2008 Woodie Awards
Taser related deaths should be preventable
Patrick Laughlin
Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: Opinion
Reading CNN's report on Iman Morales' death at the hands of the New York City Police two weeks ago gave me mingled feelings of both regret and déjà vu.
Morales fell to his death September 24th after being tasered by an NYPD officer in Brooklyn, New York. The 35-year-old man, both naked and apparently far from a normal state of mind, was waving an eight-foot fluorescent light bulb at the officers responding to the incident. Morales stood atop a narrow building ledge ten feet above the ground when Lieutenant Michael Pigott gave the order to taser him.
The tragedy turned a new corner when Pigott allegedly killed himself Thursday.
It took me a few minutes to realize this incident was shockingly similar in many ways to another taser death that took place in Louisiana last January.
MSNBC reported that charges were being pressed on former police officer Scott Nugent for the death of a man in handcuffs after being tasered nine times. I knew immediately why the New York taser incident brought back memories of this one. Sure, both conflicts resulted in the death of the suspects whom police were trying to subdue, but I think what links the two is a lack of responsibility by both police response teams.
Before delving into this further, I will say that my commentary on the topic is the essence of an armchair judgment. I know that
I have no concept of the challenges that men and women behind the badge must face on a daily basis. These challenges were exhausting enough to drive Lt. Pigott, sadly, to take his own life. The badge they wear is a heavy one, to invoke a cliché.
But I could not help noticing a void of common sense in both situations. An eight-foot long glass rod is surely a weapon, but it is only dangerous once. After it had broken, Morales would have been left, quite literally, with his pants down--a danger to only himself. An officer could have ensured the bulb was smashed with little difficulty.
CNN reported that an inflatable bag was en route, but didn't make it in time. If the situation needed immediate action, surely a vehicle or some other object at hand could have been used to cut a few feet from the fall. The conflict was definitely a complicated one, but from my unprofessional perspective, still navigable.
Morales fell to his death September 24th after being tasered by an NYPD officer in Brooklyn, New York. The 35-year-old man, both naked and apparently far from a normal state of mind, was waving an eight-foot fluorescent light bulb at the officers responding to the incident. Morales stood atop a narrow building ledge ten feet above the ground when Lieutenant Michael Pigott gave the order to taser him.
The tragedy turned a new corner when Pigott allegedly killed himself Thursday.
It took me a few minutes to realize this incident was shockingly similar in many ways to another taser death that took place in Louisiana last January.
MSNBC reported that charges were being pressed on former police officer Scott Nugent for the death of a man in handcuffs after being tasered nine times. I knew immediately why the New York taser incident brought back memories of this one. Sure, both conflicts resulted in the death of the suspects whom police were trying to subdue, but I think what links the two is a lack of responsibility by both police response teams.
Before delving into this further, I will say that my commentary on the topic is the essence of an armchair judgment. I know that
I have no concept of the challenges that men and women behind the badge must face on a daily basis. These challenges were exhausting enough to drive Lt. Pigott, sadly, to take his own life. The badge they wear is a heavy one, to invoke a cliché.
But I could not help noticing a void of common sense in both situations. An eight-foot long glass rod is surely a weapon, but it is only dangerous once. After it had broken, Morales would have been left, quite literally, with his pants down--a danger to only himself. An officer could have ensured the bulb was smashed with little difficulty.
CNN reported that an inflatable bag was en route, but didn't make it in time. If the situation needed immediate action, surely a vehicle or some other object at hand could have been used to cut a few feet from the fall. The conflict was definitely a complicated one, but from my unprofessional perspective, still navigable.
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