Tasered To Death: Traffic Stop Turns Fatal, Without Bullets (Updated)
Categories: Crime
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| Running away from an HCSO deputy is fatal |
HCSO says the man,
He had been pulled over on a routine traffic stop about 6 p.m. Monday by deputy J. Shriver, a 19-year veteran of the department, in far northeast Harris County.
"The deputy instructed the driver to get out of the vehicle," the HCSO says. "A brief struggled ensued and the suspect fled on foot."
And that's when things went wrong.
Shriver shot his Taser "in an attempt to apprehend the fleeing suspect," HCSO spokesperson Christina Garza says.
The Taser connected, the suspect went down, and in "fell to the ground and hit his head."
He was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery.
The HCSO says it is releasing no further information at this time, although we've got a call in to see if they'll discuss the overall policy on just when to Taser people who aren't immediate threats to officers or bystanders.
Update: Garza cites this section of HCSO policy:
[Taser] deployment is justified when verbal commands are ignored or empty hand/soft-control tactics are ineffective...Justified "when verbal commands are ignored" -- that's pretty much a free-fire zone.
It may be used to control a dangerous or violent suspect when deadly force does not appear to be justified and/or necessary; or attempts to subdue the suspect by other conventional tactics have been, or will likely be, ineffective in the situation at hand; or there is a reasonable expectation that it will be unsafe for Deputies to approach within the contact range of the subject.
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