geaux_tigers said:
thebugman said:
The parents of the guy who died here in Gwinnett after being tazered were customers of mine. Really wierd when I realized why so many cards were in the living room. I hate that they no longer have their son, but I don't think the tazer is the issue any more than the parents are to blame.
I don't mean to be morbid, but what has the reason given for his death? Did he have a heart attack or something of that nature?
In the past two years, five people in Georgia have died after being shocked with Tasers by law officers. Two Gwinnett County inmates died in a nine-month period after scuffles with deputies and Taser shocks.
Ray Charles Austin, 25, died in September 2003 after he was stunned three times, given psychotropic drugs, punched and placed in a restraint chair.
Last May, Frederick Williams, 31, died after he was shocked five times in a tussle with five deputies.
Both men died of heart attacks, according to the county medical examiner.
All the deputies were cleared of wrongdoing, though District Attorney Danny Porter said last week he was considering filing criminal charges in the Williams case and was still investigating.
"The family is confused about the status of the case," said Melvin Johnson, the Williams family's attorney, who attended the forum with Williams' widow, Yanga Williams.
Williams said she thought the forum was beneficial, though she said she would like to have seen it better attended. About 20 people in
addition to the panelists attended the forum.
Having more proponents of the devices' use on hand would be helpful, Johnson said.
Audience member Todd Pell, 34, of Buford drew gasps from the crowd when he asserted that the Gwinnett Sheriff's Department has used electric shock â€" first used by the Nazis in 1938, he said â€"
as a method of torture since 1999.
