But not because the marijuana itself caused the person to die…
he choked to death trying to avoid the punishment required by the prohibition of marijuana.
PANAMA CITY BEACH (Panama City News Herald) — A man who was tased by Bay County Sheriff’s deputies choked to death on a “large bag of marijuana,” sheriff’s officials said Friday morning. Part of the incident was caught on video recordings.
Authorities said Andrew Grande, 23, was running away from deputies at the Executive Inn on Front Beach Road after they responded to a physical disturbance there about 2 a.m. Friday.
When deputies confronted Grande, they were able to place a handcuff on his wrist, and during the struggle they observed Grande attempting to place something in his mouth.
Deputies tell him to stop resisting or they will tase him, but he gets to his feet. They tase him and he immediately rips the stun gun’s prongs out of his chest. He falls to the ground. While seated, he puts his hand in his mouth and down his throat in what appears to be an attempt to vomit. When that does not succeed, Grande slaps his hand against the concrete and then both of his hands against his chest.
“I can’t breathe,” he says. “I can’t breathe.”
The deputies perform the Heimlich maneuver, but they cannot get the object out of his throat.
“Let us help you, man,” one of them shouts. “Hang in there.”
At a press conference Friday afternoon, Sheriff Frank McKeithen said the deputies did not realize at first that Grande was choking and they initially believed he was overdosing. McKeithen said Grande likely only faced misdemeanor charges if he had just complied with the deputies.
“It could have been handled by compliance,” McKeithen said. “It pretty much ended up with him taking his own life.”
Sure, Sheriff McKeithen, sure. He should have just been compliant with his “large bag of marijuana”, which, if it were over 20 grams, would get him a five years and a felony conviction. The sheriff said he would have just faced misdemeanor charges, but even those, in Florida, can get you a year in prison and a $1,000 fine, especially if you’re a guy with a prior criminal record, like this guy was (battery and trespassing convictions). Plus that drug misdemeanor stays on your record and becomes part of the background check used to qualify you for loans, security clearances, government assistance, and employment.
It infuriates me when a suspect dies in police custody following the application of a taser and the police dodge responsibility by blaming the victim. When tasers were introduced, we were told they would only be used to replace an officer’s firearm in situations that place the officer’s life and safety in danger. I fail to understand how a young man already in police custody with one handcuff on is threatening the officers involved by swallowing a baggie of weed. As I watch the video, as the man struggles, I see three officers – one laying on his back and holding his wrist, another holding his head, and another by his feet.
Te
ll me why three strong male officers can’t properly subdue one male suspect who’s already on the ground? As the man rolls, the officer holding him maintains the hold, but the officer at the head and the one at the feet jump away! If they grab the man’s other arm and legs, he’s not getting up! But the officer at the head seemingly can’t wait to jump up and he’s already going for his taser before the choking man has even gotten off the pavement.
And is it possible that sending 50,000 volts through the man might have caused the choking situation to become worse? Or would he have even run from the cops or in the first place if he’d been holding a six pack of beer? I’m fairly sure he wouldn’t have tried to swallow a pack of cigarettes if he were holding them.
Tasers have devolved from a “non-lethal use of force” to an “instrument of compliance”. Amnesty International has tracked 351 deaths due to police use of tasers since 2001. Tasers have only been studied on healthy people and amount to a lethal force when used against people with certain heart or seizure conditions, people taking certain prescriptions, people with mental health disorders, and most of all, people using illicit drugs. The sheriff said his officers believed the man was overdosing and still they went for their tasers?
IT IS TIME TO TAKE AWAY THE TASERS
“Is it possible that sending 50,000 volts through the man might have caused the choking situation to become worse?”
Of course it is.
Quite possibly these officers deployed their Taser energy weapon precisely BECAUSE the suspect was attempting to swallow cannabis, in an attempt to stop him from doing so.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
Taser abuse such as this has gotten out of control, particularly in large American cities such as Portland, OR.
Many times Taser has been used by Officers in such situations. Recently, so many people have been killed or injured by Taser that the Canadian government has forced new nationwide standards for use of Taser by Canadian Officers.
Taser International – in recent response to wrongful death suits – now advises that Taser weapons “Not be aimed at the suspects chest.”
How many times on reality TV have we recently observed men tackled to the ground and forced to lie with their faces against the asphalt because of the crime of “Posession of Cannabis?
Recent cases indicate that our police officers are abusing their Taser energy weapons, too often using them as “cattle prods”. Let us not forget that the BART Officer who murdered an unarmed citizen last New Years by shooting him in the back with a pistol claimed that he had “Only intended to Tase him.”
Taser abuse is sickening. It’s got to stop.
Perhaps we need to strip Patrolmen of their Tasers and to issue them to supervisory (Sergeants) and specially trained (SWAT) personnel only, as is done in New York City.
We don’t want police officers killing our citizens or brutalizing them with “cattle prods”. We certainly need to stop American police officers from using Taser to prevent a man from swallowing cannabis. That’s criminality in it’s own right, as well as evidence of a wanton disregard for human life.
This is one of those hard situations, a bad situation made worse by the presence of MJ. I believe it is right to say that his death would not have occurred if there were no MJ prohibition. I, personally, have a hard time feeling too sorry for this guy as well. The reason for this is simply that I do not know enough about the entire incident to decide whether or not I should feel sympathy for a man with a prior conviction for battery, especially when the cops were called to the scene to respond to a “physical disturbance.” I find it hard to feel sympathy for anyone whose actions as a cannabis consumer may lead others to believe that it can lead to domestic violence…
If this young man didn’t die, I think our opinions about him may be slightly different.
On these issues I suppose we should reserve judgment until all the facts are in. But I do wholeheartedly agree that he should have absolutely no reason to try shoving a large baggie of weed down his gullet.
If there was no prohibition, he would have no reason to stick a bag of reefer in his mouth, and he would still be alive. That is a really sad story. I feel for him and his family. ‘Another casualty of the failed war on drugs.’
They weren’t even performing the heimlich correctly. Seriously upsetting video.
Police work DOES NOT attract normal people, Unless you consider semi-retarded thugs to be “normal”.
This man should be our martyr, we must bring his story to the general publics attention, in all of recorded history no one has ever been known to have died from ingesting marijuana until now and he was in police custody when he died! Granted he also ate a plastic bag, but only through an attempt to avoid further persecution. These officers at minimum Should be guilty of criminally negligent homicide.
So, then, you’re equating the smoking of pot with armed robbery? Someone bringing a gun to terrorize a shopkeeper in order to rob him of property is like me smoking a joint in my home.
Here’s an idea – let’s leave the police use of force to prevent people from causing harm to others, not to themselves. There were three strong large police officers holding a man on the ground with a knee in his back, an arm behind his back with one cuff on it, and another cop pressing down the man’s head on the cement. If he was on meth and “strong as a bull”, how’d they get him on the ground in the first place.
If marijuana was legal, this would not have happened. Sorry you think that’s dumb, but it’s true. He may still have run, he may still have been tased, but he wouldn’t try to swallow a plastic bag full of plant matter and choke to death on it. If you’ll look closely, it looks as though he’s taken a bit of an a** beating before the tasing. You might not like it, but we are innocent in this country until proven guilty, even if we run from police. It’s telling that you seem to approve of the beating, electrocution, and murder of citizens who don’t comply with police.
Thanks for the correction; you’re absolutely right.
Extra-judicial electrocution is more accurate.
Here’s an idea–don’t run from the police, resist arrest, and then swallow illegal drugs. If you’re going to assume the taser killed him, then it’s just as easy to assume he was also on amphetamines and strong as a damn bull. And as a little aside, a suspect who is half-cuffed poses a serious threat from the sharp end of the other cuff if starts swinging. And the argument that if marijuana was legal this wouldn’t have happened might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Let’s legalize robbery so criminals won’t have to bring a gun. Chris Rock said it best, “If you make the cops chase you, they’re bringing an a** beating with them.”
I almost cried watching this. Too horrible for words… I hope this guy eternally haunts their souls…
as larry has said “I’m ashamed to be an American today”
but I have to stay and fight to make a difference. We need to prevent pointless deaths such as this. (although I have to wonder why the guy didn’t use the universal choking sign…)
Paul – watch that video carefully and you’ll see the police LAUGH as they tase him. It’s as though they were saying, “Hey Roy, Watch this!” as they laugh historically. At some point they realize the guy is in trouble. The one who laughed the most brings the medical bag.
For each of their involvement in this hate crime, they should receive no less than 25 years of hard labor.
It is not a “non-lethal use of force,” it is “less-lethal use of force.” That is the correct and accurate term for using a taser. The media fell for the trap of “isn’t it great, that our police have this new tool,” instead of saying, “the police have a new way of killing people.”
well it could be something similar to the standford prison experiment. people put in the position of power will very likely use that power.
I love how chief spouts on “if he just hadn’t resisted none of this would have happened…”
haha. If Prohibition didint exist this wouldnt have happened. period.
Ive never filled out a police job application but I think there has to be a question on there that says “can you sleep at night whether you protect the community or take down the community”? Im thinking they have to check yes, to move on to the next step to getting the job!
Cops like this arent human, there robots……..
wait a second, let me get this straight. they SAW him put something in his mouth and they thought “hey let’s taze this guy”? Knowing that the act of tasing is electrocuting someone with a rather high voltage causing a person to go immobile because, and this is the important part, their muscles constrict. the esophagus is one long muscle. so anything in the esophagus when it constricts isn’t going to go up or down….but of course it was the suspect’s fault.
I really hope these guys get slapped with a wrongful death suit.
what pisses me off the most is that the excuses they make, and that they get away with this shit. these acts and reasoning for any other random person would land them in jail for a long time but if you’re a cop it’s not only ok, it’s commendable.
After serving in combat and wearing a uniform for more than 20 years, I will say for the record, I’m ashamed to be an American today. I’m embarrassed to tell friends outside of the US that I’m an American. Why? We live in a police state where they EXECUTE marijuana users.
I hope the face of that man never escapes those police who executed him on the street.