Fort Worth police buying Tasers with safety feature

March 13, 2012
Mitch Mitchell, Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH -- New Tasers that automatically shut off after a five-second discharge will soon be in the hands of Fort Worth police, an important safety feature that should prevent sustained shocks to unruly suspects.

Police administrators said 250 Tasers will be given to patrol, neighborhood and zero-tolerance officers by midyear. The X2 replaces the X26, both manufactured by Taser International.

"The X2 is essentially the same as the X26 in that it deploys the darts using the same mechanism," Sgt. Mark Wilson, Fort Worth police in-service training supervisor, said in an e-mail.

"The voltage is the same and the darts themselves had no major design revision. The main two points we were looking for was the automatic cut off at five seconds after being deployed, even if an officer holds the trigger down. That was a safety issue that was very important for us."

The other change Fort Worth police sought was the addition of a second cartridge.

Taser International has described the weapon as less lethal because the 50,000-volt shock it deploys for a short time is safe.

The older model did not prevent a longer shock. In 2008 in North Carolina, a teenager died of cardiac arrest after a police officer shocked him twice with a Taser, first for 37 seconds, then for five.

The issue came to light in Texas in April 2009, when Fort Worth officer Stephanie Phillips fired her X26 at 24-year-old Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr., a mental health patient who was acting erratically at his east-side home. The barbs struck Jacobs in the chest and neck. Phillips told investigators that she inadvertently held down the trigger for 49 seconds and then shocked Jacobs again for five seconds after he failed to comply with officer commands. Jacobs died.

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead, who was in his first full year as chief, said he promised residents that what happened to Jacobs would never happen again.

He began lobbying Taser International in October 2009 for technical applications that would solve extended-deployment issues.

During a meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Denver, Halstead said, he proposed that the X26 be programmed so that the maximum duration of a shock, without releasing and pressing the trigger again, would be 10 seconds.

Taser International officials said it would be too problematic to reprogram the thousands of X26s that were already in use, said Maj. Paul Henderson, Fort Worth police chief of staff. However, Halstead's ideas were incorporated into the new X2 and X3, a three-shot device.

"We did add a five-second cutoff and an audible alert to the X2," said Steve Tuttle, Taser International vice president of communications. "Chief Halstead was a thought leader on this issue and helped us develop this safety improvement."

Another new feature is the ability to discharge the device at two targets without reloading -- if an officer misses, for example, or the darts make an incomplete connection.

While Halstead's lobbying may have been persuasive, another factor in the company's decision may have been potential liability. In July, a jury in the North Carolina case found Taser International at fault, awarding the teen's family $10 million. Jacobs' family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the police and Fort Worth. Without admitting fault, the city settled in 2010 for $2 million, far more than the city had ever paid in a wrongful-death suit.

Amnesty International has recorded 500 conducted energy device deaths in the United States since 2001, with the largest number (92) in California, followed by Florida (65) and Texas (37).

Creative and patient

The Fort Worth police department, which employs about 1,500 sworn officers, has more than 1,200 X26 Tasers on hand. But while the older Tasers do not meet the needs of the Fort Worth department or other police departments nationwide, budget constraints meant there was no money for the new technology, Halstead said.

Taser International reached a deal with Fort Worth that gave the city a 30 percent discount and allowed it to pay for the X2 over time, Halstead said. That let the city get the new Tasers without large upfront expenditures, he said.

"The economy is hurting us right now," Halstead said. "We are just having to be a little more creative and a little more patient in how we bring these innovations to our city."

This year, the city budget shows that Fort Worth will spend $80,930 -- nearly $16,000 more than last year -- for Taser replacement.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Chicago Police Department, the Houston Police Department and the Woodbury, Minn., Police Department have all purchased the X2, according to Taser International.

Even with the safeguards, controversy continues over use of the Tasers.

According to Fort Worth police figures, Tasers were used 1,841 times by officers between 2005 and 2010, and in two-thirds of the incidents where someone was arrested, they were used with minorities. Since 2001, five people in Fort Worth police custody have died after a Taser shock

The Rev. Kyev Tatum, president of the Tarrant County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, continues to call for a moratorium on the devices, which he equates to instruments of torture.

"Tasers promote lazy policing by officers who are not well-trained or well-supervised," Tatum said. "Police used to take pride in de-escalating a situation. Now, it seems police are creating tensions that escalate situations. We still think Tasers are unconstitutional. And we know that black and brown people are the ones most likely to be Tased."

Marcus Hardin, grandfather of Marcus Swiat, once an advocate of banning Tasers, said he has given up that fight. Hardin's grandson was shocked eight times by a police officer with a Taser on May 24, 2008, according to testimony during his trial on charges of resisting arrest, where he was found not guilty. A municipal judge dismissed a public intoxication charge against Swiat that arose from the same incident in downtown Fort Worth. The fight to ban Tasers was a losing proposition void of a platform to make his case, Hardin said.

"This is an improvement," Hardin said of the X2. "And I'm all for improvement."

Taser use increases, questions arise

November 10, 2011
CBS News

A National Institute of Justice study concludes some police are going to their tasers to subdue suspects "way too fast," causing unnecessary pain and, in some cases, death. Correspondent David Martin takes a look at the hottest new tool in the police officer's belt that is now being used by 16,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Martin's report will be broadcast on "60 Minutes" Sunday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Geoffrey Alpert, professor at the University South Carolina's Criminology and Criminal Justice Department, wrote the study. He says the infamous incident of the "Don't tase me bro" Florida college student is the perfect example of a taser-happy police officer. "If those officers couldn't control him without using a taser, they need to be retrained...to be disciplined," he tells Martin. "Some are using them way too fast."

In another incident, also caught on videotape like the Florida student's, a disgruntled employee of a supermarket died after being hit with a taser - an extremely rare occurrence. In this case, however, the police officer can be seen on the videotape with his taser drawn before he even encounters the suspect. A jury awarded the man's family $10 million in a case TASER International is appealing.

The Las Vegas Police Department was among the first to employ the taser. Officers there used the weapon twice as much in 2004 as they do now. Marcus Martin, the department's taser trainer, agrees that officers may have used their taser too quickly early on. "But that's the same with any tool that comes along...we have to go back and train that out of those officers," says Marcus, who has full faith in the taser. "It's changed the face of police work forever."

Approximately 500,000 officers in the U.S. carry a taser. Nearly one and a half million suspects have been tased by authorities and of that amount, 485 have died afterwards. But TASER International claims that only 20 of those could be argued to have been caused directly by the weapon; the rest were linked to other causes, like cocaine intoxication, the company says.

Since tasers came into use, the number of suspects brought to the hospital after their arrest has been down each year. Fewer officers are injured making arrests also. Says Marcus, "The truth...this person is alive today and that person is alive today or this police officer is not harmed today, because of this less-than-lethal device."

Some neighbors want crosses representing Taser victims to be dismantled

August 6, 2010
By Mitch Mitchell, Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH -- Each of more than 450 crosses outside New Mount Calvary Baptist Church represents a person who was killed by a shock from a Taser, according to a sign announcing the National Taser Memorial.

Some people who live nearby said it looks more like a cemetery. And they want it dismantled.

City code compliance officers who visited this week left without issuing the church or its pastor a citation, a city official said.

Highland Hills Neighborhood Association members acknowledge that the city may be restricted in regulating the number of crosses that a church can have on its property, but still, they want their objections noted.

"I don't think that our neighborhood should have something in it that looks like a national cemetery," said Laura Meeks, beautification chairwoman and past president of the association.

"It really does not say anything good about our neighborhood."

The memorial was established in January at the church in the 5800 block of Oak Grove Road in far south Fort Worth. A large cross bears the name of Michael Jacobs Jr., a mentally challenged man who died in April 2009 after a Fort Worth police officer used a Taser on him for nearly a minute.

The city of Fort Worth settled a lawsuit with the Jacobs family for $2 million in May after the Tarrant County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.

"I really think the big boys downtown do not want this symbol of the $2 million settlement that they had to pay to remain," the Rev. Thomas Franklin, pastor of New Mount Calvary, said Friday.

But Eunice Givens, president of the neighborhood association, said neighbors object to the clutter the memorial brings to the neighborhood.

"We are trying to clean the community up," she said. "We are out here trying to encourage folks to keep their community clean. And instead of [Franklin] trying to improve the community, he's adding something that takes away from our efforts.

"If he was concerned about others in this community, he would never have put it up. It creates a bad image for our community."

Franklin said that in Louisiana, where he is from, members got a burial plot when they joined a church. The memorial is neat and the grass is cut, he said.

"There are almost 500 people who have been tortured to death by Taser devices, not counting the ones who have been wounded," Franklin said.

"This is our way of showing our respect for those families and showing that someone really cares."

Kyev Tatum, president of the Tarrant County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who helped create the memorial, said the Police Department makes the point that Tasers save lives, but the memorial shows that Tasers kill people.

"The memorial makes such a powerful statement," Tatum said.

EDITORIAL: Tinkering with the Taser's trigger

June 4, 2010
Bob Ray Sanders, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

The brand name Taser, manufacturer of the world's most popular electronic control device, is very much a part of the English lexicon today -- so much so that it is often used as a verb.

The "stun gun" products bearing that name consist of different models that deploy probes, from as far away as 35 feet, that can be discharged and emit 50,000 volts of electricity, usually disabling an individual in an instant.

The Taser is marketed as a nonlethal weapon that can help defuse disruptive situations and save the lives of both the user and the person who literally is being shocked into compliance.

Taser International, headquartered in Arizona, reports on its website that more than 15,000 public safety agencies in 40 countries rely on its devices "to help protect and serve."

The Fort Worth Police Department has more than 1,300 of the Taser X26 model and has deployed the weapons more than 1,350 times. Most officers insist that lives were saved because, in many cases, police would have had to use their firearms if the Taser were not available.

For four individuals in Fort Worth, and more than 345 elsewhere, the Taser didn't save lives. It reportedly contributed to their deaths.

Last month, the Fort Worth City Council voted to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Michel Patrick Jacobs Jr., a 24-year-old mental patient. Jacobs, who was 5-foot-5 and 140 pounds, died April 18, 2009, after being shocked twice with a Taser by a Fort Worth police officer. His parents had called police because he had become aggressive, a behavior that would occur when he was not taking his medication.

The financial settlement was the largest offer the city has ever made in a death or injury case. A federal judge is expected to approve the agreement in the next 30 to 45 days, according to Jacobs family attorney Brian Eberstein.

Jacobs' death was ruled a homicide by Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani, who found that the initial shock to the body lasted 49 seconds because the officer kept her finger on the trigger. The Taser is designed to have a five-second deployment after a single click of the trigger but continues discharging if the trigger is held down. A second shock to Jacobs lasted five seconds.

I've called for a moratorium on Taser use until there can be a lot more independent study of the device and a lot more training by police officers.

That moratorium is not going to happen, but police are receiving more training about how to use the Taser and how to deal with mentally ill people.

But Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead is pursuing a plan that just might save other lives when Tasers are used. This revelation came in a recent meeting with the Star-Telegram Editorial Board.

Without talking about the Jacobs case specifically -- "because it is not final" -- the chief said he approached Taser International officials last October about modifying the device. During a meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Denver, Halstead said he proposed the Taser X26 be programmed so that the maximum duration of a shock, without releasing and pressing the trigger again, would be 10 seconds.

In other words, even in the case of a highly tense situation in which an officer continues pressing the trigger, the stun device would stop after 10 seconds. The trigger would have to be pulled again to cause an additional shock.

Last week, Halstead said through his chief of staff Lt. Paul Henderson that altering the device with a 10-second maximum shock "could reduce the risk of any potential complications caused by longer applications and reduce the risk of civil liability."

In rejecting his idea last year, Taser officials cited other possible liability issues if the company changed the weapon as suggested and said they would have to discuss the issue with their legal counsel, Halstead told the Editorial Board.

The chief's recommendation sounds not only reasonable and plausible, but prudent. I can't understand why Taser couldn't oblige him.

Halstead isn't giving up, he said. He plans a campaign, first by initiating conversations with chiefs of other major cities in Texas, and by raising the topic at the October meeting of the association of chiefs in Orlando.

With the widespread use of Tasers and the growing number of departments that are purchasing them, one would think any safeguard that could be applied would be taken under consideration by the manufacturer. Maybe it is, but we don't know that.

In my opinion, the stun gun is overused by officers, and often in situations where they would not have used a firearm if the Taser were not at their disposal. In the four fatal cases in Fort Worth, for example, I find it hard to believe that police would have shot these unarmed people, including a woman who was handcuffed.

But I've lost the argument for halting the use of Tasers in Fort Worth, so the next best thing is finding ways to prevent its misuse.

The police chief has offered a plan that might save lives. It's now up to the folks at Taser to make a move.

Another Nail in the Coffin of TASER

OHCHR-UNOG
Committee against Torture
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone Number (41-22) 917-9000
Fax Number (41-22) 917-9006
E-mail to urgent-action@ohchr.org

Another Nail in the Coffin of TASER
By Eddie Griffin
Wednesday, May 19, 2010

When the Fort Worth City Council voted on Tuesday to accept a $2 million settlement in the Taser related death of Michael Jacobs Jr., they cast down their eyes and droop their heads in painful sorrow of this salt in the wound. They wanted to say as little as possible to stir the winds. She was a City eager to heal and move on.

Yet the City would not concede liability into the young man’s death. Maybe, to do so, would expose her to more similar lawsuits. After all, there have been five taser related deaths in the past five years. For to be culpable in one, infers guilt in the other.

Fort Worth Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks spoke for the City and for the community, declaring now to be the time to begin the healing process.

An exhausted pastor, Kyev Tatum, who has led the mass public awareness campaign which gained national and international attention, sighed with some relief that this part of the battle against tasers was over. Tomorrow, he would take up the matter of the Arlington Police Department and its plan to purchase 300 more stun guns. By no means, for him, was the war over.

Pastor Tatum was drawn into the taser controversy when the Jacobs family called out for help. The Fort Worth Police Department had electrocuted the son of Charlotte and Michael Sr., with a 50,000-volt taser, and nobody was saying anything, not even a word of regret or sympathy. There was no explanation from the police department as to why the officer engaged the weapon for a full 54 seconds upon a young man with mental problems. And, no city leader was willing to condemn the officer without all the facts.

The City was silent and complacent and its populous impervious. Michael Jacobs, Jr. was on his way to becoming just another silent statistic in a string of taser related deaths.

Tatum organized a local chapter of the Southern Leadership Conference (SCLC) and pulled together coalition of other civil rights organizations, including NAACP, LULAC, ACLU, and community activists. The community coalition called for an investigation, and to make the results public.

The medical examiner, upon finding no contributory causes such as drugs or alcohol in Jacobs’ system, declared his death a homicide. But the police department refused to dismiss the officer, and the grand jury refused to indict. There was no recourse except to seek redress by civil suit; otherwise, no one would be accountable for the death of an innocent, mentally challenged young man.

The $2 million settlement is a small penance to pay for a human life, though the largest in city history, but it may pave the way for reconciliation. The Fort Worth Police Department plans to meet with Pastor Tatum and other ministers to “begin the healing process”, and discuss strategies for better policing in the community. There will continue to be disagreement, however, on the usefulness of tasers and their lethality.

There is an axiom here: As the death count rises, the cost of using tasers will go up.

Although the manufacturer of the weapon, TASER International, has been sued over 100 times, it remains largely unscathed. They sell the instruments based upon its claim of non-lethality, and leave municipalities to pay the cost of wrongful deaths.

“Tasers are not only deadly”, Tatum declares. “They are torture.”

Officer Stephanie Phillips did not know that when she continuously engaged the trigger of her taser that 50,000 volts of electricity continued to course through the body of Michael Jacobs Jr., and that she was inadvertently frying him alive, from the inside out. No one ever told her the weapon was lethal. She was never trained to “disengage” the electrodes before electrocuting the subject. Maybe this is why the Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict her. And, she did not violate department policies by using her own discretion to deploy.

Hindsight is 20/20, and many people wish that certain events could be undone. Had the officer known the deadliness of the weapon, she would have ceased engagement. This being the premise, a Star-Telegram editorial emphasized “better training” as a resolution to taser death.

Not so. Teaching an officer how to use discretion in the field, when deploying the weapon, is no guarantee against abuse, nor does it mitigate the fact that the taser itself is an implement of torture. But proving torture, on the other hand, is much harder than proving the cause of death. By its very definition, a torturous act must be one that horrifies the social consciousness of humanity. And yet we, as a nation, have been conditioned into accepting the Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) as non-lethal and harmless.

We discount the fact that they have been used on pregnant women such as Valreca Redden and claimed the life of the 6-month unborn child of Hannah Rogers-Grippi, that they have been used on senior citizens in their 70s and 80s, against the wheel-chair bound and mentally ill, and that the death count in the U.S.A. and Canada now stands at 481.

What is more, there is now mounting evidence that tasers cause serious and permanent injuries. A young victim is tasered over a minor incident, falls flat on his face, unable to catch himself, and breaks out his front teeth. He sues and wins. And, it has been reported, that those who have been tasered and survived, have “never been the same” since, having suffered neurological brain damages.

These are the risks, and no one is without fair warning.

[Post Note- The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice is soliciting "Alternatives to Conducted Energy Less-Lethal Devices", to wit Tasers (R)]

The handwriting is on the wall: The days of tasers are coming to an end.


http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/2010/05/another-nail-in-coffin-of-taser.html

City settles for $2 million over man's death

May 18, 2010
By ANGELA K. BROWN / Associated Press

The Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a $2 million settlement with the family of a mentally ill man whose death after police used a Taser to subdue him was ruled a homicide.

The officer who used the Taser was not disciplined by the department or indicted, and the city admits no wrongdoing in the settlement deal with relatives of Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr.

"From the onset of the tragedy, so many lives have been impacted ... but not any more so than this young man and his still grieving family," said City Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks, adding that the council and police "care deeply."

"Hopefully with this settlement, which will avoid a long trial, we as a city can begin the process of reconciliation and dialogue," she said.

Jacobs' family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, which doesn't limit the amount a city could be forced to pay, unlike cases filed in state court.

The lawsuit was never about money but about holding the police accountable, and the family now wants to move forward, said the Rev. Kyev Tatum, a Jacobs family spokesman.

"We think this will bring the family some relief, but there's no dollar amount (for someone's life)," Tatum said Tuesday after the council's vote. "It sends a message ... that the city of Fort Worth is taking a giant step forward."

He said his group, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, is still working to stop all law enforcement agencies from using Tasers. He said Taser guns should not be used under any circumstance, and that police instead should be trained in other methods of subduing mentally ill suspects — and should use deadly force only if an officer's life is threatened.

Police Chief Jeff Halstead declined to comment Tuesday. Last fall he said his officers still used Tasers and would receive more training on use-of-force and handling situations with mentally ill or emotionally disturbed suspects.

Police Lt. Paul Henderson said Tuesday that officers have already begun that training.

On that day about a year ago, Jacobs' family called police to their Fort Worth home to report a disturbance and said the 24-year-old had not taken his medication for bipolar disorder.

Although a Taser is designed to deliver a 5-second charge of up to 50,000 volts of electricity, Jacobs was shocked for 49 seconds and then for 5 seconds, according to the autopsy report.

An autopsy concluded that the primary cause of death was "sudden death during neuromuscular incapacitation due to application of a conducted energy device." No traces of alcohol or drugs, electrolyte imbalances, or signs of heart or lung disease were found — all of which can be contributing factors in a death.

Fort Worth offering $2 million to family of Taser victim

May 14, 2010
Mike Lee, Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH -- The city of Fort Worth has offered $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who was killed with a Taser during a confrontation with police last year.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on the settlement Tuesday, according to an agenda posted online.

Michael Patrick Jacobs died April 18, 2009, after he was shocked for 54 seconds.

Jacobs, 24, had a history of mental illness and his family called police because he was behaving aggressively.

Three officers arrived and said he refused to calm down. An investigation showed that Jacobs was moving toward the officers when he was shocked, although he was unarmed and never struck them.

The officer who used the Taser said she inadvertently held down the trigger the first time she shocked Jacobs, for 49 seconds. She shocked him again for five seconds.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Jacobs' death a homicide, but the officers were cleared by a police investigation.

A Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict the officers.

The confrontation happened in front of Jacobs' parents home, with family members watching.

His parents and other relatives sued the city, alleging that the officers were improperly trained and used excessive force. The city claimed that it was immune from the suit.

In April, U.S. District Judge Terry Means ordered the city and the Jacobs family to meet with a mediator. The city has not admitted liability.

Letter to the President of the United States

To: President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC, USA 20500

Subject 21st Century Electronic Lynching

Mr. President,

This letter was written to express the protests of concerned Individuals, Civil Rights Organizations and activists who complain that our civil rights have been so eroded that it is now acceptable Police policy to use cruel and unusual punishment on a Citizen without due process of law. We the undersigned Citizens, Citizen Groups and Civil Rights Organizations, protest that the 4th, 8th, and 14th amendments of the constitution are being systematically violated by Police Officers using electronic torture devices on Citizens and non-Citizens.

Representatives of the company that manufacturers electronic torture devices lied to Police Officials when they told them that the devices had been tested and were found to be non-lethal. They bragged instead about the excruciating agony and terror caused by their use. It is impossible for the manufacturer to have tested these electronic torture devices with electrodes shot at different depths under a victims skin, and in all possible places on the human body, and for the extended times experienced in the field, also they could not have tested the devices on victims with various medical, physical and mental conditions. Had this happened there would have been many deaths of the test subjects. Instead, the company in effect used Police Officers as lab assistants and the public as lab rats for their tests, then they harvest Para-Medic and Medical Examiners Reports all for free. They scammed an all too willing law enforcement community with half truths and outright lies. The best estimate that we can find to date indicates that thousands of victims have suffered cruel and unusual punishment and 476 victims were tortured and died after being electrocuted with an electronic torture device in the US and Canada. Medical records prove many victims suffer neurological damages after being electrocuted with an electronic torture device by a Police Officer.

Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr., a bipolar 24-year-old black youth, who needed medical attention was tortured for 54 seconds with 50,000 volt electrodes shot into his neck and chest. He was not a criminal. His 21st Century Electronic Lynching was declared a homicide by the Tarrant County, Tx. Medical Examiner. After his taser torture death the taser manufacturer sent bulletins to all Police departments to direct Officers not to shoot a victim in the chest area to avoid causing cardiac arrest. This was after 12 years of vehemently denying that tasers could be lethal and after 424 prior taser related torture deaths. The inaccuracy of the devices gives Police Officers little control over where they will be shot into the flesh of a victim so each use is playing Russian Roulette with a victims life.

Mr. President, there is no more cruel and unusual punishment than being slowly electrocuted with 50,000 volts of electricity delivered under the skin. Please take the time to count down 54 seconds to understand just how long Michael Jacobs and thousands of others have suffered the agony of electrocution. The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that the 4 seconds of agony suffered by a convicted felon, before death occurred in the electric chair, was cruel and unusual punishment, and unconstitutional. Electrocution has been abandoned as a means of execution. Michael Jacobs who was convicted of nothing, cruelly and senselessly suffered the agony of being electrocuted with over 20 times the voltage (and pain) used in the electric chair, with a 50,000 volt barb shot into his neck and chest, for 13.5 times longer than a convicted criminal had to suffer in the chair before death happened. He suffered 54 seconds of agony before his young healthy heart was caused to fail. He is survived by two Fatherless Children and a grieving Mother and Father who blame themselves for calling for help to medicate their son and got him tased, tortured to death instead. Michael Patrick Jacobs Sr. wishes the Police had shot his son in the leg instead of torturing to him death. He said "at least he would still be alive." Google his name for the full story.

The complete Michael Patrick Jacobs Junior test is readily available to anyone who doubts that being tased for 54 seconds is cruel and unusual punishment and torture. Ft Worth, Texas has a Police Officer that is expert in administering it.

The 9th District Court made the ruling this past September that a taser could only be used when an Officer's life or the life of someone else was in danger. Police Officers train and by instinct do not use a taser in a life threatening situation, they use a lethal weapon just as they trained for and always have. This is backed by FBI records and we agree that a Police Officer is justified in using lethal force in defense of his life or to prevent harm of an innocent life. That said, any time a Government Official intentionally takes a citizen's life that act must be investigated and evaluated as to it's constitutional validity. In the 9th District Court ruling, the Judge declared that the use of electronic torture devices (tasers) causes severe pain and terror. By the very definition, severe pain and terror constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The United Nations declared that the use of a taser against a victim is "a potentially lethal form of torture".

After the famous case of the Polish immigrant who was tortured to death in a Vancouver, British Columbia airport for failing to comply with police orders, the Canadian government made the ruling that tasers could only be used in life threatening situations. Again Police Officers do not use tasers in life threatening situations. On the news this evening a Police Officer shot a Pit Bull that was attacking him. He didn't use his taser.

The use of water boarding on terrorists was condemned by you, and high ranking members of The Democratic Party, as torture while it was being done on George Bush's watch and water-boarding produces no physical pain and is mild compared to electrocution with 50,000 volts of electricity under the skin. Our troops are sacrificing their lives every day for the avowed purpose of eliminating the use of torture and terror by our enemies while torture and terror is being inflicted on our own Citizens daily by Police Officers, without due process of law. No one is fighting for these tortured, terrorized Citizens. 41 percent of the torture deaths resulting from taser use in 2009 were black men and boys.

Mr. President, an 84 year old Grandmother and 10 year old children have been tortured with a taser by Police. One little 10 year old child was taser tortured in her home by an Arkansas Police officer because she refused to take a shower before bed time. Tear down this wall and end this terrible atrocity. 84 year old Grandmothers should not be made to live in fear and cringe each time they see a Police Officer. Be the President that is remembered in history as the President that ended barbaric torture and terror in the USA. Set the standard for all the world and issue an executive order outlawing the use of torture of any kind and especially electrical torture. Outlaw the possession, manufacture, sale, and/or use of electrical torture devices in the USA by anyone, including Police Officers, our Military and the CIA here and abroad. Return the dignity and respect to this Nation that we once had.

Signed
Kyev Tatum SCLC President
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Texas
sclctarrantcounty@yahoo.com
kyevtatum@yahoo.com

Signed
Hector Carrillo LULAC District Director
League of United Latin American Citizens
hcarrillo29@hotmail.com

Signed
Deryl Muhammad--Representative
Nation of Islam
derylmuhammad@yahoo.com

Signed
Drew X
Chairman New Black Panther Party
drewx2003@yahoo.com

Signed
Tom Franklin
Pastor New Mt. Calvary Baptist Church
The Taser-Torture-Death Memorial Site
frenklinart@aol.com

Signed
Marcus Hardin SCLC Texas
Strategist, Researcher, Historian
mhardin104@aol.com
http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/

Signed
Friendship Rock Missionary Baptist
A. Scott Harper
asharper35@yahoo.com

Signed
Eddie Griffin (BASG)
eddiegriffin_basg@yahoo.com
http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/

Signed
Julie Walker
Prevent Dangerous Harm Inc.
jwalker@preventdangerousharm.com
www.preventdangerousharm.com

Taser National Memorial in memory of Michael Jacobs Jr., Fort Worth, Texas

Thank you to Marcus Hardin of Fort Worth, Texas for the awesome photos and the following guestbook message:

We have built a National Memorial in Ft Worth Texas for the 473 victims who were tortured and died after being electrocuted with a taser. They are each represented by 473 white crosses laid out in military burial style. The main sign says Taser / Torture / Death / NATIONAL MEMORIAL / All races and Religions.

A name list is on the back of the main sign. This Memorial was built by 73 year old Pastor Tom Franklin who said "I just couldn't sit by while people were being tortured with the cruel and unusual punishment of having 50,000 volt wires shot one half inch under the skin. He also said "maybe I can't prove that a taser killed all of the people represented here but I can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were tortured. He said "I can't imagine a more cruel and unusual punishment than having a taser barb in the neck and chest and being electrocuted for fifty four screaming agonizing seconds."

That is what happened to Michael Patrick Jacobs Junior here in Ft Worth, Tx. and is what gave Reverend Franklin the idea to construct the memorial for all taser victims in Michael Jacobs's name.

Not in Vain

February 17, 2010
Peter Gorman, Fort Worth Weekly

The parents of Michael Jacobs Jr., killed last April by a Fort Worth police officer wielding a Taser, have never been satisfied with the police department's handling of their son's case. But now, they believe, something good may have come from his death.

Local black and Hispanic leaders announced this week that a historic coalition of black and Hispanic groups has been formed to promote human and civil rights in North Texas. The coalition includes the Fort Worth branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. It is the first time the three groups have formally come together anywhere in the country.

"We have worked together on isolated issues before," said Hector Carrillo, director of LULAC's 21st district, which includes Tarrant, Parker, Johnson, and Wise counties. "But we've never come together like this, to develop strategies that will aim to effect changes in governmental policies. And the killing of Michael Jacobs was the spark that we rallied around to develop this coalition."

Jacobs suffered from a bipolar disorder. The 24-year-old black man was tasered by a police officer responding to a call by his father, Michael Jacobs Sr. Police had been called to the house before, when the younger Jacobs got off of his medications. This time, when Jacobs refused to get into a police car, the officer fired her Taser, hitting him in the neck and keeping the trigger down for 49 seconds. According to official statements, she said she had not meant to keep the trigger down on the 50,000 volts of electricity. But after releasing the trigger, she hit him again with a five-second blast.

Jacobs began having difficulty breathing and died a short time later. Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani ruled the death a homicide and listed the cause as "sudden death ... due to application of a conducted energy device."

Despite the ruling, a grand jury declined to indict the officer. And Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead did not punish the officer. Civil rights leaders were outraged.

"That must have been the first time in the history of Tarrant County that a ruling of homicide did not result in an indictment," said the Rev. Kyev Tatum, president of the Fort Worth branch of the SCLC. "And it was not just the failure to indict or dismiss the police officer that got to us," said Tatum. "It was the way the city of Fort Worth and the police department acted toward the Jacobs family.

"They showed no compassion. Here a mentally challenged young man who was unarmed and no danger to anyone was shot and killed with a 54-second jolt of electricity, and no one has even said they're sorry. Michael Vick went to jail for electrocuting dogs, and people went crazy over that. But we allow police to electrocute people. Something is not right with that picture, not in a civilized society."

The grand jury decision led to a protest, which included the Rev. Tom Franklin of the New Mount Calvary Baptist Church in southeast Fort Worth. Franklin had been upset about the widespread use of Tasers in Fort Worth and across the country but didn't know what to do about it.

"I wanted the Jacobs family to have closure, and I wanted people to remember that death," he said. After the protest, Franklin returned to his church and wrote Michael Jacobs' name on a cross he'd made that was used in services. Not long afterward, he planted it on church grounds. Behind it, he began putting foot-tall white wooden crosses in memory of Jacobs and others who have died after having been tasered.

Marcus Hardin met Franklin through Tatum. Hardin's grandson, Marcus Swiat, had been tasered for 40 seconds after a vicious beating by Fort Worth police officers in 2007 - all of which was caught on videotape and led to Swiat being found not guilty of charges of assaulting a police officer and public intoxication. When Hardin saw the Taser memorial that Franklin had begun, he decided to help make it into a national memorial. Together, Hardin and Franklin began making crosses to represent all the people in this country who have died after being tasered. When they started in late 2009, the number was 465; the memorial is now up to 471 crosses.

"The fact is that tasering is torture," Hardin said. "I was an electrical contractor for 40 years, so I know what electricity feels like. And anyone who says being hit by 50,000 volts of electricity is not torture is lying."

Hardin became good friends with Tatum and got to know Carrillo as well. It was Hardin who suggested that their voices would be stronger if they worked together in trying to get Tasers banned in Fort Worth. And they would be stronger still if they could get the NAACP to join with them.

"Now that they've signed that agreement to work together, politicians won't be able to ignore them,." Hardin said. "They represent too many voters."

Banning the use of Tasers by the Fort Worth Police Department is the first goal of the new coalition. And a recent ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals might go a long way toward seeing that goal become a reality.

The ruling was handed down in December by a federal appeals court in California. The case was based on an incident in which a Coronado, Calif., police officer tasered an unarmed, emotionally troubled man who was not posing a threat to anyone. The man, Carl Bryan, fell face first on the pavement, shattering four of his front teeth.

Bryan sued the officer, the Coronado Police Department, and the city, alleging that the excessive force violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The trial court ruled in Bryan's favor, and the appellate court agreed.

The ruling, if it is affirmed and adopted by other courts, would make individual police officers, their departments, and the governing bodies that employ them responsible for injuries sustained by people who have been tasered. It is expected to set a precedent that could force police agencies to revise their policies on the use of Tasers.

"We're hoping that ruling either gets Tasers banned in Fort Worth or limits their use to life-and-death situations," said Hardin, who has vowed to his grandson that if he lives long enough (he's 80), he will put Taser International out of business.

"Brother Hardin is right," said Tatum. "Tasers are torture, and torture has no place in a democracy."

The new coalition may take on other civil-rights related causes as well.

"We will be working toward civil rights and human rights," said Nehemiah Davis, president of the Fort Worth branch of the NAACP. "And we will be working at voter registration and getting out the vote. As you know, any politician will pay attention to anyone who can produce a good amount of votes."

Carrillo said the coalition will also work "on institutional racism, on immigration protocols, on the incarceration of illegals, on civil rights. There are so many issues that negatively affect the black and brown populations, not just here in Fort Worth but all over the country."

At the news conference on Monday at which the coalition agreement was announced, Tatum added issues such as education, economic development, and the quality of schools in minority neighborhoods to the list. "We come together because of common pain," he said. "The African-American community can empathize with the Latin community on the issue of racism."

"We want to serve as the example for the state and the country, to show that these groups can find meaningful ways to work together" to support public policies "that encourage respect for human dignity regardless of race or religion," Tatum told Fort Worth Weekly.

Michael Jacobs Sr. said he hopes the coalition can bring about some much-needed changes. "I only wish my son didn't have to die for that good thing to have happened," he said.

"They keep telling people that Tasers are less lethal than guns," he said. "Now my son wasn't doing anything to anyone when they killed him. But if that officer thought, for whatever reason, that she needed to use force on him, I wish she would have just shot him in the leg with a gun. If she had, he'd still be here."

EDITORIAL: Did Taser shocks kill Fort Worth’s Michael Jacobs?

September 2, 2009
Fort Worth Star Telegram

It’s been more than four months since 24-year-old Michael Jacobs died after a struggle with Fort Worth police. By now, the people of this city should have a better idea than they do about how that happened.

They know that police Cpl. Stephanie A. Phillips shocked Jacobs twice with a Taser on April 18 when he was causing a disturbance at his home on Ava Court Drive. A Taser is a device that fires two small darts connected by thin wires to a hand-held unit. It is designed to deliver an electrical charge powerful enough to cause disabling muscle contractions without being fatal.

They know that an hour after those shocks, Jacobs was declared dead in the emergency room of John Peter Smith Hospital.

They know that Tarrant County Chief Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani last week ruled the death a homicide caused by the Taser shocks.

Not possible, says the maker of the device, Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz. On its Web site, the company presents links to more than four dozen national and international scientific studies to back up its claim.

It is possible, says Peerwani, and it happened.

That’s a very big deal, in many ways.

Jacobs died after Fort Worth police officers tried to calm him down and take him into custody. That is a tragedy for his family and for the city.

The medical examiner has implicated one of those officers, Phillips, in a homicide. That’s devastating to any peace officer dedicated to protecting and defending the residents of any city. It must be assumed that she is so dedicated.

Jacobs’ death has shaken confidence in the Fort Worth Police Department and its new chief, Jeff Halstead. If it can be blamed on improper training, faulty equipment or hazardous acts by an officer, so much the worse.

Finally, if the Taser definitively is linked to a death — notably, this one, in which the medical examiner has said factors such as drug use or other underlying medical conditions were not a factor — it will affect hundreds of other police departments that use Tasers as a step short of deadly force.

Taser use has been controversial in several communities across the nation. Opponents have said the device is more dangerous than the police and the company that produces it admit, and it is used too often.

Peerwani’s autopsy report and ruling do not provide affirmative evidence about how he reached his conclusion that Jacobs’ death was due to the Taser shocks. The report rules out several other possible causes, but the link to the Taser shocks is simply stated without evidence.

Peerwani says that he has "a very large comment" to make about how the Taser caused Jacobs’ death, but he declined to talk about it with a member of the Star-Telegram Editorial Board. He said he has delivered that comment in a separate report to the district attorney’s office, and that report has not been made public.

The district attorney’s office has said that the Jacobs case will be presented to a grand jury.

It is not good enough for the people of Fort Worth that the county’s chief medical examiner will not discuss how he reached his conclusion to connect a police officer to a homicide.

Peerwani has held that job for 30 years. He is highly credible, a well-known person in his field. His evidence and his opinion in this case should be shared with the people of this city, not just the people at the courthouse.

And the people of Fort Worth have waited long enough.

Texas Man Dead After Police Use Taser

Michael Jacobs Jr., 24, Fort Worth, Texas - UNARMED - died on April 18, 2009