Ohio Police Taser Blind Woman Suffering From Cancer

In Dayton, Ohio, citizens are upset over an incident where a blind woman, Denise Harris, 49, suffering from cancer was tasered by police — apparently while she was on the floor. The police insist that they needed to taser her “to control her hand movement.”

Family and neighbors insist that they told police that she was sick and was afraid. The initial police statements indicate that she was hit with the taser to facilitate cuffing — a very problematic rationale.

The police were reportedly trying to arrest Harris’ son on suspicion of robbery when things got ugly. In fairness, police often face hostile relatives in arrest situations, but it remains unclear why a taser was needed to be used for cuffing a blind cancer-victim (who is also suffering from diabetes).

The story will add to the controversial use of tasers as a routine matter by officers, including recent incidents of such use on a disabled man and pregnant mother and an 82-year-old woman and routine ticket violater. This is not to mention the case where the police entered the wrong apartment and then tasered a deaf man who was in his bathtub, here.

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