Martinsville, Virginia - The mother of a 17-year-old boy who died after being hit by a police taser in 2009, is suing the city of Martinsville, the officer who fired the taser,
and the taser company. Filed last Friday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke,
the lawsuit blames the taser company, Taser International of Scottsdale, Arizona, with failing to train Martinsville Police on the potential lethal consequences of a direct hit to the chest. The lawsuit states
Derek Jones died at his home on the night of January 8, 2009, after Martinsville Police Officer Ronnie Wray tased him in the chest. Jones' mother, Sharlene English, is suing the three parties for more than $10 million. ... [
LINK]
Sunday, August 30, 2009:
Derek Jones, 17, cause of death... [
LINK]
"...Derek Jones, 17, died Jan. 8 of “acute cardiac dysrhythmia of uncertain etiology (cause),” Branscom said the autopsy determined. That means “basically, his heart quit,” he said, and “the report leaves it to someone else to draw a conclusion” on why. The autopsy stated that the Taser cannot be “definitively excluded as a causative or contributive factor” in Jones’ death, Branscom said. The teen “died suddenly about the same time” the Taser was used...
2009.
By late-2007, I - a layman - knew beyond any doubt whatsoever that tasers could kill.
It was *obvious*.
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