Diabetic tased for being non-responsive

This happened last year but the lawsuit was only recently filed. I just saw the video of the traffic stop on the local news, it was obvious she wasn't a threat and they were still rough with her after tasing her and she was limp. there is no excuse for the behavior of the Redmond police involved. thank goodness she has that evidence.

"A Seattle woman filed a lawsuit Friday against Redmond police for shooting her with a Taser following a traffic accident last year after they mistook her medical condition for drunkenness.

....

In the court documents, Fuchs said she suffered a diabetic episode because of a low blood sugar level and rear-ended the car in front of her.

Police arrived and found a non-responsive Fuchs inside her locked vehicle. The officers assumed Fuchs was drunk because she would not obey their commands to open the door.

Officers responded by shattering her passenger side window and shooting her with a Taser when she did not exit the vehicle on her own.

The Taser probes lodged in Fuchs' arm and stomach, not far from her transplanted kidney, according to the court documents.

Fuchs screamed but was otherwise unable to respond. The officer who fired the Taser then reached over and unlocked the driver's side door. Another officer dragged Fuchs from the car, put her on the ground and handcuffed her. The lawsuit contends that the officers then had to drag Fuchs to a patrol car, where they placed her in the back seat."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/269285_taser06.html

...police officers is staggering. While I accept that they do a tough and dangerous job, it really seems like there has been a decline in both the intelligence and sensitivity of officers in recent years. Some seem far to eager to whip out their weapons and start blasting away at the least provocation. The introduction of tasers and other 'nonlethal' weaponry has exacerbated the problem. Tasers seem to be used as a first resort, rather than a last one. How do these officers know that the person they're tasering doesn't have a pacemaker?

In this case, a woman has been in a traffic accident and is unresponsive. What do the blockhead cops do? Do they call the paramedics? Do they hell! They blast the dazed victim with 50,000 volts. Brilliant!

Throw these self important bastards off the force. They're not fit to guard a lumberyard.

...where I used to work. She was hanging out of an open car door, sprawled on the ground. I tried to help lift her back into her car, but I couldn't handle the "dead weight" of a semi-conscious person, so I flagged down another driver to get security, and stayed with her until help arrived. ANother driver came by and knew the woman, and told me that she was diabetic.

Apparently she was running late for work that day, and had skipped breakfast.

Twenty years ago, nobody would've tazed her. :grr:

Application to people suffering from disease or injury probably hasn't even been considered, much less guidelines developed for use of excess force in such situations.

Hope they read the Taser's User's Guide Appendix D "Warnings" (small print). Note: not to be used on individuals suffering from excess flatulence in the presence of an open flame; use at your own risk. Disclaimer: Beware, lame humor present.

a heart attack? Since when is acceptable to Taser someone who is not even moving? I hope she wins 10s of millions from the city - and one would think the police officer would have been fired.

Police are certainly trained to know that a person who smells like they're drunk could be diabetic - it's one of the basics. (And how could it possibly be acceptable to taser someone who is drunk who isn't moving at all?)

a man who was tazed -15- times even though his son was trying to tell them that he was diabetic and was having an incident (diabetics sometimes become belligerent when their blood sugar drops before they go into a coma). Instead of listening to the son, the cops then tazed him, too.

There was a similiar incident here in Ar. recently, only the victim didn't survive.
A young mentally handicapped man was mistaken for an escaped convict. Google Erin Hamley for the complete story.

I don't wear one, why? I know I'm diabetic, and the Storm Troopers aren't gonna bother their little shaved heads looking before they limber up their toys and 'roid-enhanced "guns" on me.