Posted on 02/01/2010 3:16:56 AM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
MOBILE, Ala. -- A Mobile man who, according to a lawsuit, was severely beaten and shocked with a Taser by Mobile police last week, died Thursday after being taken off life support, authorities said.
Daniel Mingo, 25, filed a lawsuit against the city of Mobile and the Mobile Police Department, claiming police beat him after he ran away from officers on Halls Mill Road on Jan. 21.
The lawsuit also claims that officers knew Mingo had mental disabilities and was a patient at local mental health facility.
The city has said police acted appropriately and were waiting the results of an autopsy.
After the altercation with police, Mingo was left brain dead and breathing on a ventilator at Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Mobile County Circuit Court.
He suffered a broken nose, blunt force trauma to the head and neck and several cardiac arrests, according o the lawsuit.
"When they brought him to the hospital, that boy was brain dead," said Chase Dearman, Mingo's attorney.
Mobile police have said that officers saw Mingo's car swerving across the road just after 11:30 a.m. and pulled him over.
An officer saw Mingo put something in his mouth, police said, and Mingo ran away, shedding his clothes as he fled. He was later found in a nearby shed.
According to the lawsuit, police beat him, "stripped him of his clothes," "drug him through asphalt gravel and glass," and shocked him with a Taser several times.
In response, the city of Mobile issued a statement on Friday: "The death of Mr. Mingo is tragic, however, the police department acted properly with a minimum amount of force in response to Mr. Mingo's behavior."
"We will wait on the outcome of the autopsy and the medical records before commenting further," according to the statement. "An investigation will continue further into this case to see what role, if any, did the ingestion of drugs play in the death of Mr. Mingo."
According to the lawsuit, Mingo wasn't in possession of illegal drugs, and "had committed no crime other than a possible alleged traffic violation."
Dearman said tests at the hospital immediately after the incident confirmed that Mingo had no drugs or alcohol in his body. The cause of death was respiratory failure, he said.
Mingo had "nonviolent mental disabilities" and police were told about those disabilities by his mother - who called police dispatch - and a person in his car, according to the lawsuit.
Dearman said he had learning disabilities and suffered from paranoia.
After being stopped, Mingo ran away because he was "fearing for his life," the lawsuit states.
Officers who eventually caught Mingo had "harassed and threatened" him in the past for refusing to become a drug informant, according to the lawsuit.
Police have said that warrants were issued against Mingo charging him with driving under the influence, possession of a controlled substance, failure to obey a police officer, resisting arrest and third-degree trespassing.
At the hospital, nurses spent more than two hours removing glass, gravel and other debris from open wounds, according to the lawsuit, and Mingo suffered from severe brain swelling.
After a week in the hospital, Mingo was taken off life support about 3:30 p.m. Thursday and died, his attorney said.
Police have said that after the foot chase, Mingo resisted arrest and was "touch Tased" -- a method of pressing the Taser against the body rather than firing projectiles -- one time.
After a lawsuit or two...and the county or city is forced to pay out $1 million...the taser business is going to end. I see 2010 as the last year when counties are willing to assume to risk. If you taser a guy with a heart condition...you basically are going to put him in a fifty-fifty situation of living. That was never the intended situation with the taser. Then we are back to old fashion firearms, and we all start to feel better again (logical?).
The problem is not the Tazer.
The problem is that cops are using Tazers at the drop of a hat and at the first sign of the least amount of resistance.
Tazers were billed as an alternative to deadly force. Meaning they were to be located on the Use of Force Continuum just below firearms. Instead, we have cops who now use them on children for acting up in class, 77 year old females who are ignoring they “commands”... notwithstanding the possibility the 77 year old female might be deaf or completely confused.
Tazers are a tool, just like all the other tools cops have, that are needed. The problem is we need to start finding and hiring cops who can exercise enough control and common sense to apply exactly what they are taught regarding their use.
Back in the day when I was a patrol officer in Atlanta we actually had to fight folks from time to time and occasionally you got thumped on just as bad or worse than the bad guy. But so was the nature of the job.
Cops nowadays are using them on situations involving less and less actual physical resistance and more and more the publics perception of cops and Tazers are their used for instant punishment. Punishment administered by the cops right there on the scene for whatever the justification of the day is.
The problem is not the Tazer.
The problem is that cops are using Tazers at the drop of a hat and at the first sign of the least amount of resistance.
Tazers were billed as an alternative to deadly force. Meaning they were to be located on the Use of Force Continuum just below firearms. Instead, we have cops who now use them on children for acting up in class, 77 year old females who are ignoring they “commands”... notwithstanding the possibility the 77 year old female might be deaf or completely confused.
Tazers are a tool, just like all the other tools cops have, that are needed. The problem is we need to start finding and hiring cops who can exercise enough control and common sense to apply exactly what they are taught regarding their use.
Back in the day when I was a patrol officer in Atlanta we actually had to fight folks from time to time and occasionally you got thumped on just as bad or worse than the bad guy. But so was the nature of the job.
Cops nowadays are using them on situations involving less and less actual physical resistance and more and more the publics perception of cops and Tazers are their used for instant punishment. Punishment administered by the cops right there on the scene for whatever the justification of the day is.
Okay, I'm hoping you didn't write this blog because I have a question: How did he file a lawsuit after becoming brain dead?
I do know that some in the deep South believe in zombies but, c'mon!
No, not my blog... but I would assume that "he" filed the suit the same way dead folks end up suing people etc... family, friends et al. retain legal counsel to sue on the patients behalf. Reading the article it appears there was a witness in the car with the deceased person who even attempted to tell the LEO's about the guys mental conditions before they reportedly beat the brake shoes off him.
According to the lawsuit, police beat him, “stripped him of his clothes,” “drug him through asphalt gravel and glass,” and shocked him with a Taser several times.
In response, the city of Mobile issued a statement on Friday: “The death of Mr. Mingo is tragic, however, the police department acted properly with a minimum amount of force in response to Mr. Mingo’s behavior.”
Comrade, stop complaining! A police state is a safe state!
Doesn't sound like he was that crazy....
Just imagine if a U.S. serviceman had done this to an al Qaeda member.
Exactly.
Wonder if he was related to Olin Mingo...
I just assumed Mingo was a jounalist.
Or a lawyer.
Those brain dead groups can do amazing things.
My sister's grandson was hanging out with his friends until early in the morning. His mother had told him never to drive if he had been drinking and never to come home through that little suburb which supported itself by speed traps. He did both. The cop that stopped him had been on facebook that day saying that his life was boring. His facebook buddy recommended that he use his Tasor to spice up his life. According to one police report, my sister's grandson was non-compliant and wouldn't go out of the car per request. The policeman Tazored him as he sat in his car. He took off at a high rate of speed and destroyed himself. The young man had no record of any kind.
My sister says that it is almost impossible to win any kind of lawsuit since the Tazor company(ies?) bring in their high powered outside lawyers who intimidate the local boys.
“Tazers were billed as an alternative to deadly force.”
Yep. They were sold as a “less-than-lethal” alternative to lethal force. They were supposed to make our streets safer as cops no longer would discharge their firearms as often.
Instead, cops use tasers as “compliance control devices”, using them at every excuse.
This is tyranny.
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