Sleeping Man Tasered in His Own Home

[Th1onein]

Sleeping Man Tasered in His Own Home

Radley Balko | November 8, 2007, 9:22am

Earlier this year, North Braddock, Penn. resident Shawn Hicks came back from a night out and plopped down on his own couch in his own home. Unfortunately, he failed to deactivate the silent alarm on his home security system. According to Hicks, two police officers responded to the alarm, entered his home, and woke him with a taser between the shoulder blades. When Hicks tried to explain that the whole thing was a misunderstanding, and that the officers were in his own home, they tasered him again. They next checked his wallet and ID, which confirmed his name and address. Then they tasered him again. The police then removed the taser pellets from Hicks' bloody back, refused to get him medical treatment, and arrested him for "being belligerent." They threw him in a holding cell until 5 am the next morning, when they released him without filing any charges.

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/123388.html

[Wetzelbill]

1. That is just appalling.

[Catherine Vincent]

2. Let me guess?

Shawn Hicks is a black guy?

[amerikat]

5. SWB

sleeping while black?

[Th1onein]

11. You guessed it.

It's apparently against the law to be black these days. And a REAL crime if you're sleeping and black.

[mikelewis]

20. It's always been against the law to be black in America.

[barbtries]

3. it'd be nice to know what came of this

since it happened last november

[Th1onein]

12. Oh, don't you know? The cops were cleared of all wrongdoing!

It's just amazing. They tased him while sleeping. Then, when he shows ID, they tase him again. Then, they tase him again. Then they arrest him for being belligerent. Unbelieveable.

[barbtries]

17. thanks for the update.

scary shit

[sasquatch]

4. Those cops need their asses sued off

Sorry boys you're working for him the rest of your life.

[RedCappedBandit]

6. Well its a good thing pigs are responsible enough

to wield weapons such as tasers... :sarcasm:

[Warpy]

7. He'll have a hard time proving assault

since by his own admission he arrived so blotto he forgot about his alarm and pretty much passed out on his couch.

He was impaired, in other words, and the cops will be able to cover their asses very easily by painting him as a typically belligerent drunk.

This stuff will continue to happen until the discharge of a taser is treated as seriously as the discharge of any other potentially lethal weapon, with an IA investigation and enough paperwork to discourage overuse.

[Indenturedebtor]

8. Bingo

And what's more we have the tech now to require all cops to wear cameras at all times. Get out of the squad car on duty? Camera turns on automatically and beams via wifi to your car which transmits to station. Any arrests or weapons discharges and the data is stored.

That would help put a stop to a lot of this bullshit. These thugs with guns need to be put in check.

Oh who am I kidding... take my rights I wasn't using them anyways :(

[noamnety]

16. Sort of a variation

on "she asked for it, she was drunk."

[bermudat]

9. Let me guess. The tasered man is black.

Damn, brothers can't catch a break. He is lucky they didn't shoot him dead and plant drugs on him. That is a new one, sleeping while black.

[mike_c]

10. Amerikan Gestapo....

eom

[Jamastiene]

13. wtf

:wtf: would have been the first words out of my mouth. The second batch of words would have all been cuss words at the jumped up bastards who did that to me.

[ColbertWatcher]

14. Pre-emptive tasering. He's bound to be guilty of something...eventually.

JUST KIDDING!

DISCLAIMER: This is a joke.

[judasdisney]

15. This isn't funny. So why am I laughing my ass off?

It's quite funny: Dr. Strangelove has been surpassed. Satire is impotent. THAT'S funny.

What type of society hopes for fucking redemption or change, who've already acquiesced to this story, the most absurd bullshit imaginable?

Really? We see this story and we think there's "hope"?

If a society that calls itself "free and open" will tolerate anything ... then we live in CALIGULA-LAND.

[RandiFan1290]

18. "Open and shut case, Johnson"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=C7F50Cd8LME&feature=PlayList&p=12EB8BF28D2BE79F&index=0

[Echo In Light]

19. Just one of countless examples of why many of us think cops SUCK

[jberryhill]

21. Then here's a helpful tip...

Don't wire your home to call the police automatically.

[crimsonblue]

22. here's some more info...

Hicks is suing the officers for "false arrest, battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and slander."

The police department denies any wrongdoing:

Police Chief Henry Wiehagen said the officers would not comment, but he disputed Hicks' version of events.

Hicks wasn't asleep, Wiehagen said, he was on the couch prone. The officers could not be certain he was unarmed and Hicks "didn't respond to their reasonable commands," he said.

"These policemen are very cautious and I don't blame them for being cautious," Wiehagen said, noting officers in his department have been shot at.

"Our police just don't go to the scene and Tase somebody," he said. Tasers "are the best thing going" and better to use than a night stick or tear gas, he said.

"I'd rather get hit with a Taser than a .40 caliber," Wiehagen said.

tasered man sues over being tasered (sorry it's a link to freeperland)

If the pigs are that concerned, then they should unholster their guns. Last time I checked, a gun pointed at you was generally a good deterrent to bad behavior. The taser companies are pretty powerful I guess; they got a court ruling in their favor that forced a medical examiner to redact comments on an autopsy report that concluded tasers were the cause of death. If I find the link to that, I'll post it.

[malaise]

24. Sadly for those lying cops if he was awake he would

have turned off his alarm. The stupid MOFOs will pay big here.

[malaise]

23. WTF??

A man's home is no longer sacred.