Outlaw Law Enforcement Use of Tasers

4:30 pm PST, Nov 19, Kay Ekwall, Oregon
This issue, as in any issue of what kind of force police can/should/would use on people is paramont to the relationship our policemen and women should have with the american people and everyone. We understand the issue that it can be used as a deterent in cases in which the officers are threatened and could be harmed, but it is all too obvious that it is being used indiscriminately in so many ways that it is hard to list all of them. If a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, then this is misuse of the law as they are considering themselves judges and the jury and also torturers and as we are seeing...even killers. Until all police persons can prove they have had proper training and proper 'respect' and can follow rules set down for proper use, then they should be banned. They are using these tasers as weapons, and as torture instruments.....lets try it out on them and see how they like it!

7:42 pm PST, Nov 18, Matthew Redding, Oregon
Law Enforcement doesn't seem to understand that tasers can kill. They should be used in the same circumstances that a gun with bullets would be used. However, their perception is that tasers leave no harmful effect, which is FALSE.

9:12 pm PST, Nov 15, Linda Perry, New Jersey
Taser use is responsible for over a death a week in 2009. It is clearly a lethal weapon, that has been used against children as young as six, pregnant women, elderly persons, a man holding an infant. Police are abusing their power, and torturing and killing people with this deadly weapon. In effect, they are becoming vigilantes, meting out their deadly "justice" before the victims have even clearly been charged with a crime, let alone convicted.

4:49 pm PST, Nov 15, Charles Miller, Texas

1:27 pm PST, Nov 11, Jerry Jones, New Mexico
My19 year old son suffers from several medical conditions. One of these conditions is a petite-mal seizure disorder. I have allways beleived that tasers should not be used because of the risks to people with medical problems, especially problems of this nature.

My worst fears became reality on Oct. 25, 2009. My son became another taserd statistic. After being pulled over and arrested for underage DWI (BRAC).05 my son had two seizures in police custody, suffering a concussion from one of the falls.(concussion diagnosed later as no med. treatment was given while in custody) But after all of this, when officers found out that my son is gay he was beaten and taserd. The use of a taser sent my son into a grand-mal seizure and has increased the petite-mal seizures from a few a month to several daily. [On the petition, no one will see this question so please form a complete sentence when answerin

3:47 pm PST, Nov 5, Name not displayed, Georgia

6:16 pm PST, Nov 4, Philip Jones, Florida
I have heard first hand accounts on the wrong use of Tasers. Just like the Gun, its not the gun that brings harm, its the person behind it. Tazers and the incidents where they are used must be investigated the same as if the officer used a firearm. Period. Any discharge of the Taser should be investigated. Wrongful used should be prosecutable.

Yes, and I have found that the use of the tazers are not being given the same scrutiny as firearms.

5:44 pm PDT, Oct 30, Paul Scheppf, Tennessee
Unless an officer has been tasered as part of his training, and strict guidelines are in place, which include regular psychological testing of the officers with strict auditing of the process, and severe accountability measures are in place for misuse, tasers should not be used.

Yes, and the man was later found innocent of the offense and the officer was the secret boyfriend of the lady who accused her ex-husband of abuse.

11:47 am PDT, Oct 29, Ge "ARACELI", Missouri
there WILL COME A DAY...TASERS ARE OUTLAWED ENTIRELY. WE ALL KNOW THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR TASERS IN SOCIETY!

HUMAN RIGHTS

10:45 pm PDT, Oct 20, Michael Juliano, Florida
The use of tasers has the potential to violate our rights for peaceful protest. By being "non-lethal", police officers are much more likely to use it to coerce protesters to cease their protest. Witnessing the disgraceful abuse of power exercised by the President and the U.S. Congress in recent months leads me to believe that this issue will grow in prominence because policy and ethics flow downward from the top.

5:54 pm PDT, Oct 17, Angela Crisp, Missouri
I was placed in handcuffs for reporting an accident in which I was not the driver. I offered my other wrist while being handcuffed, so I resisted the the cuffs not at all. I have no problem with being handcuffed. The Highway patrol officer, who I am still not sure of his identity because he refused my questions, offered to taser me. I was not believed that there were injuries that did require hospitalization. Instead of sending an ambulance, I was threatened with a taser treatment. Tasers are an instrument of torture if not of death. Anyone who is questioned, may be tasered to make them talk, as I was threatened.

I was threatened with a taser for reporting an accident in which I was not the driver, and with injuries that required hospitalization (not myself). Tasers are a tool of police interrogation, if not out right death. I was injured in the accident with a lot of blood, yet I was threatened with tasering, even after I did not resist handcuffs. Tasers are a torture device, and I believe they kill people.

12:05 pm PDT, Oct 14, Kelly Amaro, Florida
My ex-husband was tazered three times because he was acting a little bit off. Because of the tazers he passed away. His mother and brothers are distraught over this and the police officer got assigned to 1 week desk duty because of the death.

Yes my ex-husband was tazed 3 times and died from it.

11:49 pm PDT, Oct 13, Martha Turner, North Carolina
I have a very dear friend who lost her husband when he was tased for no legal reason. It was a horrible death and his 4 children and 4 grandchildren were there and saw it all happen. Enough said!!

Yes, I have had a close friend who was killed by tased by deputies.

5:17 pm PDT, Oct 12, Amy Duckworth, North Carolina
As written previously by a Mrs. Danielle Huff, Ernie was a second father to me. When my father passed away on July 26, 2009, Ernie was one of his paulbearers and a lifelong friend of my family. Two weeks later,and the day after my birthday. I learned of his death and attended Ernie's funeral. Cancer took one father and the "police" in all their self-righteous glory, took the other. This is a ridiculous and cruel form of police brutality.

Ernest Own Ridlehuber 8-12-09

6:50 am PDT, Oct 8, Shawn Riley, Kansas
Initiallly arrested for battery and disorderly conduct. I was cuffed, officer told dispatch situation under control and I was subdued. I was tased while kneeling and in handcuffs, officer told me to stop making whooping sounds or I was going to be tased, he stood 5 ft behind me and discharged the weapon. Five days later I am still shaking and twitching involuntarily. Irratic heartbeats and pain in chest. Numbness in hands and forearms. Hopefully this will wear off soon. Officers do not use tasers as an alternative to a firearm. They use it for a power trip, they just don't want to "deal" with an incident, they would rather tase and be done with it.

8:48 am PDT, Oct 5, Danielle Ridlehuber Huff, South Carolina
Today the death certificate of my dad was released.... Ernie Ridlehuber died August 12th 2009.... Death by Homicide with use of Taser. I called the police for help he had not done anything wrong.. I just needed help getting him to the hospital so he could be evaluated. The police was told numerous times of his health conditions...I just needed to get him to the hospital! Now he is gone and I feel like it is my fault because I should have never called for help...

Ernest Owen Ridlehuber Born 8/2/1956 died 8/12/2009

7:16 pm PDT, Oct 4, Anthony Cade, Minnesota
I was tased a few years ago unprovoked. I was getting up for work at about 5 am. My wife and I had a big tv on a small entertainment center at the end of our bed. When I got up for work I accidentally knocked the tv off of the entertainment center. my wife woke up and immediately started yelling at me. The next thing I know the police are walking into my apartment. Apparently our neighbor thought that there was a fight because of the bang of the tv and the yelling. The officers (3) tell me to go to the living room so I do as soon as I turn around I was tackled from behind on to my couch. The officers proceeded to tase me two times about 15 seconds a piece in front of my wife and child. The incident resulted in two large burn marks on my butt and a disorderly conduct because after I got tased I started cursing at the officers. Then on top of all of this when I saw the police report it was a total falsification

9:15 am PDT, Sep 25, Lamar Songe, Texas
Yea me

5:48 am PDT, Sep 24, Lamonta Harris, Missouri
I was tased a couple of days ago by my neighborhood officers after a person wrecked my vehicle. Truly, I was very upset but when I called the police I was approached with aggression by these officers with their tasers out upon arrival. The gentleman that wrecked my car was being loud, and rude, and once they arrived I wasnt able to explain that this gentle man was at fault. By the scene it showed he was at fault. Upon my time of explaining, one officer requested backup, upon arrival I was not warned the officer walked up to me and my wife, and aim the taser at us. I asked "are you going to tase me, and I got no response just a look. As he stood there I watched the taser charge up to full capacity, and once I noticed he was not there to help me, I asked my wife to move to the side because he looked as if he was going to tase her. As soon as she moved, I was tased for 7 to 10 seconds. Once it was over I was still twitching this officer charge me with Assault 1st degree on a police officer. I never made any threats to them, I did not make any threatening movements, and was charged with 2 felony charges. I think alot of officers use these tasers under the wrong circumstances, ie as a way to hurt you and easily cover it up. I was told by their cheif of police that once a taser is deployed, that the charge of assault on a police officer is always the outcome. I view this as unfair practices, I was not armed, I had on jogging pants, and a t shirt, no weapons, and no place to hide weapon and as they said I was a threat to them. how can I be a threat and I was the victim, I was never read my rights, and they didn't even file a report about the accident, they just took me to jail, and let the other guy go. I had no warrants, or was I wanted by anyone, they said I tried to strike them upon arrival. Truly, truly truly unfair!!

Only myself, and I would hope that it sheds alot of light on this subject, because I would not want anyone to feel the effects of a taser.

11:56 am PDT, Sep 7, Ken Jones, Ohio
It's important to me because we are living in a police state.Cops are to quick to taze people with no questions asked.The torture of tasers has to stop !!

3:53 pm PDT, Sep 3, Name not displayed, Washington
We have had two deaths in the last four years related to overpolicing and use of tasers. One was a mentally retarded man whose assumed "weapon" was a liter of Pepsi.

9:19 am PDT, Sep 1, Name not displayed, California
My uncle was tasered in 2006 and left with serious lifelong impairments.

11:22 am PDT, Aug 28, Name not displayed, Italy

10:26 am PDT, Aug 25, Ronald Krinock, Pennsylvania
"Limited government power" is an absolute good.

I have never personally known anyone who got tasered but, if I wait till that point, it's too late. As Martin Niemöller put it (after Nazi Germany): "First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

8:13 am PDT, Aug 25, Gloria Frye and family Frye, North Carolina
I have heard many horrible stories about police using and killing people with the tazer. I feel many deaths were uncalled for in these situations and the police abused their authority as they have done in other situations. For instance my daughter reported a police officer for what she saw as misconduct, talking dirty in his police car on duty off and on all day and gave them a tape recording of this. She was interrogated as if she were a criminal for speaking up which was very devastating to her. This same officer in the past had beaten up on his wife and they overlooked that.

No not personally but there have been a couple of these incidents that caused death very close to where I live.

4:53 pm PDT, Aug 21, Name not displayed, New York

12:30 am PDT, Aug 21, Name not displayed, California
My daughter has been tasered many times by sheriffs officers, she gets in trouble alot because she is mentally ill, only weighs 115 lbs. and has a heart problem. The sheriffs officers are all very large and could easily subdue her without hurting her with tasers, there seems to be no reason for them to use them on her, but they always do.

11:40 am PDT, Aug 16, Sarah Wright, Indiana
This brutality should never have been approved in the first place.

9:48 am PDT, Aug 16, Name not displayed, Georgia

8:23 am PDT, Aug 16, Kellie Harper-Lee, Georgia
Local Police recently used taser guns on my son during a traffic investigation. I was present when I witnessed two officers standing to the left and right of my son with tasers in hand. My son willingly went to the ground and placed his hands behind his back. When he was on the ground and in the "position" the officers knelt down and pressed the tasers directly under both of his shoulder blades even though he was not menacing or posing a threat to the officers.

Yes

2:48 pm PDT, Aug 14, Eric Rodriguez, Texas
I'm simply scared that my wife or family members could go thru something as painful and torturing for something as simple as a routine stop! While not completely against the Taser over a Gun Method, I'm sure this programs could be more restricted to only mentally prepared law enforcement.

10:50 am PDT, Aug 14, Catherine Marie Ligon, Missouri
I am tired of everyday hearing that the cops have tased someone else that never once posed a threat. Last month here in Columbia Missouri, a guy was tased while peeing in an ally behind a bar after a concert. I am watching the news now about a Mother who was pulld over talking on the phone. and then was pulled from the car and TASED, with her kids in the vehicle. and then a 72 yr old women. there is a whole section on the news videos just for people who were tased and on tape, and the LAW JUST WANTS TO BE JOHNNY BAD ASS!!! WE HAVE TO STOP THIS!!

I do know someone who was tased in Columbia, Mo. In a McDonald's parking lot there was a comotion going on the in the parking lot. but i seen with my own eyes a guy who was not involved, a cop hollared across the parking lot the guy came to the cop. they talked for a couple minutes, (no yelling, nothing threating) the Guy turned to walk away and the cop tased him! i Have seen on the Local news a guy who was going to "kill" hisself, by jumping off a overpass on the I-70. But by the time the cops got there and tried to talk him down. 30 minutes later they tased him and he fell!!! I know someone else who was tased and had dentures in, which had metal plate in their mouth, and suffered medical issues after that. A small town N of columbia just paid out 2.2 million dollars to a victim that was wrongfully tased. I really just feel this out of control. Law enforcement really are proving theirself to be power driven! they have a weapon that "SHOULDN'T" kill anyone, so they feel they can use it when ever they want. THIS IS WRONG WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING!!

6:24 am PDT, Aug 14, Joseph DeVito, Pennsylvania
I think the use of tasers are abused by police and they should be banned. Tasers are weapons that injure and kill people and in many situations are used without probable cause.

5:41 am PDT, Aug 14, Emagin Peace, California
I just watched ( another) incident of police brutality and unwarranted use of a taser gun against a woman. Everyone should be very concerned...the next victim could be you!

11:41 am PDT, Aug 13, Name not displayed, California
Why is this issue important to you? Share your story.

Have you personally known anyone who was tasered? Yes, my uncle was tased, and now has permanent brain damage. [On the petition, no one will see this question so please form a complete sentence when answerin

8:13 am PDT, Aug 11, Gregory Whitfield, South Carolina
Dear Men in Blue, If your job is to protect and serve, STOP protecting your partners butt and start serving the CONSTITUTION you swore to defend. Gregory J. Whitfield

7:07 am PDT, Aug 11, Name not displayed, South Carolina
Officer tasered me over and over my heart and left numerious bruises. He later resigned upon my family reporting the incident to his superiors.

2:57 am PDT, Aug 10, Name not displayed, California
My brother was tasered & went into cardiac arrest. He had to be shocked back to life but it was not soon enough. He was in a coma for several days. He awoke & had to learn everything over he knew. He now has permanent brain damage, no short term memory & has lost the last 20 years of memories. He has very few emotions & walks like a zombie. He can not do any activities he was used to doing. He has very little quality of life.

My brother was tasered.

6:29 pm PDT, Aug 9, Anastasia Render flores, Michigan
The harmless individual I knew that was killed by a reckless police man and his tazer are disturbing to me.

4:50 pm PDT, Aug 8, Jamie Perez, California
In 2004 my mother was seeking medical help for my brother, Ronnie Pino. He died in jail by himself after the use of a taser gun. The story is here, I encourage you to view it. http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=44574 This device killed my brother and officers that use it should be informed that it can and will kill people with medical conditions. I think this should be used as a last resort option. Too many officers are using it as an easy way to subdue a suspect. Sometimes I think if they would of shot my brother with a gun in the leg he may be alive today.

Have you personally known anyone who was tasered? Yes my brother and he died. Ronnie Pino was his name. You can view the story here that was published in our local paper. In 2004 my mother was seeking medical help for my brother, Ronnie Pino. He died in jail by himself after the use of a taser gun. The story is here, I encourage you to view it. http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=44574

7:57 pm PDT, Aug 6, Jessica Wren, California
My brother was tasered while already unconscious in the rain causing electrocution and physical and emotional injury.

4:00 pm PDT, Aug 6, Enzo Rossi, California

1:25 pm PDT, Aug 6, James Slaughter, Florida
Since the inception of tasers the police have systematically lost the ability to negotiate with people. They automatically pull their tasers unnecessarily without even trying to talk a suspect down. The police have clearly shown that they can not be trusted!

Yes, and I have watched plenty Youtube videos showing the police acting like common bullies and hurting people because they can.

7:52 pm PDT, Aug 3, Nic Summers, Illinois
I don't like FASCIST out of control police. Any member of law enforcement deemed having used TASER irresponsibly should be BANNED FOR LIFE from being a member of law enforcement in any capacity.

I know a part time policeman in my office. He was tasered during his Taser training.

7:16 pm PDT, Jul 30, Name not displayed, Pennsylvania

12:05 am PDT, Jul 30, Leo Resendez, Indiana
I had heart surgery, I take a lot of medication, I have post traumatic stress syndrome, I go into panic at times, I dont need to be confused with someone on illegal drugs and then tasered because I seem disoriented. too many people in need of medical attention are tasered for the wrong reason. too many police use it at the wrong time and lives have been taken. ban it and lets end the mistakes.

10:23 am PDT, Jul 28, Name not displayed, Michigan

9:44 am PDT, Jul 28, Tracey Dunican, Alabama

9:41 am PDT, Jul 28, Edwin Christma, Nevada
what a bout peple hart problums, and outhers Epalese to.

9:40 am PDT, Jul 28, Name not displayed, Vermont
the man I was married to used to use a cattle prod on the children and myself and no one should have to experience the shocks that come out of these tazors. When the system is shocked there is no reversing the damage, police should go back to training on how to disable someone, it works....I was trained and have never thought of using a tool to cause pain like these tazors do.

9:36 am PDT, Jul 28, Richard Greenman, Florida

8:42 am PDT, Jul 28, Name not displayed, Michigan
Just read another incident about misuse of tasers. In Alabama, a DEAF, mentally disabled man was tasered for refusing to leave a bathroom. Thankfully, the magistrate refused the charges and the officer is under investigation.

No, but I did witness a 98 lb woman being manhandled and tasered by 3 very over weight officers. Kinda pathetic huh?

2:15 pm PDT, Jul 26, Betty Tarkinton, Tennessee
I've seen many videos and heard many reports about the use of tasers. They are misused by law enforcement.

2:08 am PDT, Jul 24, Shannon Holmes, Texas
I believe that police abuse the use of the TASER. I just watched videos on youtube where they have tasered 72 yr old woman and an 11 yr old girl. Cops should be able to subdue without using a Taser, if not then they don't need to be officers. Electricity causes damage to the heart.

Nobody I know personally has been tasered.