Man shot with taser found dead...of 'Self Inflicted Wounds'?

[Bright Eyes]

:crazy:
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A man shot with a taser gun by police in Bedfordshire was later found dead after injuring himself.

Armed officers were called to the Goldington area of Bedford after reports of a dispute between a mother and son, Bedfordshire Police said. When they arrived outside the house they found an injured man in his 30s armed with a knife.

The man was shot with a taser gun after threatening officers before returning to the house where he was discovered with "self-inflicted injuries", a force spokeswoman said.

The incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

The spokeswoman said: "Armed officers went to the address after being called to a domestic dispute involving a mother and son. On arrival at the property police found the man in his 30s suffering from injury and armed with a knife.

"He threatened officers and as a result the taser was discharged. The man then retreated into the house alone and when found shortly afterwards by police officers he was in need of urgent medical attention because of subsequently self-inflicting serious injury to himself."

He was taken to Bedford Hospital where he died from the injuries.

The injuries from the taser gun were "minimum", she added.

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/man+shot+with+taser+found+dead/1364752?intcmp=rss_news_itnnews:crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[Catch22Dem]

1. I know tasers are a hot topic at DU, but what else should the cops use

Yes, MISUSE of tasers is indeed an issue, but what should cops do when they have a legitimate need to subdue a suspect?

The kid at the Kerry speech, NEVER should have had a taser used on him, but what about a legitimately violent person who won't go peacefully?

[Dawggie]

2. What else should they use? Their brains? Patience? n/t

[Catch22Dem]

3. Yes, eventually the bad guy will just walk into the holding cell

Come on. It's a serious question. Again, I'm not talking about itchy trigger-finger misuse of tasers here.

[Dawggie]

5. Seriously, you keep your distance and talk. Then if he attacks (he "threatened" officers according

to the report. I'm sure that if he had attacked them the report would have stated so.)

Since most of the officers using tasers have been trained with a taser shot themselves, they incorrectly assume that anyone can live through it.

A taser will drop anyone to their knees. How the fuck did they let this guy go back into his house where he could possibly get a firearm?

It does not make sense.

[Bright Eyes]

11. Absolutely.

The cops did do the right thing in this instance. I just posted this because it was so strange!

[Catch22Dem]

13. Thanks!

I understand what you mean. That's why I tried to post in broad terms. I didn't want anyone to think I was speaking of this article specifically.

[Solon]

4. If the report in the OP is accurate, then I have less of a problem with that use of tasers...

the guy was armed with a deadly weapon, and was either threatening bodily harm to himself or others. That seems justified, however, the problem is that tasers aren't just used for this purpose, they seem to be used as a way for officers to deal with simply uncooperative suspects who AREN'T a danger to themselves or others. That is extremely dangerous.

[catnhatnh]

7. The police report seems obvious bullshit...

ask yourself how many cases you have ever heard of (think:none) where a suspect was tasered, not subsequently cuffed and then allowed to re-enter his home??? SOMEONE"S lying and it AIN"T the dead guy....

[malaise]

12. How come they anesthetize other animals but

electrocute humans? :shrug:

[Solon]

15. Because anesthetizing humans, and animals...

is too often fatal if handled improperly. Remember, you are talking about a drug, and more than that, a drug that's supposed to force unconsciousness on a person. The proper dosage for an adult male will be far different than an adult female, or a child, and such a dose could be fatal. In fact, if the police started using "dart guns" instead of tasers, I would bet my bottom dollar the amount of fatalities from the tranquilizer will far exceed the amount of fatalities attributed to tasers.

Not to mention that the drug wouldn't affect people the same, beyond things such as body size and weight, but some people are outright immune to such drugs, or have bad reactions to them. Just like people with weak or damaged hearts are more likely to die from being tased, some people will end up in encephalitic shock from a tranquilizer, and die within minutes. Police would also have to carry around some type of antidote to not only prevent this, but to make sure, if the dosage is too much, not to accidentally tranquilize people into comas and such. Each police officer would have to take years of additional training in anesthesiology just to qualify to use such weapons.

Real life isn't the movies, knockout drugs shown in movies do not work in real life, look at a nature show when they tranquilize animals to get a more realistic view of how it actually works.

[papau]

6. A Brit story ??? - I was certain it would be Texas.

[LaStrega]

8. here's a recent one from Minnesota

http://www.startribune.com/13841301.html

[papau]

9. Taser deaths are everywhere - my thought was the idea of claiming it was suicide - Texas is famous

for the bodies with 3 shots to the head and 6 to the chest that are labeled suicide.

[LaStrega]

10. ah gotcha ...

after that first shot goes off, the other eight would prove difficult me thinks

[Marrah_G]

14. A crazy man came at the cops witha knife and was tasered

Then he managed to run back into the house (this was the cops biggest error) where he then killed himself.

The man was obviously deranged.

[Sam Ervin jret]

16. The problem is not the man , nor the taser, nor the police. The problem seems

to be the usual.

No God Damn Mental Health Care.

The man was obviously in need and the police were the last thing he needed. And the police are the last ones who want to have to take care of these"domestic disputes." Which is bullshit speak for mental health care issues that have no god damn workable answers.

So the cops and the emt's are the ones to deal with this and this is not their JOB.

I am NO apologist for cops. But this seems like putting blame in the wrong place if you're trying to put it anywhere but with the helplessness this person felt and our own society's pitiful response to it.