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.

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.

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.