[Peace] Urgent: Stun guns being considered by Champaign C

[Brian]

Hi all,

I'll jump in here to second Jenifer's comments.  Some of you may remember a terrible incident in 2000 when a black man died while resisting arrest by Champaign-Urbana police officers.  

The cause of death was apparently heart failure - but some news reports made it sound as if this was independent of the force exerted by 15 (!) police officers (not all at once) over an 11-minute (!) period.  The man apparently fought with the officers and was violent - choking one officer - when they attempted to subdue him.  While definitely cause for a strong response by police, it is unclear why a senior officer couldn't have stepped in before police noticed "he was changing color and appeared to be in respiratory distress."  The coroner report makes it sound like the man was in poor health and the stress of the struggle could have caused his death (not by officer's use of force).  Despite what some called a "brutal death" no one was charged.  The weapons used by police: batons and a spray similiar to pepper spray.

I don't know if tasers would change situations like this.  The impact of their use is severe - it seems possible they could lead to cardiac arrest in someone in poor health.  Or is it possible their use would avoid such force by so many officers when threatened by a large man refusing arrest?  Or will they be used, as some suggest, disproportionately against African-Americans?  Whether by choice of weapons or explicitly stated policies when police confront violent people resisting arrest, incidents like the above should not happen if at all possible.

   Brian

Reference: newsgazette.com page, search for "gregory brown death" in 2000, with option "all the words"
also: http://health.surfwax.com/files/Cardiac_Arrest.html - search this page for taser