Miami teen graffiti artist dies after being tasered by police

[hue]

Source: Chicago Tribune

MIAMI BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Miami Beach, Florida, police are investigating the death of an 18-year-old graffiti artist who died after being shot with a Taser during a pre-dawn chase with officers who said they caught him spray-painting a building.

Israel Hernandez-Llach, known by his so-called tag name as "Reefa," won notice for his graffiti work as well as for sculpture and painting.

"He did it a lot," said Hernandez-Llach's friend Rafael Lynch, referring to his graffiti. "He wasn't a bad person at all; the cops didn't like him or what he looked like," he added, saying his friend was also an avid skateboarder.

The two hung out at a Miami Beach skateboard shop where Lynch works.

"To me, right now, he's still here. I hung out with him so much I couldn't imagine him dead," Lynch said.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-florida-taser-20130808,0,3854054.story

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....___....

[crim son]

1. This has to stop.

And I hope nobody here is going to claim the police did the right thing this time. It's murder, plain and simple.

[BlueJazz]

6. Cold blooded murder. I don't like to see buildings and private property defaced....

....and I was thinking of maybe some community service or something...but Death ?? WTF !

[They_Live]

2. Death Sentence for graffiti. No Trial.

Yes indeed, it does need to stop.

[heaven05]

3. paint on a building

deserves the death penalty. Sound like an artist in the making, also, killed? geez this society is going to hell on greased slides.

[avaistheone1]

4. This is unconscionable.

[sakabatou]

5. Tasers don't kill my ass.

[red dog 1]

7. Amnesty International Urges Stricter Limits on Police Taser Use as US Death Toll Reaches 500

From:
amnestyusa.org
February 15, 2012

NEW YORK -- "Two days after the death of a Georgia man who was shocked with a police Taser--
raising the death toll from Tasers to 500 in the United States -- Amnesty International today repeated it's call for tighter limits on police use of the weapons.

According to data recorded by Amnesty International. at least 500 people have died in the United States after being shocked with Tasers either during their arrest of while in jail.

Amnesty International recorded the largest number of deaths following the use of Tasers in California (92), followed by Florida (65), and Texas (37).

The Oklahoma City Police Department led all law enforcement agencies in deaths (7),
followed by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Harris County Sheriffs Department (Texas),
Phoenix, Arizona and San Jose, Ca., all with six deaths."



I couldn't find a working link to this article
however it can easily be Googled:
"Amnesty International Urges Stricter Limits on Police Taser Use as U.S. Death Toll Reaches 500"


Note that this article was written a year and a half ago, so I'm sure the latest death toll from U.S. police use of Tasers is well above 500 by now.

[90-percent]

9. Think it's over 600 taser deaths by now

That's approximately 20% of the souls lost on 9-11.

Don't taser me to death, bro!

-90% Jimmy

[red dog 1]

8. Thanks to hue for posting this.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

10. That 18 year-old threatened the police with a big knife.

Or possibly a gun.
Or an axe.
Maybe a meat cleaver.
Stick of dynamite?

It's always something, after the cops decide to use "force" and are then investigated.
Depends on what they think possible witnesses might have seen, what's plausible given the situation, and what they have available for "evidence".

[Theyletmeeatcake2]

11. Crimes against property

Seem to rank higher than human rights...a human life is priceless...a defaced wall can be easily cleaned...the old saying " It's not like anyone got killed!!!" Comes to mind.

[Helen Borg]

13. It seems so...

Sigh

[woo me with science]

12. Are all these brutality and murder incidents being collected in one place anywhere?

Is anyone tracking and documenting them in one place online?

[Evasporque]

14. but it is perfctly fine for greedy banksters to litter our communities

with abandoned trashitechture
welcome to shit world here is your spoon, enjoy