Man Dies After Police Taser (and wouldn't let mother perform CPR)

[p858snake]

Man Dies After Police Taser

MOBERLY - Stanley Harlan died after an early morning altercation with Moberly Police.

Moberly Police tasered the 23-year-old twice.

Police said Harlan was resisting arrest for suspicion of drunk driving when an officer tased him.

Police also said Harlan soon became unresponsive and died at Moberly Regional Medical Center around 2 a.m.

Today, family members gathered at the victim's home to express their grief, sorrow, and outrage at an incident they said was police brutality at its worst.

Harlan's mother cried, "I just want him home, I just want him to go home, he was the only person I loved."

Harlan's family and friends said Moberly Police are to blame for their tears.

"I lost my youngest son, Stanley James William Harlan, who was twenty-three years old, because of the horrible excessive force the Moberly Police Department used to murder my son," said Athena Harlan.

Family members and witnesses said Harlan was tased twice, the second time while handcuffed, by police during a traffic stop. But Moberly Police said they tased Harlan once to stop his resisting arrest, and a second time briefly to finish handcuffing him.

Witnesses said after Harlan was tased twice by police officers, he was dragged to this curb where he lay awaiting help.

Harlan's mother, who said she witnessed the whole incident from her lawn, said her son was not resisting arrest.

"They said he was resisting arrest. Stan said no I'm not no I'm not. He was just standing there. The other officer yelled get the taser, get the taser," she said.

After the tasering, Harlan's mother said police saw there was something wrong.

"They pulled him up and said, 'Stanley, stand up, you're all right," said Athena Harlan.

Police said they called an ambulance, but witnesses said they paid more attention to Harlan's car than his condition.

Harlan's mother said police wouldn't allow her to perform CPR on her son at the scene, and another witness said they let him die in the gutter.

Police also adamantly defended the actions of their officers.

Moberly Commander Kevin Palmatory said he believes the officers acted properly because they had not gotten a chance to search Harlan before he was tazed.

The Columbia Police Department has had its own controversy over taser use.

This summer police used tasers on two men, but neither case was fatal.

Interim Columbia Police Chief Tom Dresner said what happened in Moberly this morning was very tragic and the hearts of Columbia police officers go out to Harlan's family and the Moberly police officer involved.

But as of now the Columbia Police Department's use of tasers will not change.

"Taser are a safe device to use so we are going to watch the situation until we have factual medical and scientific evidence as cause of death and at that point we will possibly reconsider, but at this point everything is going as it is," Dresner said.

Mary Hussmann, a representative of Grass Roots Organization, said the events that happened in Moberly this morning are an example of why the Columbia Police Department should take a second look at how and when they should use tasers.

GRO says it will be filing a resolution opposing police use of tasers with the columbia city council next week. GRO has gathered 500 signatures in the last five days.

Source: KOMU

[obiwong]

this is absurd

What's wrong with these "police officers"

I feel so sorry for that family

She should not have lost her son like that

And she'll never trust the police again....

[jwjw1]

maybe the taser was justified...but if they knew something wasn't right and they themselves took no action to perform CPR and denied the Mother to perform CPR...then I think the Cops should be investigated and if found negligent...then charged with a criminal act. You can bet your (_|_) if it was a cop not breathing they would have acted..this is about a 'human being'

[Richard Hammond]

Stories like this annoy me, yes its sad that the kid is dead but you never get the full story you only get sides of the story, the mother is distraught that her kid is gone of course she is going to say "oh he didnt do anything wrong", he must have done something, police dont just tase you for nothing, at least police in the UK dont.

[funkymunky]

Stories like this annoy me, yes its sad that the kid is dead but you never get the full story you only get sides of the story, the mother is distraught that her kid is gone of course she is going to say "oh he didnt do anything wrong", he must have done something, police dont just tase you for nothing, at least police in the UK dont.

Exactly mate

[-Vivicidal-]

Stories like this annoy me, yes its sad that the kid is dead but you never get the full story you only get sides of the story, the mother is distraught that her kid is gone of course she is going to say "oh he didnt do anything wrong", he must have done something, police dont just tase you for nothing, at least police in the UK dont.

The UK is funny because criminals lives come before those of Police officers.

[Iscariah]

You tell me about police abuse... I was stopped by the police 3 weeks ago, they found 0.1g of cannabis that I had on me, turned my car upside down for that, made me pass all the drugs tests (positive for urine, I smoked 24h before), so they took my driver's license for 2 weeks; will have to pay 1100 to 11000 euros just for possession... of 0.1g!!!

I have to specify that I have a regular job, don't deal, and I am not a junkie... They just treated me like a f**kin' dealer.

So for my part: welcome to Belgium! :-S Yes, policemen make abuse of their authority. According to the Belgian law, for adults, it's authorized to have 3g for your personal use, and they don't have the right to seize it. So... WTF?

[Mrs_Angel_D]

Not all instances are instances where the police are are in the wrong, but there are times when they have done something wrong and it's those times that make it hard for anyone to trust the police. What of the instance posted on here where the police beat the person in processing and it was on camera, or the other incident that was posted here where the police beat the man and took out two of his teeth even though he was not resisting arrest or causing any trouble to them. Luckily someone caught it on camera or the man would have went to jail for something he hadn't done.

So who knows what the whole story is here, but the fact remains that a person is dead, and I would say that's a pretty high price to pay.

[Kronir]

We should have sympathy for someone who was endangering the lives of others by driving drunk, and then resisting arrest? That officer was well within his rights. If the guy wanted to live and not get tazed, he should have obeyed the law. Its as simple as that! I think when you willingly endanger the rights of others to live safely by breaking the law, you lose your own rights, but that's just me. ^_^

[DrunkenMaster]

CPR doesn't work 90% of the time. I'm not saying that its not good to try. Just doesn't work like on TV. The defibrillators will though. The police should be trained to use them and have them in each car. They are first responders afterall and get there sometimes before ambulances esp. in remote areas.

The bigger issue is the taser. Its overused and abused. They don't talk to people in the right way sometimes and they get more defensive instead of complying despite that they have no bad intentions. I've seen people tasered within a few minutes. Takes a lot longer to pull out their guns though. Tasers should be treated like guns.

Its like the Rodney King thing. If the intent was to stop them, did they really need to do all that?

And I have an invisible medical condition. I can't say for sure, but I think a tazer would kill me if done repeatedly.

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

the person was drunk driving, he resisted, he was tased

they had a reason

if he was still alive id say throw him in jail for a while because of resisting arrest and drunk driving

[Murkey]

True, CPR isn't going to bring him back Bay Watch style, but it seems a little odd that the police would not allow it if he was in trouble.

As for "police don't tase you for nothing" in the UK. Talked to many Brazilian electricians lately?

Just saying, things can go wrong anywhere...

[Rohdekill]

Stories like this annoy me, yes its sad that the kid is dead but you never get the full story you only get sides of the story, the mother is distraught that her kid is gone of course she is going to say "oh he didnt do anything wrong", he must have done something, police dont just tase you for nothing, at least police in the UK dont.

They don't in the states either provided you follow exactly what they are saying. When cops tase a person after yelling "get on the ground" dang near 20 times, of course people will say "he was just standing there not a threat to anyone" and totally miss the point that even a two year old can listen, comprehend, and follow a simple instruction like "get on the ground". By ignoring a command, you are resisting - plain and simple.

I feel no pity towards a person that cannot follow a simple command.

Also, resisting includes an musclular effort in denying police action. I can stand with my hands behind my back and force my arms to be apart just enough to stop cuffing. To anyone not holding my arm, it would appear I am in full compliance, while I am really resisting. Not resisting is your arms are limp, you let the officer(s) take full control of your arms.

[gigapixels Veteran]

They don't in the states either provided you follow exactly what they are saying. When cops tase a person after yelling "get on the ground" dang near 20 times, of course people will say "he was just standing there not a threat to anyone" and totally miss the point that even a two year old can listen, comprehend, and follow a simple instruction like "get on the ground". By ignoring a command, you are resisting - plain and simple.

I feel no pity towards a person that cannot follow a simple command.

Also, resisting includes an musclular effort in denying police action. I can stand with my hands behind my back and force my arms to be apart just enough to stop cuffing. To anyone not holding my arm, it would appear I am in full compliance, while I am really resisting. Not resisting is your arms are limp, you let the officer(s) take full control of your arms.

I agree.

And I find it hard to feel for this guy or his family when he was being arrested for drunk driving. He obviously wasn't being a complete angel if he was being arrested for driving under the influence, so it's not much of a leap to believe that he was resisting arrest.

[Shadrack]

Stories like this annoy me, yes its sad that the kid is dead but you never get the full story you only get sides of the story, the mother is distraught that her kid is gone of course she is going to say "oh he didnt do anything wrong", he must have done something, police dont just tase you for nothing, at least police in the UK dont.

No, **** the police. You don't understand how corrupt and excessively violent the police are around the US. Most have egos on their shoulders and use excessive force like this. I've seen friends taisered and were not resisting arrest. This has got to stop. At some point, the police's motto changed from "To Serve and Protect" to simply "Law Enforcement." **** the police.

[Blodia]

Here's a more detailed story of what happened, from the cops point of view

http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=87743168

If you're fully compliant with them, they have no reason,nor would they want to do anything excessive to you. If your friends had that same '**** the police' attitude, then chances are they werent totally compliant with police.

[capr]

don't drink and drive... it's the law that you are responsible for your actions when you are drunk in public. if the police suspected that he is drunk, then maybe his "not feeling good" was a result of alchohal poisoning or just drunkeness... how were the cops supposed to know what's going on and whether CPR was needed....

as far as the taser goes, don't ever second guess a live situation. let the cops do their job. If you are gonna second guess them every time something goes wrong, then you will have to question their judgment every time they do anything....

[DigitalE]

We should have sympathy for someone who was endangering the lives of others by driving drunk, and then resisting arrest? That officer was well within his rights. If the guy wanted to live and not get tazed, he should have obeyed the law. Its as simple as that! I think when you willingly endanger the rights of others to live safely by breaking the law, you lose your own rights, but that's just me. ^_^

I agree very much so.

He brought it upon himself.

[Gary2MBz]

This isn't as bad as the LAPD, yes LAPD!!! They are a bunch of absurd corrupt SOBs that either don't do the job or they get at the wrong f'ing guy. At my school when I was late, a campus officer marked me truant right in front of my classroom. Anyways drinking and driving and a result like this is bound to happen what with the alcohol messing with your ethical and common sense.

[DrunkenMaster]

He was drunk! How many people are fully compliant when they're drunk?!!! If the witnesses didn't see a problem and they were right there .... how do the police see that there was a problem with resisting arrest? If its a simple thing such as resisting arrest, then I think every person that has ever been arrested has been tased!

[tiagosilva29]

Tasers should be treated like guns.

Tasers are supposed to be treated like guns. A 'Less-lethal' solution... but they still are guns.

In this kind of circunstances, you shouldn't be shot two times.

[Richard Hammond]

Its not the same as a gun at all, i would consider it the same as CS Gas/Pepper Spray, ive seen people sprayed more than once.

[tiagosilva29]

Its not the same as a gun at all

Oh yes it is. It's a less-lethal weapon, while sprays are non-lethal. Its use is set with similar guidelines as guns, but the officers completely disregard them and use it all the time because it's way more easy to disable a subject with them than to rather use force.

[Neoauld]

ever since ive seen police starting 2 use tasers ive lost all respect 4 em

police were always dumb, every encounter ive had w/ em ive made em feel stupid and they leave

but they feel since tasers are officially 'less harmful' that they can just use them any time they want

[WastedJoker]

One less drink driver on the road.

This is good news.