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Man falls to death after police stun gun shock
AP on Yahoo ^ | 9/25/08 | Colleen Long - ap

Posted on 09/25/2008 9:36:02 AM PDT by NormsRevenge

NEW YORK – An officer appears to have violated police department guidelines when he used a Taser stun gun on a naked, distraught man teetering on a building ledge, officials said Thursday.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; moralabsolutes; newyork; police; stungun; tazer
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The Lieutenant that gave the order had his gun and badge taken away and the officer that tazed is now on administrative duty.
1 posted on 09/25/2008 9:36:03 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

Whoops.....


2 posted on 09/25/2008 9:37:54 AM PDT by edpc
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To: NormsRevenge

Next time, just rope off the sidewalk below to protect the innocent then shut the windows.


3 posted on 09/25/2008 9:38:04 AM PDT by mgc1122
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To: NormsRevenge

Oopsie-tazee!!


4 posted on 09/25/2008 9:38:23 AM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo (Fight Crime. Shoot Back.)
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To: NormsRevenge

“An officer appears to have violated police department guidelines when he used a Taser stun gun on a naked, distraught man teetering on a building ledge”

well... there you go.


5 posted on 09/25/2008 9:40:04 AM PDT by Ancient Drive
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To: NormsRevenge

Actually, he landed to death....picky,picky.


6 posted on 09/25/2008 9:41:57 AM PDT by PrairieRoot (Here's hoping Global Warning extends the hunting and logging seasons.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
Oh you are bad!

But VERY funny! LOL

7 posted on 09/25/2008 9:43:05 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (In VP's, McCain picked the future, Obama chose the past.)
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To: NormsRevenge

At least he can’t be arrested for “attempted suicide,” now.


8 posted on 09/25/2008 9:46:12 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (What's "Price Gouging"? Should government force us to sell to the 15th highest bidder on eBay?)
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To: NormsRevenge
I say the tazing was justified. The guy was waving around a deadly 8 ft. fluorescent light tube for heaven's sake. Those things have mercury in them!
9 posted on 09/25/2008 9:53:20 AM PDT by smokingfrog (God doesn't wear a wrist watch.)
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To: ConservativeMind

Suicide by cop.


10 posted on 09/25/2008 9:53:31 AM PDT by awaken2spirit (When one fornicates with ignorance, the result of that union is chaos.)
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To: ConservativeMind
An officer appears to have violated police department guidelines when he used a Taser stun gun on a naked, distraught man teetering on a building ledge

SO what are the exact guidelines for a naked man on a ledge?

11 posted on 09/25/2008 9:53:41 AM PDT by mtairycitizen
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To: smokingfrog

There’s a lot of freepers who jump to the cops’ defense when they kill w/ their tasers. Here, we have a man who is naked (can’t be hiding a weapon), on a ledge (not charging the cops), clearly unbalanced. Yeah, the right procedure is to hit him w/ electricity so he can’t control himself on that ledge.

The cop should be arrested for manslaughter, not just suspended.


12 posted on 09/25/2008 9:58:01 AM PDT by sobieski
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To: PrairieRoot
Actually, he landed to death....picky,picky.

He didn't die from trauma from the fall - he died hours later in the hospital because of trouble with his heart.

Most healthy adults can survive a 9 foot drop.

The coroner will determine whether the shock of the fall, or the Taser, or drugs or a preexisting condition contributed to his death.

In any case, this was handled very stupidly and needs to be looked into.

13 posted on 09/25/2008 10:00:50 AM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that those who like to be called Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
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To: NormsRevenge
I think police departments and government agents across the country are out of control with tazer use. It should be used in actual situations where physical confrontation with a perpatrator would be dangerous to the officer, i.e. the suspect has a knife.

The way it is being used now includes not complying with a police officer's demands or for the police not to have to resort to physical force.

Use of the tazer has resulted in death on multiple occasions. In effect, police escalate their response to "potential deadly force" when someone could have been wrestled to the ground or dragged out of a car.

I think guidelines for use of the taser should be instituted. At a minimum, the tased party should be wielding a weapon or attacking a lone police officer. It's totally unacceptable that a group of police officers should taze an unarmed lone suspect.... PERIOD!

14 posted on 09/25/2008 10:01:40 AM PDT by DCBurgess58 (McCain/Palin, That's the ticket!!!)
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To: sobieski
Agreed.

How can anyone justify doing this to a naked man? The man was mentally distrubed. He needed help.

15 posted on 09/25/2008 10:05:25 AM PDT by Texas_shutterbug
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To: NormsRevenge

“An officer appears to have violated police department guidelines when he used a Taser stun gun on a naked, distraught man teetering on a building ledge,”

It says it right there in the guidelines “do not use a taser on a naked man teetering on a ledge.” Seems fairly obvious the policeman broke a rule.


16 posted on 09/25/2008 10:08:24 AM PDT by yazoo
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To: sobieski
The cop should be arrested for manslaughter, not just suspended.

Word

17 posted on 09/25/2008 10:08:41 AM PDT by Skooz (Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us)
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To: wideawake
Most healthy adults can survive a 9 foot drop.

Not if you land on your head.

Most adults will protect their heads in a 9 foot fall, but not if incapacitated from being hit by a taser.

The officers probably just didn't think of that when they tased him and figured that even if he fell, it wasn't that far down. The just didn't think about the fact that he might land on his head.

If that's the case it's still negligence, but not the wanton disregard for his safety that you might assign to them in hindsight.

They should have unquestionably have known better.

18 posted on 09/25/2008 10:26:10 AM PDT by untrained skeptic
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To: sobieski
forgot to add *sarc tag...
Just watched the video at nypost.com - looks like the officers made a bad decision. A normal person falling from that height would have tried to catch himself or fall on his feet, but that guy took a header due to the tazing.
19 posted on 09/25/2008 10:30:19 AM PDT by smokingfrog (God doesn't wear a wrist watch.)
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To: wideawake

Guys, he was already circling the drain. Dancing naked, crazy and raving on a ledge? Please. Give the cop a break, it’s always easy to _say_ what you would or wouldn’t have done.
All you guys thinking the cop needs to go to prison should be utterly ashamed of yourselves. Pick up a badge and show us all how it’s done if you’re so savvy. The cop was trying to save the damn nut. And he probably faced more risk than you’d enjoy while doing it. He was within 21 feet of the abyss with a nut. Things can turn into a very nasty tussle up there,, very fast.

The good guy, an NYPD man who deserves our compassion today, prob thought he saw a chance to apprehend him,,, not a _perfect_ chance mind you, but the best chance he would probably have.

All the jerking anti-cop knees are getting kind of silly. Steady yourselves, it always doesn’t look like TJ Hooker and end with a perfectly executed Kung Fu takedown that doesn’t hurt the bad guy. Last, had he sat there patiently, trying to talk, feed him burgers, learn his hopes, dreams and secret fears, whatever, and the nut jumped,, you’d all be finding another reason to whine that he should have tried *something* and not just sat there.
The cop was the good guy, im glad he’s out there, and hope he doesn’t get abused too much.

You can’t save em all, you really can’t.


20 posted on 09/25/2008 10:41:23 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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