FL Police Officer Charged With Shocking Handcuffed Suspect

[struggle4progress]

April 19, 2005 4:43 p.m. EST

By JASEN LEE, All Headline News Staff Writer Orlando, FL (AHN) – Orlando police officer Peter Linnenkamp is facing misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly using a stun gun on a suspect who was handcuffed to a hospital bed. Invesitgators say 18-year old Antonio Wheeler was under arrest on drug charges when he was taken to the hospital for a urine sample. He was reportedly hit twice with a 50,000 volt shock from a Taser when Wheeler refused to provide the sample ...

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/1113943401

[gratuitous]

1. Okay, show of hands: Could anyone (or everyone) see this coming?

Who could have imagined that a cop would use a taser on someone who wasn't violent, threatening violence or trying to escape?

[ltfranklin]

2. To my mind...

...threatening a suspect with a stun gun should be considered the same as threatening a suspect with a revolver. Both actions could end with a dead suspect. If a police officer put his weapon against the head of a suspect, I suspect they'd be brought up on charges. Actually discharging a stun gun on a suspect where the suspect is not actively threatening the life of either the officer or someone else is way out of line, and the officer should be disciplined severely.

Stun guns are not guaranteed non-lethal. Until they can come up with a weapon that IS guarenteed non-lethal (or at least 99.99% so), there's no excuse for using one just to subdue a non-cooperative suspect.

Just out of curiosity, is anybody actively doing research on a truly non-lethal weapon that's usable in a law enforcement application?

[teryang]

3. This is a lot more common than people think

Officer confronts schizophrenic alleged to have pushed or shoved his significant other or family member. Due to lack of health insurance he is off his meds. He had no understanding of what the officer is saying or what a police officer is doing in his residence. He cannot follow directions because he doesn't understand what is being said or what is happening. Solution, taze him into unconciousness.

I know of a police department which makes it their business late at night to deliberating humiliate and torment the handicapped, homosexuals, mentally impaired, into a rage while they are in a holding cell, and then taze them when they get loud and uncooperative in response. I guess there isn't much else to do in the wee morning hours for entertainment.

[struggle4progress]

4. If you really know of a department where such behavior is common ...

... and can produce/provide evidence of your assertions, get it to an appropriate organization ...

[teryang]

8. I understand a 1982 suit is the appropriate response

but usually these result in a quid pro quo. The criminal charges against the defendant/plaintiff get dropped in return for the defendant plaintiff dropping the civil rights suit against the government agency.

It is outside the scope of my litigation charter to pursue these, I can only challenge police at criminal trial or in motion hearings.

I believe that the 1982 is a cash up front fee basis civil suit.

One time I was doing a westlaw search on an unrelated subject and came across about 80 of these cases involving such settlements. You pay for the litigation but there is no payback really. Coincidentally one of my colleagues had informed me that his father had been involved in one of these police abuse cases and had traded off his 1982 suit in the settlement of the associated criminal charges.

I am out of date and not well informed on this and open to any suggestions.

Maybe I'll try a double jeopardy approach when I get the next one. Your honor my client has already been administered a punishment.

[ninkasi]

6. How sick

I am sickened by the thought that those sworn to uphold the law find some sort of perverse pleasure in tormenting the helpless. Reading about things like this makes me understand more fully how easily torture was used at Abu Ghraib, and other prisons in Iraq, Gitmo, and Afghanistan.

People with a streak of cruelty should never be placed in positions of authority. Unfortunately, we have the biggest bully on the planet claiming to be the leader of the free world, and he has been adamant about placing other bullies and abusers as members of his administration.

Too many of these Taser incidents are happening in circumstances which do not seem to warrant it. It's easy to see how, in the wrong hands, this weapon is being overused.

[slaveplanet]

5. I've seen conflicting reports

when it comes to this particular criminal activity of the police officer.This article above, I believe is incorrect.

I believe below is a closer representation of reality.

a.) Wheeler told police he had swallowed crack cocaine, so they took him to the hospital. But Means said concern over Wheeler's medical condition was not reason enough for the officer to use a Taser gun on a restrained suspect. All this BEFORE being restrained(strapped down).Crack is NOT water soluable like powder cocaine and is no immediate threat to perp when swallowed.
b.) catheter was inserted against perp's will, yet bladder was empty and only a few drops were produced.
c.) perp was tazered after catheter was inserted.
d.) perp was tazered 2nd time when he was pleading that he could produce no urine. ( once catheter is in place, urine aquisition is involuntary, just ask a nurse)
e.) police first denied claim.
f.) The Orlando Police Department has one of the strictest Taser gun policies in Central Florida. Just last year, the policy was rewritten and now requires that the suspect be actively resisting arrest before a Taser gun can be used.


If above is true , any evidence against this perp should be thrown out. The Officer should be brought up on torture charges. Perp should sue officer and his superiors for their homes, vehicles , and every penny they own.

but....here's how the prosecution sees it....

The information filed Monday charges Officer Peter Linnenkamp with misdemeanor battery, and prosecutors said some of the best evidence against Linnenkamp comes from his own report on the incident.
"Based on what we have as evidence, this was not a safety issue. This was a compliance issue to provide urine. So that rises to a level of a criminal act. In this case, it's a misdemeanor battery," said state attorney's spokesman Randy Means.

[pinerow]

7. Did anyone consider a catheter...

and I don't understand the hurry...A saline solution adminitered by IV would have produced the desired urine level...sheesh