Chicago Tribune/Howard Witt tell of taser death in Louisiana, cousin of Jena 6 defendant

Some of you may remember that the issue of tasers aka stun guns has been a hot topic at Dallas South in the past. Last December, the Dallas Morning News reported the details of a Waxahachie man (African-American) who was tasered by police after calling 911 (in April of ’07) for help with a diabetic seizure.

Well there have been more cases of taser abuse across the nation as of late, and Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune details another such instance. In his article Taser death ignites racial tension, Witt chronicles an incident that occurred in a small Louisiana town.

• At 1:28 p.m. last Jan. 17, Baron “Scooter” Pikes was a healthy 21-year-old man. By 2:07 p.m., he was dead.
  What happened in the 39 minutes in between–during which Pikes was handcuffed by local police and shocked nine times with a Taser device, while reportedly pleading for mercy–is now spawning fears of a political cover-up in this backwoods Louisiana lumber town infamous for backroom dealings.

• Even more ominously, because Pikes was black and the officer who repeatedly Tasered him is white, racial tensions over the case are mounting in a place that’s just 40 miles from Jena, La. Jena is the site of the racially explosive prosecution of six black teenagers charged with beating a white youth that last year triggered one of the largest American civil rights demonstrations in decades. And in a bizarre coincidence, Pikes turns out to have been a first cousin of Mychal Bell, the lead defendant in the Jena 6 case.

• Here in the birthplace of two of Louisiana’s most colorful and notorious governors-Huey and Earl Long-the police chief committed suicide three years ago after losing a close election marred by allegations of fraud and vote-buying.
  Just four months later, the district attorney killed himself after allegedly skimming $200,000 from his office budget and extorting payments from criminal defendants to make their cases go away.

• An autopsy determined there were no drugs in Pikes’ system and that he did not have asthma, according to Dr. Randolph Williams, the Winn Parish coroner.

• Moreover, Pikes did not resist arrest, and he was handcuffed while lying on the ground, according to Nugent’s police report of the incident. It was only after Pikes refused Nugent’s command to stand up that the officer applied the first Taser shock in the middle of his back, Nugent wrote.

• Only after Pikes was carried into the police station and slumped into a chair did police call for an ambulance. He was pronounced dead soon afterward at the local hospital.

If you are unfamiliar with the dangers of taser guns, please visit African American Political Pundits excellent Tasered While Black website.

Earlier this year, Electronic Villager outlined the Use of Force Continuum used by many police forces to subdue suspects. That list looks something like this:

Level One * Officer Presence

Level Two * Verbal Commands

Level Three * Empty Hand Control

Level Four * Pepper Spray, Baton, Taser

Level Five * Less Lethal

Level Six * Deadly Force

We back the blue here at Dallas South, no doubt. But there are those out there wearing the badge who give good cops a bad name on a daily basis. Many are those who use tasers when less lethal options are available.

But I would argue that many uniformed officers are unaware of the true dangers of tasers. They probably don’t know –as AAPP and CBC News point out– that 1/3 of taser subjects end up needing medical attention.

I will argue, more coherently at a later date, that the use of force continuum needs a 7th step. Pepper Spray, Batons, and Tasers are not created equal. Stun guns need there own level, just before deadly force. In the case of Baron Pikes and others, the use of a taser was lethal.