7/30/2008

The Daddy State Marches On: Charlotte Police Murder Man with Taser

From Pandagon: NC: More freestyle law enforcement death-by-Taser
I’ve been busy and haven’t briefed folks on the Taser-happy crowd for some time; it looks like the Charlotte-Mecklenburg PD is having a whale of a time with its shock-inducing, deadly device.

A Statesville man died after being shocked multiple times by Tasers at the Iredell County jail over the weekend, sources say.

Anthony Davidson, 29, was unresponsive when he was taken to Iredell Memorial Hospital Saturday afternoon. He was put on life support and died late Sunday night, police said.

His death is the second Taser-related death this year in the Charlotte area. In March, 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner, died after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police used a Taser on him at a Food Lion store in Charlotte.


If you read the whole article, it’s clear that Davidson was having difficulties—he was unable to pay for groceries at a local store, rolled the cart out—but drove away without them. He was followed and then

When officers caught up with Davidson a short time later, he was carrying an Applebee’s gift card from the store that hadn’t been paid for, Anderson said.

Officers took Davidson to the Iredell County Jail where he appeared before a magistrate on a larceny charge. Davidson was behaving abnormally from the time officers first encountered him, Anderson said.

While being booked, Davidson became “physically aggressive and was communicating loudly,” Anderson said. That’s when officers used one or more Tasers to get him “back under control,” police said.


He was hit three times and according to a nurse was “under the influence of some type of impairing substance.” Davidson was unresponsive when he was taken to the hospital, where he went into intensive care. He was taken off of life support that evening.
This needs to end.

I can't turn around without yet another death-by-so-called-non-lethal-weapon story popping up, nor can I turn around without yet another blinded authoritarian daddy-state worshipper defending it.