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Hearing Impaired Man Shot By Police
by Michael Schwanke
(Wichita, KS)

Donnell Williams had just gotten out of the bath tub, wearing only a towel around his waist, when he turned the corner to see guns pointing right at him.

"I ain't never been so scared," says Williams.

Police forced entry into Williams home while responding to a shooting, but it turned out to be a false call. They had no idea at the time the call wasn't real and that Williams is hearing impaired. Without his hearing aid he is basically deaf.

"I kept going to my ear yelling that I was scared. I can't hear! I can't hear!"

Officers were worried about their own safety because at the time it appeared Williams was refusing to obey their commands to show his hands. That's when they shot him with a Taser.

Deputy Chief Robert Lee of the Wichita Police Department says, "This one occurred on the worst of calls, that being a shooting. The first few minutes getting control of the scene are very, very important."

Once the facts were all sorted out, officers repeatedly apologized to Williams. Police wish it never happened, but with the information they had at the time, their choices were limited.

"Do I wish there would have been some way they were notified in advance this gentleman was hearing impaired? I certainly do. No one is happy with the way it worked out," says Lee.

Williams was not hurt in the incident. Police say the shooting call came from a cell phone but they still don't know who made it or why.

The case is being "reviewed" by the department.

http://www.kwch.com/global/story.asp?s=7446220

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Harper & Day "Adviser" Lobbies For Taser International
By Sue Bailey, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - A Tory election strategist and former adviser to both the prime minister and public safety minister became a lobbyist for Taser International ... soon after use of its guns came under intense scrutiny.



Consultant Ken Boessenkool registered the Arizona-based Taser maker as a client on Nov. 28, two weeks after the videotaped death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski unleashed international outrage.

"I'm not authorized to speak on behalf of my client to the media," Boessenkool said when reached Friday.
"I'd refer you to the Taser media line."

No comment from Taser International was immediately available.

MORE ...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/taser_tories_lobbyist

RCMP To "Curb" Taser Use
(After Critical Report Urges Policy Change)



Curbing? Yah, well unfortunately it's one of the RCMP's favourite "quick fix" techniques.

Not so much part of the solution as it is central to the PROBLEM

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/071214/...l/rcmp_tasers_3

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Fla. Officer Shocks Woman For Raising Voice
Fri Dec 21, 11:58 AM ET

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A police officer used a stun gun to subdue a woman who yelled at her in a crowded electronics store, and prosecutors are reviewing whether to pursue charges against the customer.

While Elizabeth Beeland was trying to purchase a CD player at a Best Buy on Nov. 26, she stepped outside to talk on her phone, leaving her credit card. Concerned about the sudden exit, a store clerk suspected Beeland was using a stolen card and called over a police officer.

Officer Claudia Wright wrote in a police report that when she approached, Beeland became "verbally profane, abusive, loud and irate." She said she warned Beeland to calm down or face arrest.

In a video, Beeland is seen backing away and avoiding Wright, then crumpling to the ground after being hit with the Taser.
Wright was not disciplined, and police Chief Mike Chitwood defended her actions. Beeland was refusing an officer's orders, and using a Taser ... avoided use of other weapons, he said.

Police verified Beeland, 35, was using her own credit card, but she was arrested on two misdemeanors, disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer without violence. She has since pleaded not guilty, and state prosecutors are reviewing whether to pursue the case.

Beeland's attorney William Chanfrau Jr. said he is reviewing the encounter and declined further comment.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported Friday that Daytona Beach police used a Taser 10 times in November, but Beeland was the only person stunned who wasn't acting violently or fleeing.

Amnesty International and American Civil Liberties Union representatives criticized the use of a Taser on Beeland, saying yelling at an officer is not illegal and other methods could have been used.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/tasered_customer;_ylt=ApLiICj1yvK6xKdlFuV6lSthr7sF