Man Dies after L.A. Police Tasering

(AP)  The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says a man has died after a deputy shocked him three times with an electric stun gun at a San Fernando Valley subway station.

His identity wasn't immediately released.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore says the man was at the North Hollywood Red Line station shortly before 8:30 p.m. Wednesday when a deputy repeatedly asked if he had a ticket.

The man didn't answer, so the deputy took hold of his hands to stop and question him.

Whitmore says the man broke free, raised clenched fists and charged the deputy several times. He was Tasered, then shocked twice more when he got up and charged again.

Whitmore also says a pipe used to smoke drugs fell to the ground during the scuffle.

[Reality_Chick]

SEVEN young men have died in the U.S. THIS MONTH ALONE, after they were tasered, bringing the total # of North Americans who have died proximal to taser use to at least 442.

436. August 9, 2009: Terrace Clifton Smith, 52, Moreno Valley, California
437. August 12, 2009: Ernest Owen Ridlehuber III, 53, Greenwood, South Carolina
438. August 14, 2009: Hakim Jackson, 31, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
439. August 18, 2009: Ronald Eugene Cobbs, 38, Greensboro, North Carolina
440. August 20, 2009: Francisco P. Sesate, 36, Mesa, Arizona
441. August 22, 2009: T.J. Nance, 37, Arizona City, Arizona
442. August 26, 2009: Unidentified male, Age unknown, Los Angeles, California

Please see my website at http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com

[tripzz]

I was there, the guy was on the ground with his pants down butt showing, being still and compliant and the sheriff officer was tazing him!! I got ill to see the police acting this way when the guy was a skinny guy on the ground who looked homeless and appeared to be no threat to anyone. I left the station sick to my stomach and next thing I see is 10 police cars , 2 motorcylces a chopper , paramedics and fire truck pull up. I just found out today that the guy died. It did not need to end up that way for a 1.25 train fair. The sheriff dept went to far imho from what I saw. very sad

[serranolaw]

Tripzz contact me at [e-mail].

[patronejohn]

I am not sure why of all the people in the station, that they asked this man if he had a ticket? Strange.
On the medical side, I do not think Tasers are 100% safe. I work as an EKG Technican. There is a very short time where the heart is between repolarization and depolaration of the atria where any electrical stimulus can disrupt the normal cardiac cycle. If that happens it could misfire and throw someone into Ventricular Tachycardia and if sustained, you lose blood pressure and basically have no pulse.
Additonally I read recently that an officer used a taser on an ER patient who was in atrial fibrillation and the shock put him back into a sinus rythm.
Basically, the right stimulus at the right time...good. Wrong stimulus at the wrong time..very bad. Why do you think defibrillators work as an electrical stimulus during a "code".

[patronejohn]

I am not sure why of all the people in the station, that they asked this man if he had a ticket? Strange.
On the medical side, I do not think Tasers are 100% safe. I work as an EKG Technican. There is a very short time where the heart is on between repolarization and depolaration of the atria where any electrical stimulus can disrupt the normal cardiac cycle. If that happens it could misfire and throw someone into Ventricular Tachycardia and if sustained, you lose blood pressure and basically have no pulse.
Additonally I read recently that an officer used a taser on an ER patient who was in atrial fibrillation and the shock out him back into a sinus rythm.
Basically, the right stimulus at the right time...good. Wrong stimulus at the wrong time..very bad. Why do you think difribulators work as an electrical stimulus during a "code".

[themooniac]

If he was wacko than that justified excessive force and what the medical examiner ruled is a "homicide"? Is that what you are saying?

[tafhdyd]

The question I have is still the same. If the cops are out of control or get pissed off or whatever power trip you think they are on, would you rather they use bullets and be sure someone dies or use a taser when in most cases they don't die?

[lemonskinkus]

Tasers are just another torture device being used against the general population. Put the cop in prison for life for murder. Period.

[themooniac]

tafhdyd: You keep looking for justification to taser someone with 50,000 volts for 49 seconds.... I hope his family sues the city's a$$ off and the cop. Fort Worth cops are usually very cool so this guy must be a real brain surgeon.

[tafhdyd]

I am not advocating 49 seconds of taser. I am advocating that tasers kill fewer people than bullets. By the way, your comment is a bit contradicting. If the cops are usually cool then that is more evidence that the guy that got tasered was a wacko unless that is the person you think is a brain surgeon. Of course if that were the case your statement about sue the cop wouldn't make sense.

[erasmus111]

A person would probably have a better chance at living if they were shot in the foot than tasered.

[themooniac]

From todays Dallas-Ft. Worth Star Telegram:
Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr., 24, was pronounced dead about noon April 18, two hours after his parents called 911 because he was causing a disturbance at their east Fort Worth home, according to police reports.

Police shot Jacobs twice with the Taser, one for 49 seconds and one for five seconds.

The medical examiner's report says Jacobs died of "sudden death during neuromuscular incapacitation due to application" of the Taser.

Oh, and by the way, no drugs or alcohol in this guys system.

[tafhdyd]

Just because there are no drugs doesn't mean he is not completely wacko. His parents called the police because he was out of control. Maybe a mental case brought on by a heart condition.

[glenaw-2009]

The reflection I keep coming back to is " a peace office went home tonight and one man will never go home" over a ticket. I just can't believe reasonable force was applied here. If he had pulled a knife or gun I could understand that. One can not believe that one is in his right mind when he continues to charge after being stunned. There has to be a better way. Through training or better (supposedly) none lethal forms of controlling the situation. I can not believe how nonchalant people here are about the death of a person.