. Shelby police officer Sean Mowery shot Milton Gaines, known as "Karate Man," who was then transported to Cleveland Regional Medical Center. Some witnesses said Gaines was shot in the torso, although Shelby Police Chief Tandy Carter could not confirm that Wednesday evening. "The officer was defending himself," Carter said at the scene near the intersection of Logan and Crawford streets. "If you feel your life is threatened, you can use deadly force. That's why we carry guns." Gaines had been in and out of mental health facilities, neighbors said. They said he lived alone and they didn't consider him a threat. He walked along the street talking about religion, they said. About 4:20 p.m., Mowery arrived at Gaines' home at 505 Crawford St., a few blocks east of Cleveland Regional Medical Center, to serve involuntary commitment papers that would force Gaines to undergo psychiatric treatment. Gaines became combative and Mowery called for backup, Carter said. The two got into a struggle and Mowery defended himself by shooting Gaines, Carter said. Gaines lives alone and most mornings can be seen performing T'ai Chi, a form of martial arts, in his front yard, neighbors said. "He doesn't bother anybody," Torie Woods, a neighbor, said. "He walks around and talks to anybody. There was no need to shoot him." Dozens of Shelby police officers, Cleveland County Sheriff's Office deputies and emergency medical services workers raced to the scene. A crowd gathered and watched as ambulances carried Mowery and Gaines away. [more]

Family sues Blue Island in 74 Year Old Latino Man's Death -- Beat Down by Cops

Antonio Manrique, a quiet grandfather who spoke limited English, died from a beating at the hands of two Blue Island police officers, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Thursday by his family. The lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court says the officers beat Manrique, 74, about the head and torso with their fists and batons, causing internal bleeding and blood clots that ultimately led to his death. City officials declined to comment on the suit, which stems from an Oct. 6 incident in which two officers, Charles Sykes and Berni Rzab, responded to a call in the 2300 block of West Krueger Street about gang graffiti. Upon arriving at the scene, the officers encountered two men in a dark alley and called out to both of them to stop, police reported. One man tried to flee on a bicycle, and the other, Manrique, was reported to have "trotted away." He was subsequently tackled to the ground, the police report said. The officers were driving an unmarked car and were not in uniform, said attorney Timothy Tomasik, who represents Manrique's family. Manrique appeared to be shaking after the incident, the police report said. He told officers he was suffering from a diabetic attack. "By all accounts, he was not violating any law," Tomasik said. "He was not threatening anyone." He was not charged with a crime. Tomasik described Manrique as a gentle and frail man who had an unsteady gait and would tremble when he walked. "This is a case of a grandfather who is now dead because police officers exercised extreme and excessive force, killing an innocent elderly gentleman," he said. Manrique, a Mexican immigrant, suffered several broken ribs during the confrontation and was taken to the hospital. He was covered in cuts and bruises, Tomasik said. Manrique died four days later. [more]

Families sue St Louis Police, wrongful death in chase involving 3 Black Teenagers

The families of three teens killed during a pursuit three years ago filed a wrongful death suit Wednesday against the St. Louis police, claiming a patrol car bumped the fleeing auto and triggered a wreck.  On Nov. 17, 2001, officials said, Tyra Young, Darren Allen, and Martes Mosley were in a stolen Pontiac Grand Am when it crashed into a parked Salvation Army van and fire hydrant in the 4500 block of Martin Luther King Drive. Two van passengers suffered minor injuries.  A witness told the Post-Dispatch at the time of the accident that he saw a patrol car bump the Grand Am. Another said she saw the cars traveling close together.  But Police Chief Joe Mokwa said that police cars never touched the Grand Am and were at least two blocks away at the time of the crash. Mokwa said speeding and a flat tire caused the crash.  Police allowed the Post-Dispatch to review audiotapes of radio messages between police cars and a police helicopter. Those tapes suggest that police cars were not close to the Grand Am when it crashed. Mokwa also said that he asked officers to inspect the police cars involved in the chase and no damage consistent with a vehicle impact was found.  The witness statements triggered weeks of controversy, protests by community activists and calls for an investigation.  Police called for protesters to produce their witnesses, and said none of the witnesses they interviewed described any contact between cars.

• Incomplete List of Victims Killed Under Suspicious Circumstances by Police in St. Louis Compiled by The Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression [more]

ACLU files motion saying Cincinnati in Violation of Police Brutality Agreement

The American Civil Liberties Union accused the city Thursday of failing to heed police reform agreements reached with the Justice Department and black activists in the wake of three days of race riots in 2001. The ACLU of Ohio in its court motion asked that federal Magistrate Judge Michael Merz find the city in breach of the agreements and order their enforcement. "The basic problem is that the city is trying to unilaterally declare success and end federal supervision of the city when the problems haven't been fixed," ACLU lawyer Scott Greenwood said. "The city can't just walk away from these agreements. They are about police reform and are not just public relations campaigns to attract tourism." The ACLU among other things said the city has failed to implement problem-solving in the police department, improperly used arbitrary arrest sweeps and is seeking to end the agreements prematurely. The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit against the city in 2001, accusing the police of harassing black citizens for 30 years. That year, Mayor Charlie Luken asked the Justice Department to examine police operations following three days of rioting. The riots came after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black man wanted on misdemeanor charges who ran from police. The officer was cleared at a trial. [more]

VA Police Officers charged in Beating of Black Man

• Lamont Koonce in Coma for 2 Months
  

Two former police officers face federal civil rights charges in the beating of a black man who was pulled over during a traffic stop and ended up in a coma for more than two months. Michael R. Perkins is charged with kicking and stomping Lamont C. Koonce, who was pulled over for a broken tail light in October 2003 as he drove home from work. Michael A. Tweedy is charged with kicking Koonce and falsifying a police report to cover up the incident. Tweedy is black, and Perkins is white. The beating, which involved at least four police officers in the Richmond suburb of Petersburg, left Koonce hospitalized for three months with a fractured skull, collapsed lung and other injuries. "This is a tragedy for two reasons: the injuries suffered by Koonce ... and it does affect the public's opinion of police," U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty said Tuesday. Petersburg Police Chief Morris Jones said that Perkins, Tweedy and the two other officers involved in the incident were fired. McNulty said additional federal charges could be filed against the other two officers. Lawyers for Perkins and Tweedy declined to comment Tuesday. A phone message left for Koonce was not immediately returned. Officers initially claimed that Koonce was injured when he tripped and fell several times trying to flee. [more] and [more]

Miami Police Use Taser Gun on 6 Year Old

Parents and child advocates were angered that Miami-Dade police used a stun gun to control a first-grader. The 6-year-old boy Miami-Dade police immobilized with a 50,000-volt stun gun stands about three-feet, five inches tall and maybe weighs 55 pounds. The boy, named after an Old Testament prophet, suffers from attention deficit order and takes a pill each morning to calm himself, his mother said. On Friday -- a day after the incident at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School became public -- the little boy sat quietly in his mother's lap, wrapped in a Mickey Mouse comforter. ''I never want to go back to school,'' he said. Then the first-grader tore out of his great-grandmother's second-floor apartment, scaled the steps, tussled with the dog, ran around the yard and rode his bike. ''He is a natural, normal kid. He rides his bike. He gets into it with other children. He throws water balloons, like any other child,'' said his mother, Kathy Rojas. ``The police could have handled this better. They did not have to shoot him. My child is not mentally ill. He is hyperactive. They could have tried to handle the situation with anything, with candy, toys, ice cream, anything.'' Miami-Dade police on Friday insisted they did the right thing because the officers did not have to physically manhandle a child who, they say, was armed with a shard of glass and threatening to cut himself. Still, the incident at the Brownsville school made national news and exposed the department to more criticism for its use of Tasers, which it has begun distributing in greater numbers to officers. [more]

Latino Man shot by stun gun dies: Police Say Zargoza was acting Erratic

An Elk Grove man died early Monday in a confrontation with Sacramento County sheriff's deputies after officers used pepper spray and shot the man twice with 50,000-volt Taser stun guns. Sheriff's officials said Ricardo Zaragoza struggled with four deputies who wanted to take him in for a mental health examination after his family called officials saying he was acting erratically. Sheriff's officials and family members said officers shot him twice in the chest with Taser guns. Family members, however, said officers used excessive force to control him.Arnulfo Zaragoza Jr. said his brother, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at age 20 while he was a student at the University of California, Davis, had been taking his medicine but had not eaten for five days. Zaragoza's "inconsistent and incoherent statements" led the responding officers to decide that he needed a mental health evaluation, Davis said. Zaragoza Jr, said officers discussed taking Zaragoza to a mental hospital with Zaragoza and his parents in the living room. Zaragoza left the room to enter his bedroom, saying, "I am not a criminal." Officers followed, one using his foot to block Zaragoza from closing the bedroom door, Zaragoza Jr. said. That officer sprayed pepper spray and called for backup.  Ricardo Zaragoza had been pepper sprayed, shot twice with Taser guns and handcuffed when at least two other officers came in at "100 miles per hour," Zaragoza Jr. said. He said one officer used his knee to hold his brother's neck to the ground, even as his father exclaimed that his son had stopped breathing. Zaragoza Jr. said his father requested that officers administer CPR, but officers said paramedics would do so. Paramedics arrived quickly, but Zaragoza's hands fell limp when the medic ordered deputies to remove the cuffs. Zaragoza Jr. said another brother went to see Ricardo's body at the hospital and said his face was bloody and his face, jaw, arms and stomach were bruised. "Something looks very bad," Zaragoza Jr. said. "Something went very wrong here." [more]

• Family: CPR plea ignored by deputies [more]

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57 Yr. Old Black Man Killed by New Haven Police in Public Housing Complex Elevator

• Residents want off-duty cop arrested in shooting

An off-duty New Haven police officer shot and killed a man in an elevator at a public housing complex Monday after the two argued over the officer's dog, state police said. 57-year-old Mack Lucky, a resident of the building, was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer Monday afternoon. The incident happened about 4 p.m. as Officer Elliot Rosa was moving into the building as part of a city program that has police officers living among public housing residents.  Lucky and Officer Elliot Rosa both got on an elevator in the building at the same time. Officer Rosa had a small black dog with him. Police say an argument started between the two and as the elevator was moving, shots were fired. The New Haven Police Department says Officer Rosa was provoked, that Lucky had a knife in his hand with which he reportedly threatened the officer. Lucky's daughter has another theory. Mallory says,"He's petrified of dogs. Don't know again, I don't know what really happened, but dogs. He's petrified. I just wanna see justice for my father and for the seniors that are still here that they'll be safe.""The first day he moves in here he murders one of us? That's the way I see it until they can prove different," said Kathy Leahy, president of the tenant council at 904 Howard Ave. "He should be tried for murder like we would be if we did that in the elevator." The Housing Authority of New Haven, which operates the building, suspended placing any new officers in public housing complexes. [more] and [more] and [more]

• Vigil at high-rise honors city man fatally shot by off-duty cop [more]
  
• Daughter of police shooting victim wants answers [more]
• NAACP calls for arrest of police officer [more]

Oakland Police shoot, kill mentally ill Black man wielding ax

Oakland police shot and killed a mentally ill man when he charged at them with an ax after they shot him with stun guns and a bean-bag round, authorities said Friday. Booker Carloss II, 50, who was a paralegal student, was shot shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday in the basement of his home at 2830 Magnolia St. in West Oakland. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Carloss' brothers said they had called police to remove him from the home because he was acting erratically and wielding an ax. He did not react when Sgt. Kevin Johnson and Sgt. Fred Mestas fired their Tasers, nor after Officer Jacob Floyd fired a bean-bag round, police said. Police said Mestas, a 27-year veteran, and Floyd, on the force for two years, had no choice but to fire their weapons when Carloss charged toward Mestas with a 3-foot-long ax. On Friday, Carloss' brothers, Jerome, 48, and Glenn, 46, decried what they called a needless use of deadly force, and said they believed the officers fired their guns within 10 to 15 seconds of entering the basement. They showed a reporter the small room, part of which was matted with blood. "They came in like gangbusters," Glenn Carloss said. "We just feel that they had an opportunity to resolve this without having to go into a kill mode." Jerome Carloss, who declined to discuss his brother's mental health, said the police "went down and strictly murdered this man." [more]