Questions have been raised over the police actions leading to the falling of porn actor and murder suspect Stephen Clancy Hill (aka Steve Driver) off a cliff in California. Police reportedly tasered Hill despite the fact that he was perched on the cliff, but the video below is unclear whether he jumped or fell.
Hill fell down a 40 foot hillside to his death after spending an hour threatening to kill himself. Some reports state that police justified using the taser out of concern that he was about to hurt himself. However, tif the reported use of the taser is true, it seems quite reckless in this circumstance — regardless of whether it was the cause of the fall.
Hill had a sword with him — possibly the sword that he used to in an attack at a DVD production center that left one person dead and two people injured. Hill, 34, had reportedly been told that he was going to be laid off as a porn actor and told that he could no longer live at one of the studios. The sword was a prop from the production studio. The fatality was Herbert Hin Wong, 30, who was killed trying to help one of the other victims.
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We have seen the use of tasers in ill-advised circumstances recently including people covered in fuel. It is also reminiscent of the New York case where a man died after being tasered while standing naked on a perch.
There could be civil liability for the company in this tragedy. The question will be whether there was forewarning about a possible violent outburst after Hill was told that he was both fired and put out on the street. Companies have been sued over the failure to prepare for such reactions — the violent side of the premise of the recent movie Up In The Air. Hill had been convicted previously on a gun charge.
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