Columbia Tribune - The Columbia city Finance Department agreed last month to pay $300,000 to 46-year-old Phillip McDuffy to settle a claim... An internal investigation by Columbia police found the Taser use was proper. However, the incident and others in the region prompted Columbia police to adopt new, more restrictive guidelines for Taser use. Still, critics say, the settlement should be a warning that the devices are more trouble than they are worth. ... [LINK]
This continues the trend of taser deployment lawsuits resulting in ever-increasing settlements.
UPDATE: Read comment by JC for links to video of incident.
Here is a news crew's video of the incident. You can see that he is sitting calmly when they decide to run up and tase him.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMIdWQ-wzoI
Go to about 1:45 of Video #15 (Highway camera) and you can see them tase him, causing him to fall from the overpass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfxdWgcu7cQ&NR=1
Or you can watch the local news story and see the police's lame excuse that they were trying to "prevent" him from returning to the bridge. He was just sitting; there was nothing to prevent!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvFsGmdndCE