Democratic primary candidate for Attorney General T.J.Donovan is calling for Vermont to enact a statewide policy on taser use.
“For the towns that decide to allow Tasers, we must develop statewide policies and protocols for their use. In particular, we must ensure that all police officers have thorough training that includes recognizing and responding to mental health issues,”
This comes on the heels of the death last month of an unarmed 39-year-old man. Macadam Mason of Thetford had a history of seizures and died after being tasered by a Vermont State Police trooper. Also following Mason’s death an online petition requesting a moratorium on tasers in the state has over one thousand signatures including that of former Governor Madeline Kunin.
Back in 2008 at the start of an investigation resulting from public outcry over two Brattleboro taser incidents, Attorney General Sorrell put forward the possibility of a uniform statewide taser policy. However upon completion of the report he had dropped the idea. Sorrell recommended communities that chose to equip themselves with tasers develop their own protocols. The Vermont ACLU, which still supports statewide taser protocols, said at the time that Sorrell should have been more forceful in his recommendations.
T.J. Donovan says:
As Attorney General, I would work with key stakeholder groups, such as the Vermont ACLU, the League of Cities and Towns and the Vermont State Troopers and Sheriffs Associations, as well as mental health advocacy groups, to develop a toolkit for towns to have this important conversation.
Although still well short of supporting a moratorium, Donovan’s proposed policy change may be a step toward stopping the 50,000 volt taser from becoming Vermont’s most convenient pain compliance tool.
Here is the recommended escalation procedure, from the National Institute of Justice, for use by police departments in the US.
Unfortunately, according to the State Police press release regarding the tasing-to-death of an unarmed, suicidal person, the officer in question skipped the empty-hand methods altogether, nor did he attempt to use old-fashioned “less lethal” methods, such as blunt force.
The reason for this lapse? The Vermont State Police policy does not require empty hand responses in cases of “active resistance” to arrest. Here’s the list of actions an officer may take as soon as a suspect shows active (as opposed to passive) resistance:
“joint locks, arm bars, distraction strikes, electronic control device, aerosol spray and the baton.”
It bundles electronic control (aka Tasers) in with traditional non-lethal methods – so basically, if someone is resisting arrest in a way that involves movement, it’s OK tase them! Note: it’s also OK to pepper spray them, which is not much better in terms of physical harm.
I’m glad Donovan wants to address the issue with a statewide policy – but simply having a policy is insufficient. The VSP already has a policy, and that policy killed Macadam Mason. What we need is a policy that puts tasers and pepper spray, both of which have long histories of fatalities into the same category as other lethal weapons.
Note: pepper spray is especially deadly when the suspect is held face down on the ground after spraying, which, unfortunately, is the standard handcuffing position. Pepper spray requires immediate medical attention to prevent permanent lung and bronchial damage or death. It should not be classified as non-lethal.
I didn’t here what the report was from the SP (or the AG’s office) on Macadam Mason’s case. Did they just write it off as another OOOPS?
And good for Donovan. This primary should be a no-brainer. Meaning Sorrell gets the ‘no brains’ votes in Vermont, while Donovan gets the majority of the rest of us.
Prior to the Taser Moratorium online petition being created (which wasn’t done until June 30th), there was a press conference held on July 27th, a week to the day of the tasering and death of Macadam Mason.A statement was issued and presented to the media and public attending the press conference that had been signed onto by various civil rights as well as disability and mental health organizations and advocates/activists and other concerned citizens. Read it, here.
For those who have not already come across it yet, the segment concerning these matters included within the recent ACLU-VT e-update might be of interest as well, here; including this portion:
Within an e-mail to those who have already signed onto the SignOn.org online petition, which is still within the submission cue awaiting approval, I included the excerpts of the Taser segment of the ACLU-VT e-update as well as providing related information, including:
for those who might not have already come across it yet, today VPR News broke the story late this morning about a lawsuit filed earlier this week concerning the death of Macadam Mason, here.
Later, the Burlington Free Press posted an article, which has since been updated and expanded, here.
In case it is of interest, below is the link to a somewhat rewritten or edited blog post — for the public — version of the more personal type of missive I wrote and sent to Governor Peter Shumlin and members of the administration earlier this morning:
Taser Myths and a False Dichotomy (via Vermont Watch), here.
My name is Robert Wagner, an Independent and Liberty candidate for the Vermont Senate (Addison) and I strongly support a statewide moratorium on police taser usage.
My position is clear, on my web page at http://senatorwagner.com/2012/…