-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Florida Highway Patrol officer Daniel Cole used his taser to stop a fleeing Danielle Maudsley. As a result, Maudsley fell and cracked her head on the concrete roadway. Maudsley has been brain dead ever since and is not expected to recover.
Maudsley had been arrested in a hit-and-run case and taken to a Florida Highway Patrol substation for processing. Maudsley, clad in handcuffs, fled out the door of the substation with Cole running right behind her. Cole drew his taser and shot Maudsley in the back. Cole has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
It was Cole’s responses to investigators’ questions that are most troubling.
If she makes it [to U.S. 19], you know, there’s no winning. I can’t let her get out and get run over.
What self-serving tripe! This is exactly the kind of response that one would expect from someone who’s trying to come up with an excuse to justify their actions.
Cole was also concerned that one or both of them would be injured if he tackled her. Is tackling her the only alternative to tasering her? How about moving your 267 pound fat ass and grabbing her? Cole’s weight is three times that of Maudsley. Notice how Cole plays the “officer safety” card. This card is often played when justifying the use of excessive force.
The cracking of her head on the concrete roadway was an entirely foreseeable outcome of the tasering. This young woman is dead because the trooper couldn’t be troubled running after her.
H/T: Hit & Run, Tampa Bay Dispatch.
The person is in a coma and cannot give their version. We have a hospital which ordinarily does the dirty work for the cops saying that a blow t the head caused the coma– not the electrocution. Some of the commenters refer to the police as Leo, I guess taht is Law Enforcement Officer. Cops is easier for me and the jury.
If this dog had the case I would file the federal suit immediately under the civil rights act and the companion conspiracy statute against the shooter, the superior to shooter, the Chief of Police and the Board of Police Commissioners and the municipality. Almost every state treats a municipali8ty as an entittiy and not part of the state itself and hence the little village or city has no sovereign immunity. If you folks would be interested, the statutes and the case summaries (annotations) are found in book 42 of the United States Code Annotated in the library or on Findlaw. 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 and section 1985(3) conspiracy. Read the annotations on shootings with Smith and Wesson pistols and if you find some Taser cases good.
A Taser is deadly force. If you shoot someone you are electrocuting them. How do you know if the person has a heart condition, a brain injury, or anything of that nature. A Taser can kill a normal person. Here is how you get the other side to come to terms with their stupidity.
File the suit in Federal District Court and name the shooter, his superior, his Chief and the Village Idiots. Seek damages and punitive damages. Over $75,000 in actual damages and say a milli9on in puns. File with the Complaint a set of Request To Admit Facts, Interrogatories and Notice of Deposition and seek an order of court on the Deposition Notice to Take the Video Deposition of Plaintiff forthwith so as to preserve evidence in case the person dies. The other side may be lame and not respond to the Requests To Admit Facts and of course buried in there is the one that says that the device used was deadly force and foreseeable deadly force and caused the injury and coma. Often the other side in such lawsuits does not know that the failure to admit is an Admission. The clock runs from date of service even if served with the summons.
At the shooters depostion he will state that a good old Taser is not deadly force. Fine, we subpoenaed your grandmother today and you can shoot her with your Taser for our video and while you are at it shoot the Chief and his wife. Make the person objecting state a full objection. Take that one up with the judge.
If anyone knows this victim have him call TalkinDog, this is the kind of case to get TalkinDog out of retirement. The fact that this device is deadly force will soon loom large in the consdierations of these bozos who think otherwise. If you do not know the name of the superior officer or Board members just sanme them John Bozo Does.
Do not believe that nonesense that the blow to the head caused the coma. It could be the elctecticxity. Find an expert. Dont sue the Taser company, you wouldnt sue Smith 7 Wesson if the cop had shot someone with that product.
Is the full dashcam video available to view?
While I agree in principle that TAZERs are overused, I think you’re being unreasonable. A hit and run suspect was in custody, in handcuffs, and decided to RUN. I don’t think you can reasonably argue that the officer isn’t doing their duty to regain custody of the subject. All of the options available to the officer involve some level of physical force and, with them, the possibility of injury and death.
Consider if he had indeed chased and tackled her. As you pointed out, he weighs nearly 3x what she does. If he does a leg tackle, she takes a header and, guess what, with her arms cuffed she has no way to protect her head. Similarly, if he does a full body check he lands on TOP of her – same possible outcome, or worse. Can you imagine the hue and cry if the same thing had happened to her because he had landed on top of her? “Look at him, he’s 3x her weight, why couldn’t he have just TAZERed her?”
Other non-lethal force might have been a bean-bag shotgun. Assuming he could bring it to bear and hit her, she’d have gone down, again, with arms in handcuffs she is unable to protect her head.
The officer is exactly right – the longer she runs, the more danger she puts herself in. She could trip, run in traffic and be hit by a car, or hurt other pedestrians.
There is only one person to blame for this tragedy: the idiot who decided to run from police in handcuffs.
She is with in arms reach, in a parking lot. He does not have to tackle her to control her. Just grab her arm. How fast do you think a handcuffed person her size can run? Perhaps physical fitness as an LEO is in question. 267 pounds?
Police training is quite variable. Watching a few episodes of COPS will show that. And then there is adrenalin, which “clouds men’s minds.” Combine that with a donut-sodden desk chair/patrol car bully. Evidently this was the deadly combination here.
Police were cleared on the broken back teen also. I will try to contain my surprise.
“Cole has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.” … surprise, surprise
“Otherwise they will taze us at every traffic stop to make us more manageable.”
Michaelb,
The “manageabilty” is the key issue with the police in these times. They see their role as “authorities” whose judgments are to be obeyed and not questioned. From such a view there is very little “backtalk” allowed by someone they interact with. This is exactly the military mentality that you talk about and link. I discovered this during an extremely minor collision in a Florida parking lot. Minor dent and my first traffic accident in fifty years years of driving. Police arrived after the occurrence and both cars had been moved from the position of the accident. The other driver was a very attractive young woman and I am an old fart in my latter 60’s. The police were taking her account verbatim, without listening to my version. When I tried to approach them to interject my version, projecting no hostility, I was blocked by one officer who insisted I get back to and sit in my car. Looking into his eyes I saw that were I to protest, the situation would escalate dramatically. Sat in my car and waited for a chance to give my statement. After about ten minutes one of the officers came up to me ad handed me a ticket for reckless driving and a statement assessing blame for the accident on me. I was astounded, but he walked off and drove away as I started to protest. When I went to court to fight the ticket I was told that to appeal would cost me a fortune in “court costs”. I let it be, although my 50 year spotless driving record in both traffic violations and accidents was spoiled.
I work with law enforcement on a regular basis. Tasers are a real problem with many agencies. Other agencies emphasize training and do not misuse them. One large Sheriff’s Department with which I work has used grant money to buy microcameras for their patrol officers, which I think is an excellent idea. The other day, I was reading about a department that had a history of near-wanton use of Tasers. After all the devices were retrofitted with microcameras, violent threats against officers must have dropped to zero, because Taser use stopped.
Here is one example of what not to do with Tasers. Also, in the video you will see an interview with Captain Thomas Rousset of the Ozark, MO police department. Now I ask you, would you buy a used car from Capt. Rousset?
The problem in this case is Tasers and not the LEO, though he should have run her down. However, with the mythology that Tasers are not potentially lethal weapons, their use by LEO’s has increased and the system actually encourages that use. They can be useful LEO tools, but only in certain situations. Their supposed non-lethal properties let LEO’s know that they are very unlikely to face internal charges when using them. By emphasizing that quality, without commensurate training in their potential harm, ensures their over-usage. Also by having LEO’s tased as training there is a reinforcement within their minds of a range of permissible use that is much wider than the actual results should dictate.
The utter contempt these officers have for the public never ceases to amaze me. Even after she’s down, the officer is verbally abusing her. With that attitude its likely this type of abuse happens more often than is filmed.
The trooper decided to take the easy way out. Why run after someone who has escaped custody and break a sweat when it’s so simple to pull out a taser and zap the person.
One of the TED talks discusses the escalation of the use of the TASER. It is directly correlated with the military mentality that is taking over the police. Each department has a different policy but it is my understanding that there must me a direct danger not a possible danger. Otherwise they will taze us at every traffic stop to make us more manageable.
http://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_coleman_the_moral_dangers_of_non_lethal_weapons.html
Nal:
with all the publicity in the last few years about these types of head injuries, how long did it take them to figure out something was really wrong? Liam Neeson’s wife got a good head bump and was dead in less than a day.
When did they call the paramedics?
I have relation that are LEO’s, they have video’s of all of them being tasered before they are qualified to use them.
They ALL KNOW that a person is going to fall down when hit by them. WHY do you think they have mats & people on either side of them to catch them?!!?
Unless there is a PHYSICAL THREAT to an officer or bystander, there is NO REASON (or excuse) to use a taser.
These things have killed over 200 people…(and I don’t care what the taser manufacturers claim..)
Nal,
While I generally agree with you…. She was arrested, in police custody, hand cuffed in the front and under the influence of something….. I do not think it was entirely foreseeable…. But I was not there….
Hard cases make bad law … lack of tolerance makes hard cases.
AY:
Is her falling foreseeable? Is landing on her back foreseeable? If you fall on your back, with no muscle control, your head is going to strike the surface.
When I was jailed for a DUI, I was clearly told, that if you run, you WILL GET SHOT! I think a Taser is a far better choice.
What if she was your daughter? What if she had kids a home? She had handcuffs on: how could she have endangered the FHP?
I don’t know why the land of the free and the home of the brave is so enamored with giving Law enforcement the right to legalized torture through the use of TASERS. Ever since the days of Rodney King I realize we started becoming a nation of cowards. We vote for the strongest military, buy more guns per capita, put more per capita in prison or jail, less for education than any other civilized country and have in effect shifted the burden of proof to guilty unless proven innocent. We have more capital deaths, more convictions of innocent people, and more overturned convictions based on DNA evidence than any other country. Respect for life and dignity is at an all time low.
Phil,
Maybe your use of the emotion card indicates your bias….are all Leo’s bad… Not at all…. Are all arrested folks bad…. Not at all…. We’re you there? Do you know really what happened?
In handcuffs
In custody
Under arrest
Nal,
While I generally agree with your summation here…. The person was in lawful custody… Once they fled the station… The use of force is dependent on the circumstances… This case the officer could have justified using deadly force…. I do not agree that falling and hitting the head was foreseeable….