Never underestimate a JBT's ability to overreact.
Posted on 08/14/2007 1:40:06 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
HOUSTON (AP) - In a confrontation captured on videotape, a hospital security guard fired a stun gun to stop a defiant father from taking home his newborn baby, sending both man and child crashing to the floor. Now the man says the baby girl suffers from head trauma because she was dropped. "I've got to wonder what kind of moron would Tase an adult holding a baby," said George Kirkham, a former police officer and criminologist at the University of California-Berkeley. "It doesn't take rocket science to realize the baby is going to fall."
The trouble began in April when Williams Lewis, 30, said he and his wife felt mistreated by staff at the Woman's Hospital of Texas so they decided to leave. Hospital employees told him doctors would not allow it, but Lewis picked up the baby and strode to a bank of elevators.
The elevators would not move because wristband sensors on each baby shut off the elevators if anyone takes an infant without permission.
Lewis, who gave the video to The Associated Press, said his daughter landed on her head, but it cannot be seen on the video. He said the baby seems injured since the episode.
"She shakes a lot and cries a lot," Lewis said, noting doctors have performed several MRIs on the child, Karla. "She's not real responsive. Something is definitely wrong with my daughter."
It was not clear whether the baby received any electrical jolt.
Child Protective Services has custody of the baby because of a history of domestic violence between Lewis and his wife, Jacqueline Gray. Agency spokeswoman Estella Olguin said the infant seems in good health.
The hospital and the Houston Police Department did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.
David Boling, an off-duty Houston police officer working security at the hospital, and another security guard can be seen on the surveillance video arriving at the elevators and trying to talk with Lewis. Lewis appears agitated as he walks around the elevators holding his daughter in his right arm.
Within 40 seconds of arriving, Boling is holding the Taser. He walks around Lewis and whispers to the other guard, who moves to Lewis's right side.
About a minute later, Boling can be seen casually standing near Lewis, not looking in his direction, when he suddenly raises the Taser and fires it at Lewis, who was still holding his daughter.
Lewis drops to the floor. The other guard, who has not been identified, scoops up the baby and gives her to the child's mother, who was standing nearby in a hospital gown.
The guard then pulls Lewis to his feet with his arms locked behind him. Lewis's T-shirt has two holes under the left side of his chest where the Taser prongs hit him.
Lewis said he did not see the stun gun.
"My wife said we want to leave and then he just Tasered me," Lewis said. "He caused me to drop the child."
Lewis was arrested and charged with endangering a child. A grand jury in May declined to indict him on that charge, but charged him with retaliation, accusing him of making threats against Boling.
Lewis also has been charged with a second count of retaliation alleging he made a threatening call to Boling at his home.
Lewis denies both charges. He said he is considering suing the hospital but has not filed any legal papers.
Some 11,000 U.S. law enforcement agencies use Tasers, which have been officially listed as a contributing factor in about 12 deaths nationwide, according to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser International Inc., which makes the weapon.
Some experts contend the weapon can be deadly, particularly when used on suspects who use drugs or suffer from heart problems.
"The Taser itself is a legitimate law-enforcement tool," Kirkham said. "The problem is the abusive use of them. They're supposed to be only used to protect yourself or another person from imminent aggression and physical harm. They're overused now."
Never underestimate a JBT's ability to overreact.
I’m sure the hospital will come up with a good story.
I am not so sure you should believe them.
People should always check out the reputation of a hospital before they use it. Some hospitals do treat patients like cattle ,and not valuable cattle.
LOL, thread hijack.
“The Taser itself is a legitimate law-enforcement tool,” Kirkham said. “The problem is the abusive use of them. They’re supposed to be only used to protect yourself or another person from imminent aggression and physical harm. They’re overused now.”
“The problem is the abusive use of them.”
Says it all.
Agreeed. See Post 37.
Wonder if the “off-duty” cop previously worked the New Orleans beat?
Just suggesting possible opposing point of view.
I am guessing there are two morons here. The stupid cop-wannabe ‘guard’ and the guy not smart enough to recognize and deal with a stupid cop-wannabe ‘guard’.
I know to steer clear of a moron with a badge or gun (or taser)
I'm being serious. I've seen these in hospitals.
“What happened to the days when a guard or LEO would simply physically restrain people?”
At the risk of hi-jacking this thread, LEO’s used to have physical requirements because they would have to rough-house at some time in their career and they wanted to get the better of those situations. Along comes equal rights, anyone who can walk and, perhaps, chew gum at the same time, especially if they are from a discriminated against minority, gets to be a LEO or fireman/woman. Deadly (or near deadly) force now has to come into play.
Ask the families of the people who were killed in Atlanta, by a prisoner being transferred, who had taken a gun away from an older female officer. I am sure their all PC.
The whole bunch appear to be a potch of poor protoplasm---but I guess it's not against the law to be poor protoplasm, either--LOL! Just look at some of our present and past congress critters.
HIVE MIND. XD
GMTA, etc!
Yep I can hear it now, Our customers decided they no longer wasted to purchase the services we were selling, so we shot them before they could find another service provider.
I would hope you could get away with just about anything. Until they get the babies away from you. Then I'd be in favor of you accidentally falling down the stairs 10 or 12 times.
Hi All,
I find myself in the somewhat difficult position of even trying to be the devil’s advocate for this tasering bonehead, but...I work in a hospital, and this kind of thing could easily happen due to a lack of communication.
They have this “Code Pink” thing where if an infant or kid is in the process of being taken out of the hospital by an unauthorized person, a process kicks into action. Doors get locked, people start looking down hallways, security guards start running around.
I used to work in Nuclear Medicine, and a two year old kid came down to me for an exam because of suspected abuse (we did a special type of bone scan exam to look for broken or healing bones throughout the whole body). I was a student at the time, and the kid showed up in an honest to goodness cage. I had never seen this before, and was puzzled, saddened and stunned when told why. They had to put the kid in the locked cage to make sure his parents didn’t scoop him up and run off with him. I was blown away by that. Locked the kid up to protect him.
Then I thought “Hell, they wouldn’t even know how to find this place in the bowels of the hospital to take the kid...this is a load of crap.” So I am in the room, getting ready to do the scan, and I hear this noise and commotion in the hall. I look out and this wild looking hispanic woman is trying to pry open the cage and break the lock off. I am looking at this with my mouth open, and security guards immediately show up and drag this woman away...
So let’s say you are a security guard at a hospital, and the “Code Pink” alarm sounds on your radio...you run down the hall to where it is supposed to happen...and you run into a scruffy looking muscular guy in a wife-beater carrying an infant and obviously looking to make a getaway with nurses pointing at him saying “STOP HIM!”. Nobody has told you the circumstances...you have no idea if the guy assaulted anyone, etc.
30 seconds have passed since you were thinking about what to have for lunch before your radio went off.
I could see this happening, an inappropriate tasering. And this is in Houston as well, which has some pretty tough customers in it.
Please don’t flame me...I am just pointing out HOW a hospital security guy might taser someone in this situation. It isn’t implausible.
Here is an April 16th story which no longer is on the Chron.....but it is preserved here:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/print/article/167938
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Taser Used On Dad Leaving Houston Hospital With Baby
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4718864.html
William Lewis fell to the hallway floor after he was shocked in the incident early on Thursday morning. He was holding his 2-day-old daughter at the time and police say she fell from his arms about 2 feet before landing on the floor..
Lewis and his wife say that the officer’s use of the Taser was inappropriate. The Police Department said it was necessary because the police thought that the baby was in danger. They cited reports of previous threats made by the man.
“If the father had just complied with the rules, there would have been no ‘Tasing,’” said Capt. Dwayne Ready, a Houston police spokesman.
Lewis, 30, said he and his wife were preparing to leave the hospital when staff told him he would not be able to leave with the baby. After a failed attempt to leave through the elevators with the baby, who wore an alert sensor that warns hospital officials about potential kidnappings, staff called security, Lewis said.
The baby’s mother said as she came out of her room, she saw off-duty HPD Officer D.M Boling, who was working security at the time, shock her husband with the Taser.
“He was holding the baby when [the officer] tasered him. My baby hit the concrete floor,” said Lewis’ wife, who was still in the hospital at the time recovering from a C-section. “When I went down to pick her up to take her to the neo unit, her scream was so loud and so bad I thought she was dying right there.”
Capt. Ready said the officer used the Taser because when Lewis was confronted by the officers at the elevator, he made “threatening remarks about this being a hostage situation if he were not allowed to leave”. They say that if the officers had tried to fight with Lewis for the baby, she could have been injured.
“The Taser instantly immobilizes the suspect and does not allow that person to cause any other danger or harm,” Ready said. “If the officers had to engage the suspect in a physical altercation, neither could have kept an eye on the baby.”
The mother says that the hospital pediatricians say that the baby was fine after the incident “but my baby — she had the shakes real bad. She’s not as calm as she was before”.
Capt. Ready says that the woman had called Houston police a week before the baby was born and “stated that her unborn child’s father called her and made threats on her and the child’s life”.
Originally police charged Lewis with kidnapping but the charge was later changed to endangerment. Lewis appeared in court and his arraignment was scheduled for April 30 and he was set free on a $5,000 bond.
Boling used his Taser on Lewis after Boling repeatedly told Lewis he could not leave the hospital, Houston police spokesman Officer Gabe Ortiz said today.
Ready said the officers responded to the scene after receiving a report that someone was trying to leave with a baby without following the required procedures. “It was unclear to the officers if this person truly was the father.”
Boling joined the department in September 1984 and was working an off-duty security job at the hospital when the incident occurred.
Since Houston officers began carrying Tasers in December 2004, Officer Boling has shocked at least two other people.
Hospital officials did not address whether they believe the father should have been leaving with the baby in a statement released after the incident. “Our nurses educate the mothers and their family members upon admission regarding the safety procedures throughout our hospital,” hospital officials said.
“My deal is that I broke no laws and maybe I broke some hospital policies, but I broke no laws,” Lewis said. He and his wife said they were preparing to leave because they felt they were ready to leave, but “it was like you can’t leave — no explanation, no reason,” Lewis said.
Lewis’ wife said “the only thing that endangered my child was that police officer who tased my child when Will was holding the baby ... I don’t know how it went from us leaving to this.”
How odd. Are the critics of the guard the same people who didn’t get worked up over the Ruby Ridge shootings where a baby was involved...?
While I'm not usually a cop basher, one that I had dealings with at Hobby a few years ago left me with an impression that there was room for improvement on the Houston PD.
>>>>>>>>>>Nothing thrills me like seeing someone go down by taser. Their screams for mercy and convulsions are a hoot.
Then you will be laughiing your A$$ off over this...
My wife, Gretchen, is fond of saying that my last words on this earth will be something akin to, “hey y’all, hold my beer and watch this!” Well, I have outdone myself once again. No doubt you will see this true story chronicled in a LifeTime movie in the near future. Here goes.
Last weekend I spied something at Larry’s Pistol and Pawn that tickled my fancy. (Note: Keep in mind that my “fancy” is easily tickled). I bought something really cool for Gretchen. The occasion was our 14th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my sweet girl.
What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse-sized Taser gun with a clip. For those of you who are not familiar with this product, it is a less-than-lethal stun gun with two metal prongs designed to incapacitate an assailant with a shock of high-voltage, low amperage electricity while you flee to safety. The effects are supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, but allowing you adequate time to retreat to safety. You simply jab the prongs into your 250 lb. Tattooed assailant, push the button, and it will render him a slobbering, goggle-eyed, muscle-twitching, whimpering, pencil-neck geek. If you’ve never seen one of these things in action, then you’re truly missing out-way too cool!
Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two triple-a batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was so disappointed. Upon reading the directions (we don’t need no stinkin’ directions), I found much to my chagrin that this particular model would not create an arch between the prongs. How disappointing! I do love fire for effect. I learned that if I pushed the button, however, and pressed it against a metal surface that I’d get the blue arch of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs that I was so looking forward to. I did so. Awesome!!! Sparks, a blue arch of electricity, and a loud pop!!!
Yipeeeeee . . I’m easily amused, just for your information, but I have yet to explain to Toni what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave. Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn’t be all that bad with only two triple-a batteries, etc., etc. There I sat in my recliner, my dog , Moscow, looking on intently (trusting little soul), reading the directions (that would be me, not Moscow) and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh and blood target. I must admit I thought about zapping Moscow for a fraction of a second and thought better of it. She is such a sweet dog, after all. But, if I was going to give this thing to Barb to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong? Was I wrong to think that? Seemed reasonable to me at the time... So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, Taser in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. All the while I’m looking at this little device (measuring about 5” long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference, pretty cute really, and loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-a batteries) thinking to myself, “no friggin’ way!”
Friggin’ way-trust me, but I’m getting ahead of myself. What happened next is almost beyond description, but I’ll do my best. Those of you who know me well have got a pretty good idea of what followed. I’m sitting there alone, Moscow looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, “don’t do it buddy,” reasoning that a one-second burst from such a tiny lil’ ole thing couldn’t hurt all that bad (sound, rational thinking under the circumstances, wouldn’t you agree?). I decided to give myself a one-second burst just for the hell of it. (Note: You know, a bad decision is like hindsight-always twenty-twenty. It is so obvious that it was a bad decision after the fact, even though it seemed so right at the time. (Don’t ya hate that?)
I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and HOLY SHIT! DAaaaauuuuuuMN!!! I’m pretty sure that Jessie Ventura ran in through the front door, picked me up out of that recliner, then body slammed me on the carpet over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, soaking wet, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position. Moscow was standing over me making barking sounds I had never heard before, licking my face, undoubtedly thinking to herself, “do it again, do it again!” (Note: If you ever feel compelled to mug yourself with a Taser, one note of caution.)
There is no such thing as a one-second burst when you zap yourself. You’re not going to let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. Then, if you’re lucky, you won’t dislodge one of the prongs 1/4” deep in your thigh like yours truly. SON-OF-A-BIT%CH that hurt! A minute or so later (I can’t be sure, as time was a relative thing at this point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. How did they get there??? My triceps, right thigh and both titties were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, as my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. give or take an ounce or two, I’m pretty sure.
By the way, has anyone seen my testicles? I think they ran away. I’m offering a reward. They’re round, rather large, kinda hairy, and handsome if I must say so myself. Miss ‘em . . . sure would like to get ‘em back!
AMIGO, DON’T EVER DO THIS!
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