It's cases like these that make my argument against excessive and lethal force strong. However, although these cases are brutal and cruel, they do not happen all that often. It's certain officers in certain situations that go badly. I still believe that if necessary force can and should be used as long as it is justifiable.
Death by Taser
Twenty-one-year-old Patrick Lee was allegedly "acting strangely" outside a nightclub in 2005 when he was tasered by police 19 times, sprayed with pepper spray and beaten with police batons for reportedly resisting arrest and died. Lee's cause of death was listed as "excited delirium," a bullshit diagnosis that has been associated with many Taser-related deaths in which drugs were a factor. His parents sued the local government, the officers and Taser international for wrongful death. The case against the local government and Taser International was dismissed and a jury later found that the officers did not use excessive force against Lee. Lawyers for the officers said that the officers "were doing their best with the tools they were given.
Mistaken Identity
On May 10, 2009, Christopher Harris was outside Seattle’s Cinerama Theater when an officer charged at him and slammed his head into a wall, leaving him in a coma. Police were looking for a convenience store stabbing suspect when two witnesses mistakenly identified Harris. The King County sheriff's office has nearly completed its investigation of the incident and says that it appears to have been a "tragic accident."
mistaken identity
Childhood game taken seriously
On May 11, 2009, a deputy in Palmdale, Calif. shot a 15-year-old boy who was playing "cops and robbers" with a toy gun. The child had been reported to police as someone riding a bicycle and brandishing a weapon. When police responded, they ordered the boy to drop the weapon. When he failed to drop the toy, a deputy fired and shot him in the upper body.
Kicked in the head
After a May 13, 2009 high-speed car chase south of Los Angeles, Calif. came to an end and there was nowhere left to run, the suspect gave up and threw himself face-down, spread-eagled on the ground. Shortly afterwards, a police officer who had been in pursuit is seen on video running up and kicking the suspect in the head. Other officers appeared moments later, hit the complaint suspect in the kidney with a nightstick several times before handcuffing him and taking him into custody
Kicked in head while down
Blinded, confused and shot in the chest
Derek Copp, a 21-year-old college student and marijuana activist in Michigan, was shot in the chest by police while a drug warrant was being served at his home. An officer allegedly came through the back door, then blinded Copp by shining a flashlight directly in his face when he answered. Copp was unarmed and had no idea the man with the flashlight was a police officer. When he lifted his hand to shield his eyes, the officer shot him in the chest. The officer was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting.
11 year old tased at school by police
At a middle school in Jonesboro, Tennessee, officials say police "had no choice" but to taser an unruly 11-year-old student. The student had a verbal altercation with another student that became physical. When the child did not respond to verbal commands to stop, a police officer at the school shot him twice with a Taser gun. The child was then handcuffed and taken to a juvenile detention center.
Police tase pregnant woman
The FBI opened an investigation into the conduct of police officers in Trotwood, Ohio after an officer used a Taser weapon on a pregnant woman. The woman showed up at the police department and informed the officer that she wished to give up custody of her 1-year-old son. The officer began questioning the woman and berating her for wanting to give up the child and she attempted to leave with the child. The officer took the child from her, handed him off to another officer and forced the woman to the floor on her stomach. He then deployed the Taser on her neck. The officers say that the woman never disclosed that she was pregnant and they couldn't tell because she was wearing winter clothing.
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