Mission Statement - De-Spinning the Pro-Taser Propaganda

Yeah right, 'Excited Delirium' my ass...

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The primary purpose of this blog is to provide an outlet for my observations and analysis about tasers, taser "associated" deaths, and the behaviour exhibited by the management, employees and minions of Taser International. In general, everything is linked back to external sources, often via previous posts on the same topic, so that readers can fact-check to their heart's content. This blog was started in late-2007 when Canadians were enraged by the taser death of Robert Dziekanski and four others in a short three month period. The cocky attitude exhibited by the Taser International spokespuppet, and his preposterous proposal that Mr. Dziekanski coincidentally died of "excited delirium" at the time of his taser-death, led me to choose the blog name I did and provides my motivation. I have zero financial ties to this issue.



Saturday, January 9, 2010

Eugene Police Chief Kerns wants 'to take the long route home'

Eugene, OR - Police Chief Peter Kerns says an officer was "justified" in tasering a non-English speaking Chinese student (who was in his very own rented town house). The mamby-pamby, complete wussey of an officer felt "threatened" by the huge-and-scary, 6-foot 13-inch tall, 350-lb., martial arts master, 19-year old that had just arrived to take English classes at the University of Oregon. City Police Auditor Mark Gissiner, who oversaw a police department investigation into the case, says he disagrees with Kerns. [LINK]

Eugene Ore. - The legal team for the non-English speaking Chinese student tased by a Eugene Police officer plans to sue the City of Eugene. ... [LINK]


This incident will be a good example of how the existance of video, both the plaintiff's cell phone video, and officer's taser video, has any effect on how long it takes the city to rummage around to find their cheque book.


My recommendation, as always, is to demand an explicit, unequivocal, written letter of apology (signed by the mayor, the chief, and the officer) along with a good-size 5-figure settlement. If the city is unwilling to admit wrongdoing, then hold-out for a significantly larger settlement. Make denial an expensive option.

That letter of apology will be worth every penny of the discount, because it will avoid that annoying gnawing feeling in the pit of the victim's stomach when those that are clearly in the wrong march around with their chests puffed out and loudly deny the obvious. Allowing that display should cost a small fortune.

(If applicable, attorney's fees need to be tweaked to achieve the best outcome if they're set as a simple fraction.)

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