Tuesday, October 27, 2009

“Stop Taser Torture, blogging for Justice.” Dec 4th 2009

http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20041201/TaserDeaths1201.gif


Source: correntewire.com

The stats only tell part of the story. I'm glad to note that there will be a annual December 4th blogging event called, Stop Taser Torture, blogging for Justice.”

The goal is to unite the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day – Taser Torture in America, Canada and throughout the world.

Amnesty International says that between 2001 and August 2008, 334 Americans died after Taser shocks. The stun gun was deemed to have caused or contributed to at least 50 of those deaths, Amnesty says, citing medical examiners and coroners. Most suspects were unarmed, and many were subjected to repeated or prolonged shocks, according to Amnesty. The human rights group has called for governments to limit the use of stun guns or suspend their use. In November 2007, the UN Committee Against Torture released a statement saying “use of Taser X26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and… in certain cases, it could also cause death.”

Join in on December 4th. “Stop Taser Torture, blogging for Justice.” as we raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.

Contact us at: StopTaserTorture@gmail.com to register your blog.


Visit: Stop Taser Torture


Saturday, October 24, 2009

The ghost of Iman Morales and Michael Pigott

As reported in the NY Post, The widow of an NYPD lieutenant who one year ago today shot himself to death after being publicly blamed for a deadly Taser incident is suing the city, claiming police brass contributed to the suicide by scapegoating her husband.

The lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, alleges that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and NYPD spokesman Paul Browne slandered Michael Pigott after the Sept. 24, 2008, Taser incident.

"These actions caused Michael Pigott to become humiliated, distraught, depressed," Susan Pigott says in court papers, "and caused him to commit suicide."

Michael Pigott, 46, was in charge of the team that responded to a call for help from the mother of Iman Morales, an emotionally disturbed man who was standing naked on a first-story ledge of his Bed-Stuy building. Morales, 35, fell to his death after Pigott ordered a sergeant to Tase him.

Amid a public outcry, Browne and Kelly indicated that cops had mishandled the situation and that the officer in charge had been suspended. More HERE

Read More at the Huffington Post HERE

Also Read the blogs Tasered While Black