Don't Tase Me When I'm Having a Diabetic Seizure, Bro
From the Courthouse News Service:
Prospero Lassi says he suffered a diabetes-induced seizure at home on April 9. His roommate called 911, and police from LaGrange Park and Brookfield responded, with EMTs from LaGrange Park.
Lassi says his roommate explained to police that he was having a diabetic seizure. Lassi "was not alert and could not move his body."
When the EMTs asked the cops to help them move Lassi from where he was lying on the floor, Lassi says, one of his "arms flailed during his diabetes-induced seizure, striking one of the LaGrange and Brookfield defendants. At no time did Mr. Lassi intentionally strike or offensively touch any of the LaGrange or Brookfield defendants."
Lassi says LaGrange Park Officer Darren Pedota responded by Tasering him 11 times, for nearly a minute, as he lay helpless.
He was hospitalized for 5 days, and was unable to work for 3 months because of the attack, "and his quality of life has suffered substantially," Lassi says.
Well, at least he wasn't deaf and mentally disabled!
Reason on tasering here. Radley Balko wrote about Chicago's troubled (and troubling) police department two weeks ago. Link via Dennis Robbins' Twitter feed.
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Good Morning Reason!
I thought this story would be about our own SugarFree. He hasn't been commenting much.
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He works at a university right? Hopefully, he's off with some nubile and attractive young freshman who's doing her best to "improve her grade".
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Good catch. Maybe Epi can fill us in when the sun rises over Seattle?
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Or - maybe Epi and Nutrasweet are off watching the sun rise over Seattle. Or, better: long weekend in Victoria, BC
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I'll take high tea at The Empress, please.
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A picnic at the Butchart Gardens is always a lovely alternative.
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indeed.
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There has to be more to this story. There absolutely has to be more. The whole idea of even the dumbest LEO responding this way to someone who is seizing is beyond ludicrous.
Then again, there are some truly stupid people on the wrong side of a taser.
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The whole idea of even the dumbest LEO responding this way to someone who is seizing is beyond ludicrous.
It is, but...well, after reading this blog for a few years, nothing surprises me anymore. There are astoundingly stupid and profoundly mean people everywhere, and the police department is no exception.
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A diabetic seizure can look like a mental break of some kind.
And diabetics would tend to have syringes around.
Was the victim brown-skinned?
If it was a white woman, the cops would be told "She's having a diabetic seizure," and would act appropriately. If a brown-skinned male is the subject, the cops probably just said, "Fuck you, you lying heroin users!" and took out their tasers to have some fun.
A federal court just ruled that tasers can only be used in self-defense, and not to secure compliance. I really wish these guys had committed their offense after that ruling.
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qft, fluffy. qft
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Fluffy's court ruling.
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After seeing recent news about the so-called "Orgasmatron" - a surgically implanted device capable of stimulating spinal nerves to produce on demand orgasms - I wonder if it would be theoretically possible to create a taser-like weapon operating on the same principal. Granted, it wouldn't solve the underlying problem of police abuse, but it sure as hell would beat "pain compliance".
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That is going into the Suki Tech blog for greatest tech stories of the year!
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Will the inventor have to pay royalties to Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the idea?
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Surely you mean Woody Allen.
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Surely you mean Lemmy Kilmister.
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Please tase me, bro!
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I know you're just joking, man, but please don't give them any ideas. Male-on-male rape is used systematically as a means of compliance in communist China. If they had a way of producing an instantaneous psychological rape without going through the trouble of penetration they would totally, absolutely, without-a-second-of-hesitation "lunge" on it. There are some total Satan-worshipping dogs out there in the highest positions of power.
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LaGrange Park Officer Darren Pedota responded by Tasering him 11 times...
They got a lotta nice cops there
A pow pow pow pow -
Don't the batteries ever go dead on those things?
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Orgasmatrons? I'm sure they do.
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LOL, I knew I should have worded that more carefully.
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winner
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Radley's gonna break your thumbs if you keep intruding on his turf, Welch.
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Oh, there's enough police brutality to go around.
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He's on vacation.
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Hey, so is Officer Bradshaw! Neat!
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I am confused. What were the EMT's doing, sitting there letting this cop tase the guy? This makes no sense.
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Maybe they were thinking, "Wow, I hope I don't get tased too. Maybe I'll go stand over here where these crazy motherfuckers can't even see me."
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I suspect the EMTs were doing what any rational person would do when a cop loses his shit on a third party:
Edging for the exits.
There's no percentage in trying to stop the cop. Even if he doesn't just waste you on the spot, you'll be up on multiple felonies.
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This idea that cops can do no wrong and can never be safely interfered with shows how fucked up our society has become.
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In some places a cop could walk into a crowded shopping mall, walk up behind an old lady in a walker, empty his gun into her skull, do all of this in front of 500 witnesses of unimpeachable character, all of whom give an identical account of his transgression, and barring video evidence he will get off Scot Free.
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In Chicago, you can even have the video, and not only will he walk, he'll be promoted.
I'm looking at you, Alvin Weems
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I guess my question would be why they didn't just tell the cop to stop tasing the guy at some point during that minute. I don't think you can be charged with anything for that (yet).
Of course it's possible they told him to stop and he ignored them.
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throat-singing is why the internet was invented
Thank you for this, and i mean it from the bottom of my wizened little heart.
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The internet (or at least Facebook) was invented to enable people to share cat pictures.
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He seeks punitive damages for battery, excessive force, and failure to intervene. He is represented by Arthur Loevy of Loevy & Loevy.
You know, if I were the victim, I think I would forgo every stinking cent that cop would owe me, with the oppotunity to taser the cop's junk
1133 times over13 minutes. (Treble damages). -
At what point does it become acceptable for those of us that are verging on schizophrenia to view such peace officers as targets? I am having some concerns that our civilized society doesn't allow us to recognize some individuals to be undeserving of a future.
Oh. I hope everyone is having a very good holiday season!
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I would sue the paramedics. They should not have asked a retarded monkey to help with a patient.
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Has the local LP helped the victim hire an attorney? Organized a rally outside police HQ? Or done any damn thing to show that at least one political party is not cool with this shit.
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Why do these revenue collectors get all the good toys?
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thanks