ZAP, you're It!, tasering for fun and profit Options

[PalePhoenix]

Following so closely on the heels of the UCLA incident where a library patron without his student ID on him got all sorts of undue roughness, I was surprised to find an article at the Epilepsy Foundation's site about an even more unfortunate individual who somehow managed to get his neurons even more fried by asshats with "non-lethal weapons."

The guy was taken down, and then--insult to injury--committed to a psychiatric facility for violent offenders:

Arrested (and Tasered) while Seizing

Following yet another in a series of dangerous mishaps involving a police response to a person experiencing a seizure, the Epilepsy Foundation is once again calling for police, emergency medical personnel and other first responders to undergo training and implement protocols to ensure they properly respond in these kinds of situations. The most recent report involves a Michigan man with epilepsy, who, when experiencing a seizure, apparently was unjustifiably tasered, clubbed, arrested, jailed and committed to a psychiatric facility for violent offenders -- all based on non-threatening behaviors caused by a seizure. Fortunately, he was released from the psychiatric facility (after advocacy by the Foundation and its local affiliate) and is doing well at home. However, too many other people experiencing seizures have had encounters with police that have resulted in serious permanent injuries or even death.

The case in Michigan involved Daniel Beloungea, who was taking a daily walk in his neighborhood when he experienced a complex partial seizure, which left him in a state of semi-consciousness. Complex partial seizures are associated with repetitive involuntary movements, sometimes for up to 30 minutes, with post-seizure disorientation. Beloungea needs to walk daily as a form of rehabilitation to help restore functioning in his legs; this functioning was impaired following brain surgery to treat his seizures. A person passing by noticed Mr. Beloungea acting erratically and called police to report his behavior. When officers arrived on the scene, they apparently assumed that his failure to respond to their questions and his erratic involuntary movements amounted to resistance, and failed to recognize the obvious signs of a seizure. Furthermore, they failed to inspect the medical alert bracelet he was wearing, which indicates clearly that he has epilepsy.

According to police reports, when Mr. Beloungea was unresponsive to police direction, the bag he was carrying was kicked by police from his hand, and when he flailed his arms involuntarily, he was tasered, sending 50,000 volts of electricity through his body (risking serious injury or death); hit with a police baton; threatened at gunpoint; and handcuffed behind his back. (The handcuffing itself is dangerous for persons experiencing a seizure, as it can lead to further seizure-related agitation and struggling, possibly causing asphyxiation or even cardiac arrest.) He was then prosecuted for assaulting police officers and disorderly conduct, notwithstanding considerable evidence, including the state’s own mental health evaluation, confirming that his actions were involuntary and solely the product of a seizure.

Then, apparently because of a gap in Michigan law, Mr. Beloungea was forced to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, rather than being permitted to submit evidence that he lacked the mental and physical capacity to commit the crimes for which he was charged. Because state law requires that all persons who have been adjudicated not guilty by reason of insanity be committed for a mental health evaluation, a man who posed no risk to anyone was forced to languish in a penal institution housing violent criminal offenders (where he experienced at least two subsequent seizures). He was discharged from the psychiatric facility, on September 28, 2006, after a stay of more than three weeks.

Yes, I suppose there's a dark sort of humor in this somewhere, but it's just not funny anymore. Should we be glad they don't still shoot first, ask questions later? In this particular event, they could have checked the poor fellow's Medic Alert bracelet while he was incapacitated. Better yet, that might have been something the admitting physician at the hospital could have noticed.

[PalePhoenix]

A middle-school student with autism was Tased twice by a Carmel police officer, according to a lawsuit filed by the boy's parents against the Police Department, one of its officers and a local school district.

According to the suit, the electrical bursts temporarily knocked the 90-pound boy unconscious during a confrontation at Creekside Middle School. The boy, who was 14 at the time, was taken to a local hospital before being released to his mother... (read more)

They care enough to capitalize taser. They do NOT care about their autistic children. Think of the children.