Missouri police taser boy with broken back 19 times

[The Lorax]

The judges ruling is fine. If you are going to say a taser caused a death...it seems perfectly logical that you should have the qualifications to make that statement. Medical examiners are just embarrassed that they got called out and exposed. DO you not agree that they should be qualified to make legal statements?

Yes, I agree they should be qualified, but who gets to decide if they're qualified--Taser? You really can't see a conflict of interest there? Really?

Again, how were the officers supposed to know he had a broken back.

Hmm, probably because he was lying on his back 30 feet under the edge of an overpass.

You are assuming the kid was completely immobile and you have no reason to assume that.

I think a broken back and a broken foot is a pretty darn reason to assume that. What more could you ask for? If he was missing all his arms and legs?

I'm assuming that if the kid was tased...he was moving. Thats the logical assumption if you don't hate cops and don't think they are all out to hurt people.

You mention logic. Ever heard of circular logic?

You think, because the cops tased him, the kid must have been moving. And you think, because the kid must have been moving, the cops tased him. Now, you have zero evidence the kid was moving, in fact, his broken back and foot are evidence against that. Yet you side with the cops, entirely ruling out the possibility they screwed up.

You know what my guess is? These guys are poorly trained cops in a boring town and this is the most action they've seen other than the occassional domestic call. They saw a punk kid lying on the ground and swearing and they dove in for some action, without stopping to think "Hey, why is this kid lying on the ground under an overpass." And now they're not gonna see action for a long time, because they're going to get fired. If they're lucky, they won't go to jail.

[Guest LadyC]

i'm going to make an assumption... and that is that the boy was on the pavement where he'd fallen from the bridge when the cops got there.

now i'm all too aware that people who are on pcp or possibly other drugs have what seems like super-human strength and seem impervious to pain, no matter how great an injury. however, i'm still making the assumption that the boy was sprawled out on the pavement.

and to me, regardless of what the boy was saying, that should have been clue number one for the cops to call the paramedics. one should ALWAYS assume the worst when it comes to such a fall... i don't even have any medical experience and i know that much. i would think that cops have had at least a little bit of first aid training for their job, and would know that such a fall could likely have caused severe damage to his spine, and therefore he should not be moved, much less tased.

on to other things... (i'm just trying to make sure i am fairly distributing my agreement/disagreement LOL)

i don't care if it's 13 deaths or 13 million deaths. tasers (like anything else) CAN kill. of course there will likely be other contributing factors. but with those factors, death can occur. so to say that tasers can not kill is just silly. it would be more accurate to say that tasers rarely kill, and therefore are still a safe, and legitimate, means of control.

[Axxman]

The judges ruling is fine. If you are going to say a taser caused a death...it seems perfectly logical that you should have the qualifications to make that statement. Medical examiners are just embarrassed that they got called out and exposed. DO you not agree that they should be qualified to make legal statements?

Yes, I agree they should be qualified, but who gets to decide if they're qualified--Taser? You really can't see a conflict of interest there? Really?

Again, how were the officers supposed to know he had a broken back.

Hmm, probably because he was lying on his back 30 feet under the edge of an overpass.

You are assuming the kid was completely immobile and you have no reason to assume that.

I think a broken back and a broken foot is a pretty darn reason to assume that. What more could you ask for? If he was missing all his arms and legs?

I'm assuming that if the kid was tased...he was moving. Thats the logical assumption if you don't hate cops and don't think they are all out to hurt people.

You mention logic. Ever heard of circular logic?

You think, because the cops tased him, the kid must have been moving. And you think, because the kid must have been moving, the cops tased him. Now, you have zero evidence the kid was moving, in fact, his broken back and foot are evidence against that. Yet you side with the cops, entirely ruling out the possibility they screwed up.

You know what my guess is? These guys are poorly trained cops in a boring town and this is the most action they've seen other than the occassional domestic call. They saw a punk kid lying on the ground and swearing and they dove in for some action, without stopping to think "Hey, why is this kid lying on the ground under an overpass." And now they're not gonna see action for a long time, because they're going to get fired. If they're lucky, they won't go to jail.

Taser isn't trying to say "who" is qualified...but they are perfectly right in their opinion that a medical examiner can't say a taser is the cause of death if the medical examier isn't qualified to make that assessment. That only makes sense...and the judge agreed. If a person dies from positional asphyxiation, or excited dilerium while in my custody I expect the medical examiner to be qualified to make that call. Dying from a bullet to the heart is an easier call to make...but when you start saying, "This death was caused by a taser." Then you better be qualified to make that assessment and be able to back it up. Whats wrong with that. What Taser Intl. has done is exposed medical examiners that weren't qualified and weren't able to back up their assessments that tasers had caused any death.

What I am trying to say is that the article we are presented with doesn't give us enough information to attack these police. Buckthesystem routinely tries to find the article with the most anti-cop viewpoint. It usually doesn't take much effort to find a more reputable source...

When police arrived, they found Mace Hutchinson "yelling incoherently and (he) began to stand up in a motion toward the lanes of traffic," the report said. After several attempts, the report said one officer used his taser to subdue Hutchinson to keep him from entering traffic on U.S. 65 Highway.

A second officer used his taser on the teenager after he continued to resist and attempt to get up and move toward the lanes of traffic.

A better...more complete article

I love how the mom claims her son doesn't use drugs...but then admits that the hospital found drugs in her kid. Maybe he ate a brownie

[Guest shiloh357]

Buckthesystem routinely tries to find the article with the most anti-cop viewpoint. It usually doesn't take much effort to find a more reputable source...

I have noticed that. Most of her articles are usually not from really credible sources and are usually incomplete where facts are concerned.

[Axxman]

i don't care if it's 13 deaths or 13 million deaths. tasers (like anything else) CAN kill. of course there will likely be other contributing factors. but with those factors, death can occur. so to say that tasers can not kill is just silly. it would be more accurate to say that tasers rarely kill, and therefore are still a safe, and legitimate, means of control.

Okay...now thats just silly. I had a female spit in my face 2 weeks ago. I will be doing routine blood tests for the next year because of that. In order to keep her from spitting anymore..I placed a hood over her head that wouldn't allow her to spit. Now theoretically, she could have gone into a convulsion due to her drug levels and suffocated on the hood/mask I put on her to protect myself and others. If she suffocates on the mask...is it the masks fault? Should we outlaw spithoods because of that? Or can we as officers take reasonable measures to protect ourselves from people who wish to do us harm? Tasers don't kill. Thats not their intent or function. There has not been ONE study done, inspite of all the anti-taser hype, that proves that Tasers can kill a person. To say tasers "rarely" kill is a wrong statement.

Now...with that said. If I discovered that 20 people out of 10 million died as a direct result of being shot with a taser...it would not change my opinion that the Taser is BY FAR the safest option for gaining compliance over a subject.