Taser lawsuit settled for $1.95 million

[safeinOhio]

SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - The family of a man who died after being Tasered has settled a lawsuit filed against a Macomb County community and five officers involved for $1.95 million.

The suit claimed that police in Shelby Township violated the civil rights of 49-year-old Steven Spears by shocking him with Tasers, and beating and suffocating him while they were restraining him.

The incident occurred in August 2007, when police said they found Spears running through traffic wearing only his underwear. A medical examiner later ruled Tasers were not a factor in Spears' death.

U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood approved the settlement early last month.

http://www.wtol.com/global/story.asp?s=9519280

[CoffeeCat]

1. Tasers are barbaric...

...and revolting.

The only way these torture devices will disappear, is if people sue--and sue some more.

From what we see in the media--cops will taser you for no reason. They'll do it repeatedly.

This has to stop.

We are not cattle. Police officers with rage issues don't need a pocket torture device
that acts as an extension of their personality disorder. All too often, this is what
happens.

Sue...sue and sue some more. Make these torture devices obsolete.

[Brentwood]

2. So the examiner says that he would have dropped dead anyway if he was not tasered-unbelievable

So the medical examiner says that the victim would have just died anyway regardless of the taser assualt. So they want us to believe that the actions of the officers involved had absolutely nothing to do with the victims death. If you believe that, I have a bridge to nowhere to sell you in Alaska.

[ManiacJoe]

3. It was probably the beating and choking.

"The suit claimed that police in Shelby Township violated the civil rights of 49-year-old Steven Spears by shocking him with Tasers, and beating and suffocating him while they were restraining him."