Another Isolated Incident
July 14, 2008
[Edit: please see Errors & Omissions #1 - the source article from Yahoo! refers to a non-lethal June incident,although there was a lethal taser-related incident in Houston on or about July 14, 2008.]
Another death by taser (the “non-lethal” taser) in Houston.
The burglarly suspect attempted to ditch his crack-pipe while fleeing the police. That move proved fatal, as the officers mistook the man’s reaching into his pocket as a hostile maneuver. Particularly disturbing are the reader comments in response to the incident:
LOL. What an ####! He got what he deserved
Yeah, it’s fucking hilarious when someone’s addiction drives them to crime, and ultimately death. Hilarious.
GREAT job to the resident and the officer!!! “Don’t taze me bro”
ZAPP!!!! Heh heh
Mmmmhmm. Killing someone over car-audio equipment is “GREAT” and commendable. One wonders whether these hero-worshippers would be as willing to take a man’s life over a car stereo.
Let’s review some basic principles of law: If a man breaks in to my house, but upon seeing my bedroom light turn on, flees back out the window, and I follow him down the street and shoot him in the back, I’d probably be charged with murder. Why? Because the moment he flees, there is no longer a conceivable threat to my life, sufficient to justify the use of lethal force—and that’s what we’re talking about here (for the record and in the interest of full disclosure, some of you may note that I’ve changed my tune with regards to tasers).
There’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes in this particular story; let’s summarize:
Government manipulation and interference in the market for certain plant extracts and derivatives has severely distorted the prices and availability of same. This interference drives a small subset of users to criminal activity to support an addiction which is exacerbated by a market full of unaccountable purveyors, ineffective or counter-effective policies regarding use and/or abuse, and treatment programs for the users. That this suspect was presumably a drug addict probably weighed heavily on his decision to burglarize cars in the middle of the night, most well-adjusted non-addicts don’t engage in this sort of behavior. Ever. Mere possession of a crack-pipe is often sufficient to justify additional charges against a suspect. Being an addict he had with him his pipe, because well, that’s what addicts do. He probably wasn’t going to outrun the police, so he tried to ditch his pipe. For this, he was ultimately killed.
Apologists will say things like, “Well, the police couldn’t have known that he was reaching for a pipe, and not a gun.”
Of course they “couldn’t have known” what the suspect was reaching for, point conceded. But that’s the problem. Law enforcement agents routinely and intentionally place themselves in circumstances where lack of adequate information is considered sufficient justification for what would otherwise be considered murder.
Reams of prohibitionary legislation and draconian punishments for drug-abuse only make matters worse.
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I am confused. The link you refer us to reports only about a suspect who was *apprehended* by the police, not killed by them.
Am I missing something?
So what makes people think that way?
Excellent analysis and commentary.