Police Taser Claims Another Life
By Shamus Toomey - Chicago Sun-Times |
A 24-year-old Lake View man died Thursday, five days after suburban Cincinnati police shocked him with a Taser outside a bar there.
Kevin Piskura, 24, of the 800 block of West Fletcher, had been hospitalized since the incident at 2 a.m. Saturday outside a bar in Oxford, Ohio, and he died Thursday afternoon at University Hospital in Cincinnati, his family said.
Piskura was surrounded by loved ones at the time of his death, and the family issued a written statement later in the day: “Today, we lost a son, a brother, a family member and a friend.”
Video was captured by the camera atop the Taser X26 stun gun used by the Oxford police officer who scuffled with Piskura early Saturday outside a bar near Miami University. Piskura graduated from the school in 2006 before moving to Chicago.
Piskura’s Lake View roommate, Steven G. Smith, 24, was being thrown out of the bar and began fighting with employees. A police officer ordered Smith to stop, but Piskura joined in and started fighting with the officer, who drew his Taser and warned them to stop, police said.
Smith backed off, but Piskura was hit in the chest by the Taser’s barbs — after Officer Geoff Robinson shouted “Taser” three times, per department policy, police said.
The dramatic, 69-second video of the incident shows Piskura rolling on the ground while being shocked for about 10 seconds. The incident is being investigated by the local county sheriff.
The officer who fired the Taser had been on the police force for two years. He was trained on the Taser in September and completed a refresher course April 12, police said.
Piskura’s father is a former interim police chief in suburban Cleveland, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
In the statement, Piskura’s family also noted: “No one feels this loss more deeply than we do, however we still request that people refrain from rash judgment.”
See More:Police State USA NewsHave Your Say: Police Taser Claims Another Life
Please note, only selected comments will be published.
Or discuss this report in our our new forums
2 Responses to “Police Taser Claims Another Life”
-
steve k
Posted: Apr 26th, 2008 at 5:06 pm | Link to this
-
steve k
Posted: Apr 26th, 2008 at 5:17 pm | Link to this
ReplyI would also just like too add to those that say that the person who had the taser used on them deserve it as if they had not been fighting with the officer then this tragedy would not have happened . Yet i believe that all officers can request back-up and ALL officers are trained in RESTRAINT TECHNIQUES , why were these options not used before the complete reliance of using a taser too solve the problem ? .
Free Newsletter
Loading ...Related News
- Man dies after being shot with Taser gun
- Family wants answers after Taser death
- Man dies after police Taser him
- Canadian man dies 4 days after being Tasered
- ‘Innocent man Tasered eight times’
Email This Page To A Friend
Latest Headlines
- ‘Challenging Authority’
- Torture Policies Undermine 9/11 Case
- Guantanamo official says he’s not resigning
- China Says Quake Death Toll Could Top 50,000
- McCain: Most Troops Will Be Home by 2013
- Watchdog: European DNA Database a Potential Nightmare
- Top Activist’s Detention Blot on Democracy
- White House denied knowledge of military analyst program
- President Bush should be impeached for war crimes
- Blair recalls despair at Bush’s victory
More Breaking News
Archive
As i have mentioned elsewhere tasers may be safer than the other option of being shot by a hail of bullets , but even tasers carry risks as we have seen , how do the officers know whether the person who the device is being used on has a heart complaint for example , the answer is THEY DONT ! . The problem i see so very often is that officers of the law are relying on these so-called NON-LETHAL means more and more , without waying up all the options first , its almost a lazy way of solving their problems its an easy answer . Trigger-Happy may be too strong a word but i believe that there should be more stringant control over these devices and should only be used as A LAST RESORT and not as THE FIRST OPTION as seems too be the case more and more these days ! .