Dad of gas-soaked stun gun victim sues Pa. police

AP ^ | 031611 | AP

[Artemis Webb]

PITTSBURGH – The father of a Pennsylvania man who had soaked himself in gasoline during a domestic dispute is suing the Pennsylvania State Police because his son caught fire and died when a trooper used a stun gun to subdue him.

[Artemis Webb]

The guy poured the gasoline on himself. The trooper should have known better than to use the stun gun. Award the father of the victim $1 and move on.

[from occupied ga]

The guy poured the gasoline on himself. The trooper should have known better than to use the stun gun

Right on both counts. You have to realize that when you soak yourself in gasoline, the odds of having a good outcome are not high.

[La Lydia]

Clearly, police need to politely ask people if they’ve soaked themselves in gasoline before deploying their stun guns in domestic crisis situations. This is a police-assisted Darwin.

[9422WMR]

“The guy poured the gasoline on himself. The trooper should have known better than to use the stun gun”

This just burns me, er him up!

Darwin winner here!!!!

[Kenton]

The “victim’s” last words before he was tased were probably something like “go ahead cop, I dare ya”...

[Delta Dawn]

Hmmm...I thought I smelled gasoline.

[dasboot]

Both wrong. In a stress situation, one reverts to training. The officer did what he was trained to do. The fact that the kid was doused with gas, and the officer could have or should have known, is excusable, in light of understanding of past incidents, and well known and accepted psychological research in this area.

To prevail, rightfully, the complainants would have to convince a jury that the department was negligent in their training...having not accounted for a circumstance where the subject was flammable. But the officer cannot, by right and provable reason, be held culpable for negligence or manslaughter or murder.

[Pollster1]

The guy poured the gasoline on himself. The trooper should have known better than to use the stun gun. Award the father of the victim $1 and move on.

Your answer is totally out of touch with today's economy. Considering current prices, I'd award the father the full replacement cost on a gallon of gas - $3.50 if they settle now, perhaps as much as $4 if the litigation drags on until summer.

[Dixie Yooper]

It’s too bad the policeman didn’t use his nightstick to beat this guy senseless just to protect him from himself.

[NonValueAdded]

Shawn Mohney's attorney tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that there was no need to use the electric stun gun because Levi Mohney wasn't armed and wasn't a threat to police.

He was a threat to EVERYBODY precisely because he was soaked in gasoline! I don't think "leave the scene" was an option for the cop. Of course, this might be one set of circumstances where "shoot him in the leg" was a better choice than using the taser. But the gas-soaked guy was just one ignition source away from disaster anyway.

[NonValueAdded]

In this case, he’s in it for the Mohney, isn’t he? ... try the veal

[Birdsbane]

Authorized Deadly Taser Force in effect at all times by Nationaly dumbed-down police forces. I feel safer every day.

[Alberta's Child]

I can't think of too many circumstances where soaking yourself in gasoline would be a good career move.

Come to think of it, I can't think of any.

[TxDas]

The cop set the kid on fire right after he shot the 16 y/o family beagle.

I have always found that the sound of a stun gun firing will scare off most yapping dogs. It is interesting that cops routinely shoot dogs instead of using the noise of taser or using pepper spray.

In fact, why didn’t the cop pepper spray this kid instead of setting him on fire?

Maybe it is because you only have to score a 53% on the entrance exam to get into cop school now as per Holder’s Justice dept. I would think guessing would get you around 40% even if you could not read.

[PetroniusMaximus]

Levi Mohney

[Raven6]

"Who put gasoline in my gasoline!?!?!"

[Alberta's Child]

This is tragic for all involved, but I couldn't help laughing at one of the comments posted on the linked news site:

I guess you could say that he made a fuel of himself.

:-P

[texas_mrs]

You play with fire.....

[Cheetahcat]

A wood shampoo was called for here.

[CodeToad]

Wrong! A cop cannot hide behind “training”. He wasn’t trained to use a taser on a gas soake dindividual, tehrefore he violated his training. A cop isn’t trained to put out a person on fire therefore they can stand and watch, right? etc, etc, etc.