Posted on 01/18/2010 1:43:46 PM PST by deks
Arlington police said William R. Bumbrey III, who was suspected of stealing from a nearby pharmacy, was on the platform at the Pentagon City Metro station when an officer approached him. Police said the officer used his Taser, which administers an electric jolt and is designed to be safer than using a firearm, after Bumbrey became aggressive and refused to respond to spoken orders. . . . "He was still struggling," Nosal said. She said that because Bumbrey apparently did not react to the Taser shot, police question whether the Taser made contact with him. . . . Bumbrey was pronounced dead at a hospital, Nosal said. She said that the medical examiner's office will seek to determine a cause of death, and that police also have asked medical examiners to conclude whether the Taser's probes struck Bumbrey.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Man for a non-lethal weapon, these tasers sure kill a lot of people.
I guess it subdued him real good.................
Don’t Tase me bro!...........................
Before the end of the year, I predict several lawsuits and the cops throughout the US start to dump these stun guns. I suspect that if you examine the health conditions of these people....they have high blood pressure, diabetes, or some pre-existing condition that really screwed up system when the stun is applied.
He was stealing from a pharmacy, he was either doped up or jonesing out of his mind. Doesn’t take much to kill a junkie in that condition.
“... try to subdue him”? Sounds like they subdued him pretty effectively.
Non-lethal weapons are typically actually just “less lethal” weapons. They can kill — but your odds are better for surviving a taser or a beanbag from a shotgun, than when taking a clip from a 9mm.
Its a shame he died ... but plan B was to blow his head clean off — so they gave him the best chance they could.
SnakeDoc
Snort!
Well, bring back the night stick.
Too many police officers figure that because it doesn't rip a football sized hole in your back as it exits that it can't kill.
Alas, it can kill and should always be treated as a lethal weapon.
Where was this guy going to go anyway ~ to the gate? Maybe jump on the track? There are few options when it comes to Metro Rail stations.
How shocking!
I think that it just happens that a lot of people who have OD’d, get tasered during the death process.
Could well be. In any event I never want to test the theory out!
If the man died I guess he was subdued, very subdued.
Mr Bumbrey, in the unlikely event that you come back from the dead, please please, have some respect for law enforcement, will you ?
Just last Friday I was at a TASER demonstration by our local police dept. It is awesome..the guy who got tased said it was the worst 5 seconds of his life..but he was able to hop up and be normal immediately. The law enforcement guy said that it is completely safe, but who knows? if you have some weird physical thing, coupled with maybe drug use, who knows? Still better than getting shot. You are rendered COMPLETELY HELPLESS for 5 seconds. It’s amazing.
Completely safe in nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine to 1. Someone being tazed with an underlying medical problem could lead to death?
There should be enough data out there to get some measurement on it.
People get heart attacks all on their own. Heart is controlled by electricity, so Taser is a wild card here. It's like shoving an arc welder into a delicate computer.
Cardioversion is used in emergency situations to correct a rapid abnormal rhythm associated with faintness, low blood pressure, chest pain, difficulty breathing, or loss of consciousness.
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