Police Taser to Death Son of A Cop

Tribune Article

Kevin Piskura, 24, was pronounced dead at 4:17 p.m. Chicago time of injuries suffered when police in Oxford, Ohio, fired the stun gun at him early Saturday morning

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Piskura's father, Charles, was a police officer in Bedford, Ohio, for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2000

The police don't care who you are. They are out of control tasering people. The police need to stop torturing and killing people.

I agree that the taser has killed enough people to be considered lethal weapon, besides all the times that it has been used under dubious circumstances without a fatal outcome.

It would be safe to just call the taser a highly inefficient lethal weapon, since there's no way to tell before it is used what the outcome will be and some people, based on some of the footage I've seen, are not affected by it at all.

Here in Albuquerque, only supervisors carry tasers and I think that's a good idea.

I think that the taser is an important weapon in the police arsenal, but the weapon's purpose must be redefined and its use should be limited to situations where deadly force would be appropriate.

However, in this case there is no information whatsoever given about the circumstances, except that the victim was fighting with police outside a bar in Ohio.

I think his family's statement is reasonable:

In a statement released through the hospital, the Piskura family said they were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and thanked medical staff for their efforts. They asked for privacy and patience as the incident is investigated, "lest tragedy lead to more tragedy."

"No one feels this loss more deeply than we do; however, we still request that people refrain from rash judgment and wait until the independent investigation of this event is complete," the statement said.

www.chicagotribune.com...

[edit on 2008/4/26 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by crontab

The police don't care who you are. They are out of control tasering people. The police need to stop torturing and killing people.

Just a quick point. You make no argument as to why the officer in this case felt the need to taser the individual in question or what the male was doing in the first place. I sincerely doubt that the officer just walked up to this young man out of the blue and discharged his taser at him...!!!!

It really gets my blood boiling when people like you make stupid sweeping statements without first researching the circumstances. ATS is supposed to encourage debate, however all you are doing here is trying to have a pop at a group of individuals who I can only assume you don't like (for whatever reason). Yet I bet if your car was stolen, your house broken into or you were mugged, who would the first person you would go to for help....a cop !!! Wake up mate.

Why would the son of a cop be exempt from tasering?

And the guy was fighting a cop. If it wasn't a taser it would have been a club to the back of the head, both of which can be fatal.

Still, I do believe that tasers need to banned. They are overly abused.

Our city police force has 150 taser units locked up in the armory of the main police station. They will not hand them out. The city has spend $1000's on training but the liability insurance goes up if the city lets street cops have them. Go figure that one out.

They still have their pepper spray and of course pistol on the side and shotgun / assault rifle in the car, depending on their rank.