Another Thursday, another six-figure taser abuse settlement.
The Spokesman-Review, October 8, 2009 [LINK]
A Spokane County reserve fund will pay some $112,000 to Spirit Creager who was shocked three times with a Taser by Deputy Chad Ruff during a traffic stop in 2005. ... The county's risk management reserve fund will also pay $25,000 to Creager's teenage son who witnessed the... electro-torture. (h/t to It All Goes Here blog: [LINK])
Reading the entire story reveals that this was one of those incidents that would fit squarely into what some would promote as normal taser usage. It was certainly abusive, but not one of those incidents where it is obviously sadistic torture.
On a scale of 1-to-10, this incident was perhaps about a 6 (a guess based on limited information).
Decision makers and political leaders should take note. You either update your taser use policies, or be prepared to issue settlement checks that are now firmly in the six-figure range.
And with the half-decade latency of such proceedings (this incident happened in 2005), the trend from five-figures to six-figures can be expected to continue towards seven-figures.
You have a brain - use it.
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