Posted on 06/29/2005 6:27:10 AM PDT by tuffydoodle
Woman shot with Taser dies after being arrested
By Deanna Boyd
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - Police are investigating the death of a 35-year-old woman who stopped breathing while being booked into the Fort Worth Jail on Friday evening about an hour after she was shot with a Taser gun after, police say, she resisted arrest.
Carolyn Daniels was pronounced dead at 7:39 p.m. Friday at Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital about 90 minutes after her encounter with Fort Worth police.
"According to initial accounts, the suspect was exhibiting signs of perhaps being on some type of drug other than alcohol, but we'll have to await the toxicology from the Medical Examiner's Office to see if that was a factor and in any manner contributed to her death," said Lt. Dean Sullivan, police spokesman.
As of Tuesday, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office had not ruled on the cause or manner of Daniels' death.
Daniels, who had numerous convictions for prostitution, was arrested shortly after 6 p.m. Friday on suspicion of being publicly intoxicated on a substance other than alcohol.
According to a police report, officer R.A. Elston was on routine patrol at 6:08 p.m. Friday when Daniels approached his car in the 1100 block of East Allen Avenue and told him, "They are after me."
Unable to say who was after her, Daniels was asked to stand on the sidewalk so she would not be struck by traffic. After Elston pulled his patrol car to the curb, Daniels attempted to open both the front and rear passenger doors as if trying to enter the car.
According to the report, Elston noticed that Daniels was not making sense and suspected that she was on drugs. Elston asked Daniels for identification, which she said was in her purse.
When Elston opened the purse, he saw a crack pipe inside, the report states.
Elston tried to arrest Daniels on suspicion of public intoxication, but she began to "actively resist" as he tried to handcuff her, the report states.
After handcuffing her, Elston tried to get her into his patrol car, but she kicked at him. He tried to restrain her legs but couldn't, the report states.
When Daniels continued to resist, Elston used a Taser cartridge on her. It shoots two metal probes into the clothing or skin, delivering a temporarily incapacitating 50,000-volt electrical shock.
After being shocked for the weapon's programmed five seconds, Daniels continued to resist, spitting blood at a backup officer who tried to help restrain Daniels, the report states.
After Elston shot Daniels with a Taser for another five seconds, she followed instructions, the report states.
Sullivan said Daniels was taken to the Fort Worth Jail to be held pending arraignment and transfer to the Mansfield Jail. Daniels had to be helped out of the car by Fort Wort Jail staff, Sullivan said.
"Shortly after going into jail and being searched, she was no longer responding to jail personnel's inquiries, and they noticed she wasn't breathing," Sullivan said.
He said that medical help was immediately summoned and that Daniels was taken to the hospital.
Sullivan said an internal investigation will examine whether Elston violated department policy in using the Taser.
"We treat everyone of these critical police-incident investigations seriously," Sullivan said. "We look for them to ensure all of our policies, practices and procedures were adhered to in the best interest of officer safety and more importantly, the citizens we serve."
Although there are exceptions, department policy generally prohibits officers from using a Taser on handcuffed suspects.
A suspect shot with a Taser before being restrained can be shocked again if the probes are still in place. In addition, an officer can apply Tasers directly to handcuffed suspects, the policy says.
As is routine, Sullivan said, a report from the investigation will be forwarded to a Tarrant County grand jury for review.
Judging by some of the comments on this thread by the usual suspects, I'd say that the dead lady isn't the only one on crack....
you'd rather they be on the streets robbing and/or
burglarizing?
I'd rather they be locked up in camps in the Singapore
style.
Severe regime camps until they are clean.
"All these taser cry-babies seem to forget we used to "shoot" the bad guys now we just tase them. Sounds like someone out there wants it both ways."
Are you trying to tell me that if a handcuffed,out of control subject is kicking at the officer they used to take a step back and shoot them? What country are you talking about?
"you'd rather they be on the streets robbing and/or
burglarizing? "
Of course not. A quick execution is all they need.
They don't mention that if the person would have been a law-abiding good citizen they would have never been in this situation in the first place.
"Probably not in this situation but you have to admit lots of cops are now using tasers in situations where they may have used guns."
Maybe. I also see lots of cops using tasers where a few years ago they'd have used nothing.
It's called 'reading between the lines' not 'writing between the lines'.
It is called paraphrasing.
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