Journalist – Historian – Speaker
The State of CT mandates the tracking of taser use by law enforcement, which is fairly rare across the country. We’ve got the 2015 numbers. From Connecticut Magazine: A total of 650 reported Taser incidents involved 610 people. Of those subjected to Taser use in 2015: 83 percent were unarmed53 percent were people of color49 …
The ACLU this morning is sharing a video of a black man asserting his rights, standing with his hands up, who is suddenly tased. He falls and hits his head. Likely, though not provably at this time, he was tased for talking back to the police (in their eyes. In my eyes “I know my …
Several stories around the same themes. A black child is abused by guards or police in schools. There’s almost always a disability context. 1. A lawsuit alleges a 6-year-old black child in Chicago with “special needs” was handcuffed under a stair for over an hour to “teach her a fucking lesson.” The security guard at …
Here’s a big study on taser use from Maryland, thanks to the hard work of the Baltimore Sun. In reporting Taser incidents to the state, police departments must record the reason for discharging the weapon. Officers have only three options: “non-compliant and non-threatening,” “use of threat” or “use of force.” Of all incidents from 2012 through …
In response to the recent shooting of Quintonio Legrier and Bettie Jones, embattled mayor Rahm Emanuel has made a decision – give all cops Tasers. Chicago’s mayor and police superintendent will announce Wednesday afternoon that every police officer who responds to service calls will be equipped with a Taser and properly trained to use it …
There is new video of the death of Linwood Lambert. If police want to have TASERs, which they do and they should, then the people who abuse them have to be held accountable. When three Virginia police officers put Linwood Lambert in a squad car around 5 a.m. on May 4, 2013, they said they …
I’ve been busy researching several new pieces this week so the blogging has been a bit light. That’s likely to continue next week as well. Bear with me! Good stuff is coming. The most important piece I wrote this week was about the efforts of a radical right-wing group to use Down syndrome prenatal testing …