The Southern Christian Leadership Conference calls it “electrocution without prosecution," and in the wake of the two most recent Taser-related deaths in Florida, the civil rights group wants the governor to temporarily ban Tasers until a stricter, more uniform policy can be put in place.
The so called “non-lethal” devices, manufactured by Taser International, have killed over 400 U.S. citizens since 2001. According to the website Electronic Village, which diligently tracks the numbers, over 40 percent of the victims are black men. Charles Smith, president of the Manatee Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), sees Tasers as the biggest threat to the people of Florida. “You don’t have to break the law for them to use it on you. We cannot allow the local authorities to arbitrarily decide when a person can use a Taser and when they can’t. This is not a black and white issue; this is a right and wrong issue.”
The October 27 meeting with Governor Crist came after weeks of protest over the Pensacola killing of 17-year-old Victor Steen, who police say was fleeing on his bicycle from a construction site the night of Oct. 3. Officers tried to tase him from inside their patrol car but missed. Steen then lost control of his bike and fell into the path of the vehicle and was dragged 25 feet to his death. After that incident the Pensacola Police Dept. revised their policy to prohibit the shooting of Tasers into or from a moving vehicle.
A week before Steen was killed in Pensacola, 38-year-old Derrick Humbert died within a half hour of being tased in the back for not stopping when ordered to by Bradenton Police Officer Del Shiflett. Humbert’s only crime was operating a bicycle without a headlight.
When asked if it was legal to tase a suspect in the back, Bradenton Police Deputy Chief William Tokajer said Shiflett’s actions were well within department guidelines. “You can tase the back of the person, you can tase the front of the person, the Taser policy basically states that it can be utilized when the person who you want to arrest starts to evade you or starts to fight the officer or resists in any manner. This gentleman ran from the officers and basically the facts are the facts, if you don’t want to get tased, don’t run from the police.”
The SCLC says one of the problems with the state’s Taser policy is that it’s too broad and varies widely among police departments. SCLC Chairman Art Rocker says police have been misled into believing the 50,000-volt weapons are benign because that’s the message being conveyed by Taser International when they come to train and certify officers. Rocker’s point was reinforced in an interview with Deputy Chief Tokajer when he defended their use, saying “The Taser in most cases incapacitates the person temporarily but there’s no long-lasting injury.”
In the Steen case Pensacola Police Officer Jerald Ard was placed on paid leave after the killing and could face criminal charges. But Bradenton Police Officer Shiflett was back on the street the day after Humbert was killed, to the shock of the SCLC’s Charles Smith. “…and the Chief has the audacity to say he’s doing a thorough investigation? Who’s going to come forward? Here we have the same individual that allegedly shot their brother with a stun gun; witnesses have told me they want to come forward but they’re afraid because Mr. Shiflett is still patrolling their neighborhood.”
Charles Smith said it’s the attitude of Bradenton Police Chief Radzilowski that led the SCLC to petition Crist to launch an independent investigation into Humbert’s death. “We have an arrogant Chief of Police in Bradenton Florida. I’ve met with him, he has the old mentality of back in the 1950s and ’60s and since we cannot change his tone, we’ve asked the governor to come in here and change the tone with an independent investigation and take the investigation out of his hands.”
But Tokajer said that won’t be happening, saying, “We have no intention of having an independent agency come in and do an investigation when we are confident in the personnel that we have here to conduct that investigation in a proper manner.”
Taser International issued a bulletin on October 12 warning police to avoid shooting suspects in the chest, saying it could pose an extremely low risk of an “adverse cardiac event." It’s the first time the manufacturer has suggested there is any kind of risk associated with its product. But SCLC Chairman Art Rocker says he’s not sure there are any circumstances that justify the use of Tasers. “We’re asking the governor to do a moratorium on Tasers until a board has been put together, research has been done and until we’re able to determine exactly what Tasers do and whether or not they should be utilized here at all .”
The SCLC will hold a Taser Summit in Pensacola Dec. 5, during which they will release their report documenting the more than 400 deaths attributed to the weapon. Several attempts to reach Governor Crist for comment were unsuccessful. Meanwhile it was announced Monday that Crist had once again picked up the endorsement of the Police Benevolent Association, this time in his bid for U.S. Senate.
This article appears in Nov 4-10, 2009.