Sunday, June 28, 2009

Taser Case in Missouri

The city of Moberly, Missouri just paid a $2.4 million wrongful death settlement to the family of Stanley Harlan, who died last August after being tasered during a traffic stop. Harlan
had just been pulled over in their hometown of Moberly, Mo. As the police car video shows, Harlan got out, wanting to know why he was stopped. One officer checked Harlan's driver's license and called for backup. Three more officers arrived. Police later said Harlan had been speeding - that he wasn't threatening but he refused to cooperate.

He had his  hands up at the time he was tasered, and was shocked three times for a total of 31 seconds. Harlan went into cardiac arrest and died before medical help arrived.

This is another example of blatantly unnecessary taser use by police. It's good that the family won its lawsuit, but that doesn't make up for the death of a son who was basically killed by police for the crime of speeding. Yes the death was accidental, but this case points out yet again the need for far tighter restrictions on taser use. The city of Moberly has suspended their use entirely in the wake of this incident.

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