Man dies after being Tased in Snohomish County Jail

Just so everyone knows, police officers are required to be tased in order to carry a taser themselves. They know exactly how it feels, so they don't just go around tasing people for the fun of it. They know it isn't a privilege to use recklessly.

My comment will be about the procedure that the edmonds fire dept led under "JOHN WESTFALL"  and the edmonds police dept led under ???  concerning the death of my 20 year old Daughter, Jessica K Hanks.  911 people got some closure and respect for their dead family members, we never even got  a gee we are so sorry for your loss.  I now know they were just biding time (some statue of limitations) hoping I wouldn't sue.  I really believed john westfall when he got on all the news networks and said "I personally will make sure the smoke alarm is forensically taken apart to find the cause. "  I knew no smoke alarm went off or my daughter would be alive. She had just quit her job as a flight attendant for N W Airlines and we talked a lot so much.  She had told me of the extensive fire and ditching classes  in water and life saving etc.  My Daughter was KILLED by an apt complex owned by a big corporation I was told it was Equity Residential Properties then I waas told it was now owned by Prudential and they were too big to be sued and I had a crappy atty in a little one man office who buckled under the threat even tho his promise to me was the coourt date may 7th 2007.  Well the atty for the boy who was killed, a friend of my atty's  was on the 6pm news being led to jail I think it was fall of 2006 and I had heard absolutely nothing from my atty. Teresa sewenski was being arrested  for bilking her clients outta hundrds of thousands of dollars.  So nobody was looking out for my dead Daughters interest even tho I had given my atty, ralph over 4,000 cash in 03 and had heard nothing.  Then I was forced by my own atty to sign off to Priudential a big fat corp tthat I would not seek money for my daughters life.  He wanted to get something and was afraid of the big corp even tho we proved the smoke alarm did not go off and they the corp had already taken the breaker box.  I believe the fire started in a basket and caught a  light cord on fire but the breaker switch should have tripped and therefore the smoke alarm did not go off,  SOMEONE IS LIABLE  The horrible pig of fire chief, john westfall told me on the phone last summer that if my daughter had not been drinking she would be alive and I mentioned the 2 stupid edmonds cops that stopped her running from firdale villagewhere she would have called me from dennys, but they scared her to death, and one male cop calls another male cop she was verry pretty, it should have been a female cop and they should have taken her home she was 20 years 5 months aND 19 DAYS OLD.  tHey sent her back to the death apt where she called a cab and during the hour wait fel asleep, The boy who ws killed also fell asleep but he had not been driking     THEY BOTH STILL WERE KILLED BY A RUTHLESS CORP AND A VERY BAD FIRE CHIEF< & EDMODS POLICE DEPT> IF anyoe reads and wants to help me please.  I'm also sick, you can't get it but it keeps me down.  So these statue of lim,itations, well If I'm waiting for the terrible mean nasty fire chief to do his job, well I just don't believe he did. I do now believe that they just hoped I would go away  Someone please help   Gayle D Hanks  206-363-9050

The Crisis Intervention Team out of Memphis, trains officers to handle the mentally ill.  Need to check to see if Snohomish county has this program.  I know some agencies in our state have this training provided.  $ holds others back.  NAMI is a national resource for information about all types of mental illness and this program.  No person ill or not ill should die in jail due to a shoplifting arrest.  What the county saved in lack of training they will pay out triple for the law suit that will follow.  And guess who will pay for that?  All the residents in Snohomish county I suspect. 

Tasers can put 50KV or more  across the heart and damage that organ to the point that normal messages

from the brain can no longer get through to control the heart beat.  Tasers have also been known to stop

the heart instaneously in some cases result in the death of the one tased.  The dangers of being killed

by a taser increases rapidly based on the age of the individual being tased.

With the number of deaths attributed to the use of tasers increasing, it might be time to reevaluate

the usage of them as a means of control.  The use of tasers can be every bit as deadly as pulling

ones service weapon and shooting the suspect.

With the above facts in mind, it might be time to limit the use of a taser to life or death situations

instead of simply as a means of controlling an individual

Everybody, take a chill pill.  This story doesn't have enough info to make any kind of judgement.  Let's wait for autopsy result first.

So this man was nearly homeless and possibly mentally ill? So does that give him the right to shoplift, resist arrest and assault jail staff?  Nobody deserves to die for shoplifting, resisting arrest or being combative........but no jail guard should be allowed to be assaulted because the suspect is mentally ill. They have the right to defend themselves. Too many people want to side with the shoplifting, combative individual instead of siding with the men and women who have to deal with the criminals on a everyday basis. I feel sorry his daughter and family but feel sorry for the jail staff too.  If you are getting assaulted you do not have time to "run a checklist" on a person to see what his "past issues" were you have to deal with the current issues which requires self defense.

Time to cut police budgets and place the burden of defense where it belongs, with the people. Just too many poorly trained cops doing bad things. Just look at the last couple months here in the state.

ahh, tazers....Some of you people seem to think cops need them, but the truth is the cops did there jobs for 100 years without them so why use them if people accidentally die when they are used?

How many times did they taze him between sessions of kneeling on his back ? There is more to this story but the only witness is dead. Absolute power corrupts...

Yep it ends up this man was bi polar and in need of his medication. All he needed was some help, not to be assaulted and murdered.

But ever since Reagan kicked the doors to the asylums open we've had a huge problem with mental illness in this country. Its almost impossible to get help for the mentally ill unless you can prove they are a danger to themselves of a danger to other people. And even then they just get sent to Western State Hospital to be warehoused.

Police are of such a poor caliber any more that they can't even tell the difference between someone who needs help and a violent criminal. So when in doubt just assault them.

I would think being arrested at a (gas station) for shoplifting could possibly mean the man was hungry? 

Seems he was not combative with the clerk, yes, shoplifting is a crime, however, I just wonder why he became combative at the jail? if he was not so before and during his arrest and ride to the jail? what were these "Commands" he didn't follow from the jail staff? I would think just placing him in an isolation cell alone would have stopped any combativeness a 60 year old man can do.

Killed for shop lifting. The Taser companies have best practices and they include not using them on the elderly and not using them on people in jail because of the bars. I'm sure some very overweight cop is too stupid to understand he/she just murdered someone.

I'm going to wade into the morass here. I do not know the man in question directly, but I do know his daughter. She is a tax paying citizen who has one of the best hearts of anyone I've met and an excellent mother. I have nothing to doubt her word.

 

Her father was mentally ill and practically living on the street. He may not have even understood/realized he was shoplifting. That area of Broadway is bad news - a lot of drugs, a lot of homeless, a lot of mentally ill homeless who I would describe as "terminally homeless." It's not a great area.

 

There is a fine line between "combative" resisting arrest and a mentally ill person acting out due to their illness. Sadly, as any expert would tell you, versus an arm chair wanna be cop, the way you handle the two are almost polar opposites. The direct force for a mentally ill person is basically an escalation - however when things reach a point, mentally ill or not, anyone involved has a right to defend themselves.

 

Unfortunately, the state of Washington's handling of the mental ill is shameful, and that is about the best thing I can tell you. Our prison system is our mental institutions. Patients who should be getting intensive inpatient treatment wander the streets, becoming more traumatized and layering on paranoia, PTSD, and anxiety to what ever other problems they may have. That isn't an "Everett" problem or a "Seattle" problem it is a statewide problem.

 

Until the root caused is addressed - these stories will continue. Law Enforcement Officers are not trained mental health workers. There is no other way to put it. Sadly, our "system" puts them in that role, over and over and over again. The results are -- tragic.

 

But to those who think this was just a bag of dirt that deserved death. My friend sure doesn't think so. She is heart broken. Someone's father is dead. Someone's grandfather - is dead. That is a tragedy. If you don't think so, you have zero heart.

Police Officers take an oath to "Serve and Protect".  That means everyone.  The man was an idiot, but unarmed.  If you can't live up to your oath, find another line of work.  If you can't control a 60 year old man without a billy club, gun or taser, you're not qualified for the job.

Tasers don't kill people.  People kill themselves by resisting arrest or being combative to LEOs.  

Totally amazed at how many people are out of touch with reality on here. No police officer, jail guard, or other law enforcement  official should have to get their ass kicked before defending themselves.  When people disobey commands they make their own bed. Tragic ending to an event that didn't need to happen. 

Was it tragic?  Yes.  Did the jail guard(s) intentionally kill the old shoplifter?  No.  Did the jail guard(s) used the taser just for fun?  No.  Did the old man shoplift?  Yes.  Did the old man become combative?  I'm going to give the jail staff the benefit of doubt on that.  Any other question?

Shoplifter executed in washington state should be the headline. Tasers KILL people. they normally do less damage to people than a gun but they do kill. holding the trigger in the on position for too long can be fatal. anyone with a weak heart most likely will die from a taser take down. tasers should not be used on people just because they do not comply with your orders. ONLY when your life is in danger should you use a taser and then step it up a notch to a gun if they are still coming at you. tasers are a torture devise and should be used sparingly.

The reason that I am not necessarily convicting the police and/or guards.  I am just basing my opinion on what i have personally witnessed.  Have you ever been arrested by any of the listed agencys or been incarcerated by the snohomish county jail?  I can assure you that King county is much much worse when it comes to brutality.  However, I have seen a trend and it is not good.  People need to quit just automatically believing what police, guards, and employees of the state/government say.  I'm sorry to break the news to you but they are human.  Which means they lie, cheat, and yes abuse thier power.  Just because officers or guards say something happened does not mean that it did.  I have witnessed time and time again the malfeasance within our system.  I'm just saying perhaps the man wasnt combative and I'm sorry if I'm hessitant to take thier word as proof.  With all of the cameras posted these days I say show me the video.  then I will believe that the man was causing a problem.  Until then it is up to the state to prove it. 

I understand what it says and i promise you this THEY LIE

The article doesn't say he voiced his opinion, it says he became combative.  I think tasing is the proper protocol to use when someone becomes combative.  Would you rather they just use their gun?  Why are you convicting the cops without proof?  You said the suspect was not convicted of the crime, yet you are convicting the guards without any type of investigation.  How about trying to be fair to the cops and guards?