Teenager Dies After Police In Charlotte Use Taser

And we have this same discussion, what, every week. sometimes multiple times a week if we watch Digits' column. It's really damn sad. Something needs to be done.

She's probably out gathering more bad cop stories! lol her column is one of my favorites here on the Vine

Hey you guys! Thanks for talking good about me behind my back! :)

I'm building and moving one of my sites and frankly, I needed a break from this taser-crap. [So I wrote some Newsvine articles in the interim as well, concentrating in a different venue.] There is only so much I can take and THIS one...THIS one here. Dammit! Every day it's getting worse and at the same time, more acceptable to read deaths by taser.

I am increasingly frustrated that no one save a few can see this naked emperor.

It's spun and it's lied about and it's covered up and it's bought. Bought and paid for by the taser companies. And on the same side, cops whose jobs have been made easier by the taser. The fact that society -as a whole - has not become outraged at these deaths is a simple shift in mentality that I've been noticing...

This us vs them. This "guilty until proven innocent" and thus, so what if the guilty die?

Nothing I can say right now can convey my very real and pervasive anger over what is going on. And I mean by society's accepting of it and defending it at times, as well as the corporate interests of the taser companies being in direct antagonism toward human rights yet WINNING.

This is no longer America.
This is Amerika.

At least Canada investigates their taser deaths.

Look at the petition #112 signature. Heck, glance a few below that. Read some of those stories.

[Not to mention my disheartened feeling over a lousy number of signatures.] An internet media guy was *interested* in the Taser petition but he'd need to know my real name? I think right the hell not.

Anyway. I'll be back. :)

DIGITS!!!!! My sister from another mother!

Yeah, this @!$%# is getting way out of hand. I remember when the old "less lethal" weapons (night sticks) were used, there was actual scrutiny. A long time ago there was this little known story of a man named Rodney King who got "stunned" a few times, and it started riots. Now people, kids even, can be tasered and people just go "Well, if he had nothing to hide.....etc etc". It's sick.

The American people have become nothing more than helpless sheep who waste away in front of the TV. Who give more credibility to 24 and American Idol than they do their fellow countrymen who question authority, and they let these militarized pseudo-police do whatever they want. It's like if a man wears a uniform, anything he does is justified until further notice.

My advice to everyone: wake up everyday and taser yourself. Increase the dosage week by week. Soon you will immune..... well, it works with poison.

Yes I tried that theory of gradual increments. When I was a boy I lifted a calf over a fence every day until one day I could lift a full grown cow over the fence. I gave it up though when somebody pointed out we were running out of cows.
I figure sooner or later we will see a story about a man attacking a cop because of a fear of being tasered.

ltty bitty cows Tedd ;<)

Stop teasing me with miniature cows.

No. I want my nano-cows, damn it!

Mmm... CowChips cookies look good...

I had no idea you could die of a taser! This is the first news article I have seen. Is this ever picked up by the mainstream news? And a minor? Surely there are parent groups out there that can help bring attention to this!

You can many many many many more. Most people never think to research this phenomenon

It would be interesting to get statistics on deaths by tasers vs deaths by say police batons. I think part of what makes the taser so deadly is that police are convinced that it is non-lethal where as with a baton they have a better image of what damage they are doing. They might be reluctant to strike an older person with a baton but they have no such compunction with a taser.

I read somewhere recently that if you look at the backgrounds of a lot of cops now, they are coming direct from the military or even special-ops departments of the military.
They are not really trained at all in people management, just basically in weapons deployment. I am told that you can look up a town's police dept and click on that, they will have profiles of officers and you can see what their backgrounds are. It is not always closely held info, like where they won't even give out the names, photos, etc.
Am very sorry for this mom. It would be bad enough if he had been killed in Iraq/Afghanistan, and he was almost old enough for that. But this is so senseless.

Hey Tedd,This is a sad,sad,story.This makes around 250 deaths in the U.S. alone,If that is not a red light(no pun)to re-think this weapon then what is?A healthy 17yr.old male,Now dead.I think "Rate My Cop" was pulled due to privacy or something like that,I'm sure you know better then I do.Something has to change,Like you said each T-gun is different but they will say anything to sell them to the police force.Thanks and Take Care,Mark. :>(

AND he was returning them or going to pay for them!!!

Imagine the guilt the mother has now. She forced to go back to try to make things right. He ends up dead.

Yeah, this story really makes me sick. It's a complete waste, a completely needless waste. This is a direct consequence of not-so-less-than-lethal devices being marketed as less-than-lethal.

I am sure their are times when the taser is the best device to use. The problem comes when they are used indescriminately or incorrectly. This nonsense will not end until the police departments start taking legal action. Think how that officer must feel. They are human beings too and have to live with the knowledge that they have taken a life, in this case that of a child.

If I was his mom, I would take my broken heart, turn it into fierce anger, and go after them legally for all I was worth, and I would appeal their @sses all the way to the Supreme Court. Most cops act like a bunch of rude blowhards pumped up on steroids. At least that's how they all seem here in the wasteland known as Florida.

Maybe it comes down to the national leadership example of "If I think I might be in danger, attack with deadly force" i.e. Iraq. Don't talk, react.

I think Tedd and luckydog have hit some nails on the head. Not for the first time, either.

Tedd and luckydog, you are both 100% right, and I was just thinking the same thing. Like everything else that has tanked in our world since Dubya took over his dictatorship, this is one more thing...

How did we not manage to impeach him before now? I guess we were all afraid of being stuck with Pres. Cheney... :-/

Speaking of shooting first and looking later Cheney is the perfect example. He is so mean he shoots his friends so you can imagine what he does to his enemies.

With 'friends' like Cheney, who needs enemies???