Tasers, batons, pepper spray and other corrections or police officer tools are meant to be used by properly trained law enforcement personnel and only used in situations where reasonably appropriate.
Unfortunately poorly trained corrections officers, jailers, police, or sheriff’s deputies from New York to California, and everywhere in between too often randomly and inappropriately use these tools – and they can cause horrific injuries or death.
If you or a loved one were tasered, beaten, or pepper sprayed in violation of your civil rights causing injuries or death, you are likely entitled to compensation.
Here are the dangers from this equipment when in the hands of an incompetent or rogue corrections or law enforcement officer:
Tasers
Taser guns can be deadly. People who have been harmed by a law enforcement officer using a taser may be entitled to substantial compensation.
Tasers can cause muscle contractions, which are usually meant to incapacitate suspects. Unfortunately, officers tend to abuse them. If a person is repeatedly tasered, they can have a heart attack and even die.
Whether in the hands of a state trooper, a deputy, or a correctional officer, a taser can become a deadly weapon. If the taser leads to unexpected effects, manufacturers can sometimes be liable for any resulting injuries.
In order to prove that there has been excessive use of force, as attorneys we look at different types of evidence. Our legal team may demand to see police logs detailing when tasers were deployed. We often look also at policies and law enforcement training manuals to establish whether an officer used the taser in a way that was consistent with their training. And we frequently resort to footage from car and body cameras to review the way an incident unfolded.
Baton Injuries
Batons can be made of materials like aluminum or polycarbonate.
According to statistics, they cause only minor injuries 32 percent of the time, but in 3 percent of cases, victims require hospitalization. According to standard police procedure, they should not be used to strike a suspect’s head, spine, or neck, unless someone’s life is at stake.
Pepper Spray
Pepper spray is usually aimed at the suspect’s eyes to cause disorientation. It has been deadly only rarely, for example, as a result of asphyxia or in conjunction with other factors, such as specific medical conditions. The effects of pepper spray can usually be relieved using water and sometimes oxygen.
Just like tasers, pepper spray is often used in violation of civil rights, within prisons and jails.
Preventable Tragedies
Standard police equipment is routinely used in violation of civil rights. When “suspects” are healthy, they stand a bigger chance of emerging relatively unharmed from a confrontation. However, on many occasions, officers have used excessive force on people suffering from conditions that rendered a beating or tasering deadly.
Some of the most horrendous abuses reported to date involve the tasering of pregnant suspects. In one recent case a New York police officer tasered a woman named Dailene Rosario. Unbeknownst to the officer, Rosario was pregnant, in her 14th week. While the victim recovered fairly quickly, as a result of the shock, her baby was born with a severe condition involving regular seizures.
The same can be true of suspects and inmates who are frail or old, who are children, or have a heart condition.
While using equipment in violation of police rules, and civil rights as a whole, is always wrong, in a large number of cases, the consequences of such actions can be extremely severe.
If your loved one has been a victim, you can file a complaint to obtain compensation for lost pay, medical bills, and more. If the abuse was deadly, you may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Successful lawsuits can set important precedents and help protect the lives of potential victims of police brutality.
Victim? Family of Victim? Call our nationwide jail death and injury law firm to learn your rights. No cost, no obligation confidential conversation with an attorney on our team.
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