[State Bar of Wisconsin]
... At that point, Mukwonago Lieutenant Thomas Czarnecki drew and fired his taser gun, striking 29-year-old Nickolos Cyrus in the back. Cyrus fell to the ground, and was lying on his stomach. Either before or after back-up arrived, Cyrus stood up, staggered, and then fell to the ground again. More “taser stuns” were deployed. Czarnecki testified that he fired the taser gun six times, twice upon the initial encounter and four times when Cyrus was on the ground. However, the taser gun’s internal computer registered 12 trigger pulls during the relevant timeframe. When the officers finally handcuffed Cyrus, they rolled him over to find that he was not breathing. He never gained consciousness and was pronounced dead later that day. ...
...Czarnecki argued that “asking a jury to infer causation without expert testimony would be akin to proceeding under a theory of res ipsa loquitur – improper in a [section] 1983 action. …” In that case, Czarnecki argued, the Cyrus estate would be arguing that force must have been excessive because people do not ordinarily die from taser shock. ...One wag noted that the taser is "a street-level death lottery".
Five of six people will survive a spin at Russian Roulette, but one of the six will have a bullet in their brains. So it can be claimed that "people do not ordinarily die from Russian Roulette".
Although the odds vary, the logic is identical.
Fish, barrel, bang.
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See also previous post Federal Appeals Court says 'Not so fast there, Sunshine' [LINK]
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