Taser Use Continues to be Upheld in Court Print
Written by Jeff Jones   
Wednesday, 07 May 2008

taserIn two seperate court rulings, one in LA and one in Ohio, deployment of Taser EMD devices continue to be held up as reasonable and unrelated to deaths of highly drugged suspects deaths.

A federal jury in Los Angeles last month quickly reached a unanimous “defense verdict” supporting Officers and their agency in a trial where the Officers where being sued for allegedly violating the rights of a female suspect who was resisting arrest and subsequently received a drive stun from one of the Officers.

Read more on the story and an analysis of the case from PoliceOne.comImage

 

Additionally, an Ohio Judge recently ruled that Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler must delete any reference that Tasers contributed to the deaths of three men.

The deaths of Dennis Hyde and Richard Holcomb, who were on drugs and in an agitated state when police shot them with Tasers, should be ruled accidental, visiting Judge Ted Schneiderman wrote in his ruling. Any reference to homicide or "electrical pulse stimulation" should be deleted from death certificates and autopsy reports, he said.

The order to change the ruling in the death of the third man, Mark McCullaugh, could be more far-reaching.

McCullaugh, who had a history of psychiatric illness, died in Summit County Jail on Aug. 20, 2006, during a struggle with deputies who used Tasers and pepper spray. Five sheriff's deputies were indicted in his death.

Schneiderman ordered Kohler to rule McCullaugh's death undetermined and delete any references to homicide and the death possibly being caused by asphyxia, beatings or other factors.

Click here to read more on this case from Officer.comImage

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