Gothamist: NYPD: Brooklyn Man's Taser Death Broke Rules

whitecastlerock

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:27:20 -0500

This is just a sad story for everyone. I am sad the man died-it was evident he needed help. It is clear the police employed the wrong strategy in dealing with this situation. The footage was horrifying to watch. The police have a tough job-but they accept that role. They also need to accept the criticism for fucking up on the job.

SINNER

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:29:14 -0500

Just wondering if the bulb lit up or even flickered a wee bit once he got lit up?

SINNER

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:32:05 -0500

Even if he was over 200 pds I still believe a few guys, even with a sheet, could have prevented this man from cracking his skull. Sad story. I just thank God that no one calls ESU on me when I'm out naked recreating the epic final battle from Return of the Jedi.

jessecal

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:09:52 -0500

Whoops...

Spiritof76

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:49:02 -0500

OMG, a fluorescent light! Somebody shoot him, quick, before he, uh, just what can someone do with a fluorescent light? And Snoopy was the first to mention a cow. I guess that makes him cow dung. Ever notice it's the trolls who claim they're amazingly rich? Babyhitler claims he withdrew his $200k out of WaMu. Snoopy claims he makes more in a month than we make every year. Yet both have nothing better to do than stick around here and post comments all day. Does either really believe people fall for these claims?

Seth Mulvey

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:22:33 -0500

LISTEN- dude had a florescent light. What would you have done?

Snoopy

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:40:00 -0500

Spirit you were the first to mention lipstick. I would like to see you and your buddies try to catch a well over a hundred pound individual in a blanket dropping from eight feet above you. Hopefully you will be the next naked individual standing on an awning with no one but ESU waiting to shoot you down.

Wza

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:03:14 -0500

Sad, horrible story.

Spiritof76

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:48:54 -0500

Ah, the usual Snoopy drivel. Yeah, it is soooo dangerous to catch a guy falling about 10 feet (6 or 7 actually since the blanket would be a few feet above ground). Did someone fail Physics 101? Scratch that, did someone skip Physics 101? Oh, brother. The old "call someone a faggot" scheme. Boy, are you stuck in the past. Stuff like that hasn't worked since the 1970s and hasn't worked well since the 1950s. Men are secure in their masculinity and don't need to go ballistic just because you can't do anything more than impugn their manliness. Every time you try this, it just makes you look more and more like a desperate old man whose emotional maturity never exceeded 13.

west side Michael

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:33:14 -0500

Attention: All armed officers are warned to be aware of their safety when faced with an Emotionally Disturbed Person naked and swinging a florescent tube if this type of situation happens,shoot to kill. I wish I was the lawyer for the family on this trial to be.

Snoopy

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:09:27 -0500

You are a true idiot thinking that a bunch of cops holding a sheet would be able to brake the fall of an alleged perp. Why do you think that the FDNY does not use safety nets anymore? Because they are hazardous to the people holding the net, that's why. But it's nice to see you back here. You look great wearing lipstick. Although the shade really should match your nail polish.

Spiritof76

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:55:09 -0500

[18] Oh, and their "commanding officer" just came out of nowhere? Weren't you the one saying they're all some kind of elite force? He must have moved up the ranks from rookie, same as everyone else. A "fool like me" would have known better than to taser the man. If I am a fool, then what does that make your precious ESU which couldn't anticipate the man falling? Even a couple of guys holding a sheet between them could have caught him in lieu of an airbag. How hard is that? Instead, every last one of them just stood back and watched as he hit the sidewalk. Really smart guys there. "A cow regurgitating their cud"? Little mix-up of antecedents there, no? Ah, senility, thy name be Snoopy.

schadenfreudian mensch

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:31:33 -0500

This is what happens when you hire high school dropouts from Long Island and Jersey.

Snoopy

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:16:22 -0500

WOW! I have never heard that term "putting lipstick on a pig" is that something you just came up with recently? Or are you are just like a cow regurgitating their cud? ESU officers are well trained and don't need guidance from a fool like you. It appears their commanding officer made a bad choice. The blame should be put on him.

Spiritof76

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:22:43 -0500

It can't be that easy to lose you, Snoop. What's the proper phrase to put this in perspective? "You can polish a turd and it's still a turd." Police departments get turds and often want turds. Gems are too high-maintenance. The best of NYPD doesn't mean much when none of them are rocket scientists to begin with. Promoting someone to ESU is like putting lipstick on a pig, even if that pig has won a few state fair ribbons. All the training in the world can't compensate for lack of raw intelligence. Does anyone really need to be trained to not disable somebody balanced on a high ledge or awning? No one should have to be told that. Anyone with half a brain should be able to figure out that that's a terrible idea. Don't shoot him, don't taser him, don't poke him with a pole, don't do anything that can cause him to lose his balance. That's just common sense.

babyhitler

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:58:13 -0500

david blaine has nothing on this guy. Dude fell only ten feet and died naked. david blaine fell 40 feet and lived while clothed.

Snoopy

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:55:11 -0500

You lost me there Spirit. The ESU unit is like being assigned to a Rescue unit in the FDNY. It is a very elite part of the NYPD. These people should know a bit more about handling distraught individuals. They don't get there by being just the average schmo. They are trained for the unusual. The supervising officer should be demoted to walking a beat.

Spiritof76

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:42:23 -0500

Even ESU officers have to come up through the ranks. And the fact is that many police departments do not want really smart people to join the force. Too great a danger that they'll get bored and quit after being trained at the police academy at great expense. I wouldn't be surprised if NYPD has a similar policy for admission.

jaycjay

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:32:34 -0500

The worst thing about this is that this wasn't the action of some rookie, this was the ESU. These guys are supposed to be the best; they're all experienced and supposedly well-trained. In fact, the recent change in policy that has begun more widely equipping officers with tasers isn't relevant to this, because the ESU has had them for years.

Jen Chung

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:04:20 -0500

@Outter Burrougher--I know...there were certainly a lot of witnesses, but the footage is so powerful and disturbing.

Outter Burrougher

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:49:34 -0500

Jen, that's a good point about getting the footage, because who knows what they would have put in the report if it wasn't on tape.

Sinchy

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:49:05 -0500

This was clearly a situation where the first thought of the cops, after cordoning off the street to protect the public, should have been to consider this man a suicide threat. That would mean de-escalation the situation to calm the man, especially considering he didn't have a weapon that could reach anyone more than 10 feet away, and try to talk him off the ledge. Instead the cop did the equivalent of ending a suicide attempt by preemptive murder. Let's give the FDNY tasers so they can shock kittens out of trees!

MrCow

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:46:16 -0500

cops suck

Jen Chung

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:39:47 -0500

As other commenters have pointed out, it seems pretty obvious that stunning Morales would have caused him to fall on the ground. And there clearly was no attempt to break his fall. Utterly unreal and tragic. Thank goodness for the person who took this footage.

DanielJ

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:39:03 -0500

At least wait for the damn airbag to get there before you tase the guy for brandishing a light bulb while naked. They knew he was going to fall to the sidewalk. Shows a complete lack of respect for human life on their part, and the offending officers should be brought up on manslaughter charges.

Partywatcher

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:34:05 -0500

I've always thought hating cops was a sort of leftist bohemian cliche that most people said but really didnt neccesarily mean. But, fuck, I hate cops.

Ace

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:31:36 -0500

Take the tasers away from the NYPD. Do it now!

ides_of_march

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:25:53 -0500

The cops do a thankless job for little money and I'm second to none in support and admiration for them, but they blew it on this one.

gimme

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:23:12 -0500

NYPD = meatheads, absolute meatheads

jterry121

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:18:17 -0500

Law & Order writers have the easiest jobs in the world thanks to the stupidity of the NYPD

Kojak

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:14:06 -0500

Typical NYPD sentiment: they don't give a shit about the person they're supposed to apprehend. They only care about their own safety. I'd like to see how the PBA head Patrick the douchebag Lynch tries to frame this one.