JONATHAN TURLEY

Police in Perth are investigating a case where officers accidentally set a 44-year-old man on fire after shooting him with a taser. The man has previously doused himself and his house with fuel and was threatening to light himself on fire. This is the second such case for the city’s police, here, in less than a year.
Continue reading ‘Police Set Man On Fire With Taser — Again’

Joshua Alger, 28, in Colorado Springs, Colorado is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Not only did an intoxicated Alger allegedly pass out in a McDonald’s play area, but he encouraged his two children to bite the arresting officers.
Continue reading ‘Not-So-Happy Meal: Colorado Man Tells Children To Bite Officers at McDonald’s’

A police officer in Kankakee has a curious method of applied learning for children. While visiting the Kankakee Junior High School, he called for volunteers and tasered students in a demonstration. One of the parents rushed her son to the hospital because he has a pre-existing heart murmur.
Continue reading ‘Taser Tots: Kankakee Police Officer Tasers Children in Demonstration’

We have another contestant for Worst Person in the World. Jorge Garcia, 39, in Florida was confronted by police for acting strangely and told to get out of his car. When he refused an officer pulled out his stun gun. That is when Garcia allegedly used an infant as a human shield. He reportedly told the officer “Tase the Baby.’

Continue reading ‘“Tase The Baby”: Florida Man Allegedly Uses Baby As Human Shield’

Gregory J. Oras, 37, may want to find a designated driver . . . other than the 911 operator. After calling the police for a ride, he ended up tasered and arrested.
Continue reading ‘Drunken Florida Man Arrested After Calling Police for Ride to Bar’

I suppose the large tattoo on the neck of Andrew J. Wirth, 24, reading “NOTHING TO LOSE” might have given the court deputies a clue that they were in for trouble at the appearance of the Wisconsin man in court. Wirth is accused of first shooting a couple to death outside a bar after a woman playfully grabbed him. He then tore up a courtroom while yelling at the judge.

Continue reading ‘Wirth-Less: Man Accused of Double Murder Tasered in Courtroom Brawl’

This video should be in every police academy training program. The female officer shown in the video from Las Vegas stands with gun drawn while a suspect is cuffed and then accidently discharges her weapon — barely missing both the suspect and the other officer.
Continue reading ‘Warning Shot: Las Vegas Officer Accidentally Fired Gun At Cuffed Suspect’

We have another death associated with a taser. Darryl Bain, 43, was tasered twice and died in the Long Island home of his mother in Coram, New York.
Continue reading ‘Bain of His Existence: Man Dies in Mother’s Home After Being Tasered Twice by Police’

MIke Bartlett of Kent, Ohio probably thought that the worst thing that happened to him on Sunday was finding his house on fire at 4:30 am. He was wrong. After Bartlett ran in and out of the house to save people, he was tasered by officers standing outside and arrested.
Continue reading ‘Ohio Police Taser Man After He Runs Into Burning Home to Save Sister and Friends’

This is a bizarre video. The police officers are trying to arrest a man who is mocking them and not cooperating. The officers decide to taser him rather than simply force his hands into cuffs. The man screams “I am being illegally tasered, I am defending myself” and proceeds to escape.

Continue reading ‘Video: Man Mocks Police, Police Taser Man, Man Escapes Police’

While (like today) we often chronicle cases of police abuse or controversies, we do have on occasion the opportunity to recognize extraordinary police work and commendable restraint. Such is the case with the apprehension of George Rogers, 36, who attacked Philadelphia police with a samurai sword covered with swastikas and a skull. Police did not simply shoot him and call it justifiable force. He was instead subdued and is now charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses.
Continue reading ‘The Last Samurai: Man Attacks Police With Swastika-Covered Samurai Sword and Survives’

We often chronicle the abuses of judges, lawyers, and police officers on this blog. Occasionally, however, we can celebrate acts of restraint (here) as in the case of the police in Huntley Illinois. Peter J. Reilly, 85, walked into a police station and pulled a gun on the police sergeant. The sergeant did not shoot Reilly or taser him. He ordered him to drop the weapon and then walked around and grabbed the gun, which turned out to be a BB gun.

Continue reading ‘85-Year-Old Man Pulls Gun on Officer in Police Station And Does NOT Get Tasered or Shot’

This video is the subject of an investigation into Hallwood Chief of Police Wilson Glenn, who is accused of giving his taser to a father who then appears to tase his son as a joke.
Continue reading ‘Sheriff Under Investigation After Allegedly Giving Taser to Man Who Appears on Video to Shock Son as Joke’

While Memphis officials trying to keep tasers out of the hands of their officers (here), they are also trying to do the same with narcotics. A major bust this week led to the arrest of officer Lowell Duke, 37, who is accused of participating in a large drug operation.

Continue reading ‘The Thin White Line: Memphis Officer Arrested in Major Cocaine Bust’

Raymond Lawrence Roberson, 70, first threatened to blow up his van, threatened anyone who came near him, paraded around with a rifle, and then shutdown a highway after barricading himself in his van. When he emerged, he stripped naked and was tackled by police. The most amazing and redeeming aspect of this story is what the police did not do: they did not shoot him or use a taser. They simply subdued the man with the least possible force.
Continue reading ‘Oregon Police Do NOT Taser Naked Man’

We have another case of a man bursting into flames after being tasered. Recently, an Australian man burst into flames after being tasered. In Lancaster, Ohio a homeless man named Daniel Wood, 31, caught fire after being tasered due to chemicals from an aerosol can he was inhaling.
Continue reading ‘Police Taser Sets Homeless Man on Fire’

Vincent Paul Riojas is not your typical accused hit-and-run felon. Where all hit and run felons flee the scene, Riojas stopped and took the body of his victim with him to his home.

Continue reading ‘Hit, Haul, and Run: Texas Man Accused of Hitting Bicyclist, Pulling Him into Car, and Driving Home’

We have another taser incident at a sporting event. It is unclear why the man was approached. Some reports suggest that he was in the wrong seat and was not obeying the commands of the officers.
Continue reading ‘Shock Video: Man Tasered at Baseball Game in Oakland’

Prince William County police are accused of abuse in the tasering of a grandfather and a mother at a baptismal party in Manassas. The party was being held at the home of Edgar A. Rodriguez, 55, when police responded to a call about loud music. The police say that Rodriguez was drunk and failed to turn down the music after repeated demands by the police. The police ended up tasering Rodriguez and then, when his daughter Leticia Elias, 25, ran to him, police tasered her as well. She is the pregnant mother of the baptized baby.
Continue reading ‘Baptism Under Fire: Virginia Police Taser Grandfather and Mother At Baptism Party’

When Antonio Love failed to heed orders to come out of a bathroom at a Dollar General store, Mobile police used pepper spray and a Taser on him — ultimately arresting him for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer. The problem is that Love, 37, is deaf and mentally disabled.
Continue reading ‘Shocking Love: Police Taser and Pepper Spray Deaf, Mentally Disabled Man for Not Complying With Orders’

Tyler Heilman, 24, was shot and killed outside of his home in Kastoa, Minnesota by Deputy Sheriff Todd Waldron. The shooting is particularly controversial because Heilman was unarmed and wearing only a speedo swimsuit.
Continue reading ‘Police Officer Shoots Unarmed Man Wearing Only a Speedo’

Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Gary Miles was fired and Sgts. Chris Parry and Joey Parkerson have not been charged with tasering a Waffle House waiter for fun, but instead will be allowed to resign from their position as police officers.
Continue reading ‘Georgia Police Waffle on Charging Officers: Officers Involved in Tasering Waiter for Fun Resign From Force’

Matthew Beider, 23, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, is not exactly the ideal son. Only last month, he was arrested after threatening his mother with a three-foot sword. Now, he has been re-arrested after tasering his mother and then stomping on her as she lay on the floor after being shocked.
Continue reading ‘Florida Man Arrested For Tasering His Mother — While Awaiting Charges for Threatening Her With A Sword’

Constable Richard McCain insists that a grandmother deserved to be tasered in a recent roadside incident to protect himself from a violent attack. The suspect was Kathryn Winkfein, a 72-year-old grandmother, who had refused to sign a traffic ticket. Deputy Chris Bieze tasered Winkfein after she allegedly became belligerent.
Continue reading ‘Texas Police Officer Tasers 72-Year-Old Grandmother Who Refused to Sign a Speeding Ticket’

There is another controversy over police tasers leading to a death. Robert Mitchell, 16, died after being hit with a 50,000 volt taser shock after he ran from a traffic stop and allegedly resisted arrest. Mitchell had a learning disability and according to his family was merely scared.

Continue reading ‘Police Tase and Kill 16-Year-Old Boy After He Runs From Traffic Stop’

Chicago Police Officer Richard Bolling was charged in a hit and run that killed a 13-year-old Trenton Booker who was riding his bicycle. In such cases, standard procedures calls for a breathalyzer as soon as possible. However, Bolling’s colleagues gave him four hours and, when they administered the test, he registered 0.079 — miraculously just under the 0.08 limit.

Continue reading ‘Chicago Police Officer Involved in Hit and Run Given Four Hours Before Taking Breathalyzer’

A Fort Worth, Texas police officer broke the nose of a deaf man when he failed to heed warnings at a routine traffic stop. As shown in the video below, Christopher Ferrell, 43, was reaching for his card explaining that he was deaf when Officer J.A. Miller slammed him into his car.

Continue reading ‘Can You Hear Me Now? Texas Police Officer Breaks Nose of Deaf Man Who Did Not Follow Orders’

Oly Yahnson Ivy, 30, the chief of police of Oakwood, Texas, has been arrested for aggravated assault in the use of his Taser on this wife. He was fired after only two months on the job.

Continue reading ‘Oly Ivy: Texas Sheriff Arrested After Allegedly Tasering His Wife’

Vincent Crabbe already had a poor reputation as a member of Sytherian House at Hogwarts and a thuggish sidetick to Draco Malfoy (with his equally vile friend Gregory Goyle). Now, he is heading to a muggle jail under his real name Jamie Waylett, 19, for allegedly maintaining a pot farm in his bedroom.
Continue reading ‘Stoned Crabbe: Actor Found Harry Potter Series Arrested for Pot Farm’

Those Badgers fans can be stubborn. Margaret Hiebing went to a Madison football game to watch the Badgers and found another person sitting in her seat so she sat in someone else seat. She would end up tasered and in a wheelchair.

Continue reading ‘Police Taser 54-Year-Old Woman Sitting in Wrong Seat at Football Game’

The New Hanover County Sheriff’s office had a neat idea of how to arrest Gladwyn Taft Russ III, 42, for threatening his wife. When his father died, they waited until he was putting the casket in the hearse on the way to the cemetery and swooped in to grab him. When they ended up kneeing him in the back and tasering him in front of the shocked mourners, who said that the officers pointed guns and tasers at them. The family canceled the trip to the cemetery.
Continue reading ‘Step Away From the Corpse: Police Taser Pallbearer at Funeral’

In our expanding list of “things you can do to get tasered by police,” we have another outstanding entry to add to getting out of a bath naked and calling for help. Catherine Isebelle Morris, 34, was tasered by Gaston County Police Officer G.S. Kendall because she insisted on getting her shoes in the house when questioned outside about a domestic disturbance. She is lucky. Under this operational standard, Imelda Marcos would have been lit up like the Chrysler building.

Continue reading ‘Step Away From the Shoes, Ma’am: Police Officer Tasers Woman for Trying to Put on Her Shoes’

The tragic case of Iman Morales just got more tragic. Morales was found dancing naked on the top of a ledge. Police shot him with a taser, resulting in his fall and death. It was an obviously poor decision in violation of department guidelines. Now, the officer in charge who gave that order, Lt. Michael Pigott, has committed suicide in the police locker room after being stripped of his badge and gun.

Continue reading ‘Accused Police Officer in New York Taser Death Commits Suicide at Police Station’

Many police departments spent countless minutes trying to get people off building ledges or perches. New York police, however, have a more efficient approach: they shot him with a taser and collect him after he falls. In the case of Inman Morales, 35, it resulted in his death.

Continue reading ‘Problem Solved? New York Police Taser Naked Man on Ledge Who Then Dies in Fall’

Tallahassee police tasered a naked 40-year-old man walking his dog. The man did not respond immediately to their commands and was considered a potential danger to officers. It appears that naked men are universally viewed as imminent dangers by officers given another such case out of Wichita.
Continue reading ‘Do Not Assume the Position: Florida Police Taser Naked Man Walking a Dog’

In Claymont, Delaware, police are dealing with a virtual relationship turned violently real. Police have issued a warrant for Kimberly Jernigan, 33, of North Carolina who tried to kidnap her former virtual boyfriend — a 52-year-old from Delaware.

Continue reading ‘A Bit Too Real: Woman Tries to Kidnap Ex-Virtual Boyfriend’

Miami-Dade police officers are being accused of excessive force in the death of Kenneth Oliver, 45, who was repeatedly hit with taser shocks. Witnesses called police to report a drunken Oliver knocking on doors and asking for help. The police arrived and, reportedly over the objections of onlookers, shoot him four times with tasers — killing him. The case is similar to another recent case, below.

Continue reading ‘Miami Man Pounds on Doors Screaming for Help When Police Arrive and Taser Him to Death’

A South Carolina deputy has been fired and charged after a dash camera recorded him punching teenager Jeremy Laquan Rucker, 18, in the face. What is curious is that there is no word on action taken against the other officers who assisted former deputy Brian Tollison.
Continue reading ‘Shock Video: South Carolina Deputy Charged After Beating Teen’