I also blog for an award-winning LGBT site called Pam’s House Blend. She has been doing a fantastic job keeping up with all the stories of police misuse of tasers. Here is another entry for the taser files, courtesy of Loretta Nall down in Alabama.

Arrest raises questions about excessive force - NBC 15 Online
McINTOSH, Ala.) March 25 — Dramatic video caught by NBC15 News is forcing local police to answer some tough questions about proper procedure. The actions of a police officer captured on video are under review by the District Attorney for Washington County. Our news crew was in McIntosh for a different story when it caught the scene on camera. NBC 15’s Andrea Ramey witnessed the arrest.

McIntosh Police say the chase started as a routine traffic stop and quickly accelerated when Ronald Lee Reed would not stop his truck. When the police caught up with Reed, Officer Blaine Barnett fired a taser into Reed’s truck. Barnett then pulled Reed out, threw him to the ground, and punched him one time on the side of the head. The video also shows Barnett slamming Reed’s face into the asphalt street three times.

Reed didn’t spend the night in jail, though. He walked away with two misdemeanor citations for reckless driving and possession of marijuana.

Officers searched Reed’s truck, but according to a court clerk, the citation says only a “small amount of green substance (was found and) presumed to be marijuana.”

So, why use of the taser, the punch and the suspect’s head being slammed to the street when Reed was cited for minor offenses?

For more than a week, NBC15 News has been trying to get someone from the McIntosh Police to talk about the tape, to see if proper procedure was followed. The chief wouldn’t talk. The chief’s name is Michael Barnett… and he’s Officer Blaine Barnett’s father.

50,000 volts, a punch to the head, and slamming his head on concrete three times, all for a traffic violation and misdemeanor marijuana possession. We really need to get control over this increasing misuse of tasers by police - if your suspect doesn’t have a gun, a knife, or an overwhelming physical advantage, there is no excuse for the use of a taser!

Charlotte Local News | Charlotte Observer
A 17-year-old who died after a police officer shocked him with a stun gun last week had marijuana hidden in his socks. And according to a search warrant, he’d been asked to leave the Food Lion where he worked before police arrived.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Jerry Dawson Jr. used his Taser after police received a disturbance call about 1:15 p.m. Thursday from the grocery store on Prosperity Church Road. Darryl Turner had worked in the University City store for about a year as a cashier and bagger.

Family members and co-workers said Turner, who graduated last year from a charter high school and planned to attend college, was a good student and reliable employee. His court record consists of three traffic offenses.His mother said her son had a temper but was not violent. She did say that Turner had come home for lunch Thursday and told her he had stolen a couple of Hot Pockets from the store. He was afraid of getting in trouble, she said, but she told him to go back to the store and admit what he did.

Police received the disturbance call soon after. As Dawson arrived at the store, police said, an “agitated” Turner threw something at a manager. Turner ignored Dawson’s commands and advanced toward him. Dawson then used the Taser to get him under control, police said.

Turner was later pronounced dead at Carolinas Medical Center-University. His death is the first Taser-related fatality in CMPD’s history.

Co-workers and friends said they never knew of Turner being reprimanded at work. Customers described him as “mannerly” and “pleasant.”

Another person’s life ended by the indiscriminate use of tasers by police.  We were introduced to tasers as a “non-lethal” method of force to subdue a violent criminal and protect police.  But lately, the taser is being used as a method of compliance even when an officer is not in any grave danger.  I encourage you to check out the Taser Files at PamsHouseBlend.com, where you can review too many of these incidents where tasers are misused and people die.  Unless a perpetrator is wielding a gun or a knife or other significant physical advantage, there is no reason for an officer to use a taser, which is a 50,000V roll of the dice.  The officer doesn’t know if that person has a heart defect or is under the influence of drugs that would make the taser an instrument of death.