US taser safety debate rekindled over teen death

| 14/10/2013

(Reuters): When police spotted Israel Hernandez Llach spray painting a shut-down McDonald's in August, the Miami teenager decided to make a run for it. Moments later the unarmed, 18-year-old graffiti artist was dead. He had been struck in the chest by a police stun gun. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is still investigating what caused the August 6 death of the Colombian-born teenager. His death in Miami Beach, where police conduct has come under intense scrutiny in recent years, has triggered protests calling for a change in the way officers use the stun guns known as Tasers. It has also reignited a debate about whether the electrical shock the Taser delivers can sometimes trigger a cardiac arrest when fired at the chest area.

"The fact that he was shot in the chest is something we are analyzing," said Jose J. Rodriguez, a lawyer for Hernandez Llach's family. "We're working with the assumption for now that the Taser caused his death."

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  1. Kim Angelina says:

    i dont see how one can be struck in the chest while running from the police!!! if he was running from them, then they should have been behind him not in front of him. Things dont add up here and this situation does need looking into.

  2. Anonymous says:

    It is safer than a gun and muich safer for the police.  Criminals take thier chances.  I would not feel sorry for them.

  3. Anonymous says:

    There was no reason the Police (there was more than one cop) could not have simply wrestled this scrawny teen to the ground in order to arrest him.

    His crime was NOT of a violent nature and he was unarmed and cornered!

    This surely appears to be a case of excessive force by the Police!

    • Anonymous says:

      You run, you take your chances.  Thanks to the 2nd amendment there are so many guns in America that I would rather the police used tasers on uncooperative suspects than risked getting shot.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Bullet, billyclub to the head, or taser? I'll take being tazed, bro.