15-year-old boy dies after being Tasered by police in Michigan

Monday 23rd March, 01:10 PM JST

BAY CITY, Michigan —

Police in Michigan say a 15-year-old boy has died after being Tasered by officers who were trying to break up a fight.

A Bay City police news release says officers answered a report of an early morning fight on Sunday. The statement says two males were arguing in an apartment, and one of them “attempted to fight the officers.”

Police say officers Tasered him, and his reaction led them to immediately call for emergency medical help. He was pronounced dead at Bay Regional Medical Center.

Deputy Chief Thomas Pletzke tells WNEM-TV police placed one officer on administrative leave.

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Latest 15 of 41 Total Comments Show All

smithinjapan at 12:47 AM JST - 24th March

Good_Jorb: "By hand is perfectly fine and non-lethal, expect it has resulted in many fatalities as well. I know of some cases where a person has been restrained by an officer's knee on the chest, and the result was a punctured lung or heart attack and ended up with the person dying."

So, is that any reason why more research cannot be done for more effective and ...ahem... LESS lethal (since everything is lethal, I guess!) weapons? My point is that clearly cases in which tasers are killing people is on the rise, so why not look for something better? I like the vomit sticks in The Minority Report.
Good_Jorb at 01:00 AM JST - 24th March

So, is that any reason why more research cannot be done for more effective and ...ahem... LESS lethal (since everything is lethal, I guess!) weapons?

I don't know how much research is going into the Taser but there is a lot of research also goes into less lethal weapons; Bean bag guns, pepper spray paint balls, stun/flash grenades and so on.
bushlover at 01:38 AM JST - 24th March

Repeatedly refuse to do as an Officer of the Law says or try to assault them then you deserve to be tazered. If you have a heart condition and knowingly attack an officer knowing they carry weapons like this then you take your own gamble. I applaud the officers for using this and not resorting to the revolver. They take the training and are subjected to this as well. Do a youtube search and see the videos.
gogogo at 01:54 AM JST - 24th March

I wish they kept records of how many people are actually tazered a day, cops just seem to use it anywhere.
ca1ic0cat at 03:14 AM JST - 24th March

The story says the kid tried to fight the cops so it is no surprise that they responded with force. I have no idea how many times a taser is used with no permanent effects but that would be a very interesting statistic. But saying a taser is non-lethal just doesn't seem to add up. Non-lethal most of the time? Isn't that like being "a little pregnant?"
ca1ic0cat at 03:23 AM JST - 24th March

Articles on taser use...

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/587624

different view of the same study?

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/01/24-3

and, finally, the taser propiganda...

http://www.taser.com/research/Science/Pages/TASERBlameForInjuries.aspx

Seems like the jury is still out but that, in general, proper training is one way to reduce deaths.

It was interesting to see the note in the first article, that the adoption of the taser is not lowering the rate of death due to cops using their guns. Rather, from the second article, the taser usually reduces injuries to the cops and the perps.

So the cops keep their firearms holstered unless they have to use them. The tasers are being used instead of hand-to-hand take downs. Guess it's all well and good unless you have a weak heart.
TheQuestion at 03:56 AM JST - 24th March

It is obvious that the tazer is a lethal weapon and its use had got to be abolished. It will save lives and consciences.

Following the logic a handful of accidental deaths merits a ban one could argue that nickles, hard cover books, and ballpoint pens are, in fact, lethal weapons. So until you invent a device with renders criminals imobile that is 100% non-lethal and can be distributed to every police officer in the world leave the tazers be.
medievaltimes at 09:07 AM JST - 24th March

I wish they kept records of how many people are actually tazered a day, cops just seem to use it anywhere.

I wish they kept records of how many people attempt to fight officers, suspects just seem to do it anywhere.
skipthesong at 11:13 AM JST - 24th March

ban it?

I can think of just several items that have been taken away, which were for non-lethal purposes. As a kid, I seen my father get choked with a bully club, I've seen people get hit with tonfas and they bled pretty damn bad, and I have seen ER's with taser victims, but they were all a lot less lethal than gun shot wounds, which is usually used by police in extreme cases. My question is how much can we keep putting in to researching and banning what to use and what not?

I have a feeling, only a feeling, that something else happened to this kid that caused the taser to kill him. Maybe the location of the taser's target like in a very sensitive area or maybe he was high and his heart was beating at accelerated speeds. I don't know yet. But to call for a nation wide ban on a weapon that is used by police to subdue someone I personally think is uncalled for.
Triumvere at 12:13 PM JST - 24th March

This is gettig a bit silly. Ban tasers? So, you would have preferd that the cops shot the guy? Beat him with a truncheon? Put their own lives on the line by trying to restrain him by hand? Taser seems like a good alternative to me, though we can't know the details of the situation to say what would have been best.

I don't want to ban tasers, I just want to reconceptualize them as "less-lethal" rather than "non-lethal". I think that thinking about these things as "non-lethal" makes officers more likely to deploy them in, say, situations where suspects are being merely uncooperative rather than combative, which leads to unnecessary deaths. I don't see how you could apply that in this case, unless the police are lying to cover their asses (a real possiblity, sadly). If he attacked them using a taser is an appropriate response. But it obviously has "lethal" potential.
JoeBigs at 07:24 AM JST - 29th March
helloklitty at 12:18 AM JST - 24th March why does Taser become a verb? Why don't they say that the officers electrocuted him to death?

Easy answer to that, if they say any other word other than "Tasered" it may scare folks. Now we do not want folks to be scared of that innocent little weapon, now do we?

Taser a man or women with one shot and they go down. But taser with a few more shots than one and......

Tasers are now used so often by officers that it has become an extension of their hands.
1. Someone speaks to laud, taser them.
2. Someone does not listen, taser them.
3. Someone looks at you kind of funny, taser them.
4. You just do not like someone, taser them.
5. Someone walks on the wrong side of the street, taser them.
If asked why did you taser them, answer with, "I felt that I was in danger". Pepper spray would be too easy, but it is not as fun.

Tasers are dangerous and should be considered as dangerous as a gun.
JoeBigs at 07:29 AM JST - 29th March

Triumvere at 12:13 PM JST - 24th March This is gettig a bit silly. Ban tasers? So, you would have preferd that the cops shot the guy? Beat him with a truncheon? Put their own lives on the line by trying to restrain him by hand?

Hm now what is that saying......OH yeah to protect and serve.

Pepper spray is really good to stopping folks from fighting. Why would the cops go right for the taser?

Hell if they would have used a gun the guy may still have been alive. But they used a taser and I think he is DEAD.

BAY CITY, Michigan —Police in Michigan say a 15-year-old boy has died after being Tasered by officers who were trying to break up a fight.
JoeBigs at 07:36 AM JST - 29th March

TheQuestion at 03:56 AM JST - 24th March Following the logic a handful of accidental deaths merits a ban one could argue that nickles, hard cover books, and ballpoint pens are, in fact, lethal weapons.

So how many folks have died from those dangerous ball point pens of yours? Please do tell, let us compare and see which is more dangerous....

LOL logic is a real funny thing that folks feel can be cast aside when it comes to their flawed beliefs of right and wrong.
smithinjapan at 12:18 PM JST - 29th March

TheQuestion: "Following the logic a handful of accidental deaths merits a ban one could argue that nickles, hard cover books, and ballpoint pens are, in fact, lethal weapons. So until you invent a device with renders criminals imobile that is 100% non-lethal and can be distributed to every police officer in the world leave the tazers be."

I always love this logic; like people saying a gun is 'no more dangerous than a kitchen knife' in the correct hands, etc.

Just a quick note: a ballpoint pen is designed for writing, nickels are a form of currency, and hard AND soft-cover books are meant for reading/studying. Tasers are meant to subdue a person by non-lethal means, and is clearly failing. By YOUR form of logic people should be out renting tasers from the library, counting up the tasers in their pockets for a pack of smokes at the convenience store, and trying to use their tasers to write composition in their notebooks (which could also be tasers!).

Develop some better weapons that are actually non-lethal. Tasers are clearly lethal weapons.
bushlover at 02:45 AM JST - 30th March

So how much current kills someone Smith? What are the conditions that determine how a person is affected by the electricity produced by these things? When you tell me that I'll go on to say if it's bad or not.