Virginia Woman Dies After Being Tased, Placed In Restraints & Hood

On February 3rd, a 5’3?, 130 pound Virginia woman was killed after six deputies tased her before locking her in restraints with an anti-spitting hood over her head. Natasha McKenna, who was 37 years old and suffered from schizophrenia from a young age, went into cardiac arrest before ever leaving the jail and later died at the hospital."

*In-custody deaths and abuse involving restraint chairs and tasers are not uncommon, and yet these kinds of aggressive approaches — especially toward the mentally ill — seem to be in vogue in lock-ups and police departments across the country. In 2013, Christopher Lee Lopez died in restraints and a hood in Colorado. Two inmates died in the same restraint chair in South Carolina last year. A 26-year old died after having a seizure in a chair in Washington. In Arkansas, one inmate was tied so tight his “whole arm turned purple.”

The same goes for the use of tasers by law enforcement against those who don’t appear to fully ‘comply’ with their orders; in October, 31-year-old Lashano Gilbert of New London, Connecticut was shot twice by police with a stun gun in a span of 8 hours after being arrested on suspicion of carjacking. He later died. 36-year-old Dante Parker was tasered at least 25 times and killed after matching the description of a burglar. In 2011, police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, “restrained a mentally ill man and repeatedly shocked him with a taser, causing him to die of a heart attack …”

The ACPD says the investigation is still ongoing and promises to release more information soon. So far, no charges or disciplinary actions have been taken against the officers involved in McKenna’s death."

http://www.mintpressnews.com/MyMPN/virginia-woman-dies-after-being-tased-placed-in-restraints-hood/