cops gone wild

The taser is a potentially lethal weapon. It's overuse by poorly trained cops is criminal negligence. Seriously, five rent-a-cops and two real cops and you can't handle the situation without an electrical torture device? Yes, the taser has a place on the use-of-force continuum, but it's a hell of a lot further down the line than most forces are bringing it in now.

Teen dies after Taser shock at Baltimore hospital (Baltimore Sun)

Baltimore police said Thursday they are investigating the death of a 19-year-old hospital patient who went into a coma after being struck with an officer's Taser during a struggle with police and security staff at Good Samaritan Hospital last week.

...

The next day about 5:30 p.m., police said, officers were called to the hospital in the 5600 block of Loch Raven Blvd. for a report that the teen was "experiencing an emotional crisis and was combative with staff," said Lt. Eric Kowalczyk, a police spokesman.

He said two officers responded and saw the teen struggling with five security guards, and one of the officers struck the teen with a Taser.

Maybe the introduction of cop-cams will finally end this...though of course, none of these murderers will every be brought to justice. Cop privilege.

The "Bounty" Police Force? Albuquerque Officers Face Protests, Probe over Spate of Fatal Shootings (Democracy Now!)

Video footage captured by a police helmet camera shows officers killing James Boyd, a homeless man who appeared to be surrendering to them at a campsite where he was sleeping. Boyd is seen picking up his belongings and turning away when officers deploy a flash grenade and then fire six live rounds at him from yards away. The Albuquerque Police Department has come under federal scrutiny for being involved in 37 shootings since 2010, 23 of them fatal. This week the FBI confirmed it is investigating the killing of Boyd, and the Justice Department has already been investigating the city’s police shootings for more than a year.