Exodus Mentality, believe you me I am in no way trying to bring up an issue that is "sexy." I am not a journalist or an activist of any sort. I am a home owner raising a black boy to be a man in a country where the public fears black men and the police don't like them and therefore think they can do whatever they want to them.

Just for clarification, you say Mr. Thomas was kicked in the head...Mr. Thomas wasn't kicked in the head, he was punched in the head, but my point is that when someone is tasered they are ELECTROCUTED. On the news they said that electical wires are 35,000 volts and a taser is 50,000 volts which makes a taser more lethal than the wires that light your home and YES the autopsy was done and of course it was concluded that there was no excessive force used. I am against tasers b/c no one should be electrocuted and tasering someone 3x does come under the subject of excessive force. Excessive force was the basis of the whole investigation anyway.

"Natalie Says: Just this week (week of August 4,2008) in my neighborhood of Swissvale, PA a man by the name of Andre Thomas was tasered to death by the police."

I have consistently seen this case help up as the latest model case against tasers. What I can't fathom is why this case is being depicted as a case where someone was tased to death? Has anyone seen an autopsy? Isn't it as least as likely that he died as a result of getting kicked in the head?

Before someone gets the wrong impression, I am not saying that the police are right or righteous in this case. But the simple fact of the matter is, the only reason this case is billed as a "tasered to death" incident is because some people have a vendetta against the taser. And that energy and focus is, IMHO, misguided and misplaced.

Each and every one of these cases is an excessive force case, and I have yet to meet an anti-taser activist who is willing to even entertain a discussion about why it's more important to launch a campaign against tasers than it is to focus on illegal and excessive use of force by law enforcement officials, regardless of the manner or fashion of that force.

In the case Natalie mentioned, is the brother any less dead because he was kicked in the head? Is it that the sensationalism of a taser incident is more sexy and headline catching than say, "Black man kicked to death by police"?

There is a fundamental problem with the American law enforcement culture as it has evolved from the slave catchers in the 18th century to the ghetto storm troopers of today. That most definitely needs to be addressed, but I guarantee that will get no play in the taser discussion. There is a fundamental problem with how the justice system dispenses justice to it's front line soldiers. The same prosecutors and judges who work so intimately with the police to effect and administer justice have time and time again proven that they are simply to close to be objective. There most definitely needs to be a change in how the justice system is itself policed, but that line of thought will also get no play in the taser discussion.

Finally, as evidenced by the reference to the "don't taze me bro" incident (which I found hilarious by the way; I know my sense of humor is way too dark), the general public has a fundamental misunderstanding about police and police work. The vast majority of the population get all their information about police work from the Tell-Lie- Vision. There is little real understanding of the job or the people who do it. This is particularly critical in urban high population areas where policing is often like working in a war zone. PTSD is real (but excited delirium is a crock of crap) and there are many officers who simply should not be allowed to carry a badge and a gun. This also will never get a moments thought in the context of a movement against Tasers or a movement to highlight taser incidents against Black people.

Something has to be done. That we can all agree on. But is anyone willing to at least have a rational discussion about what needs to be done? Or are we simply in do anything mode, and hope that the journey of a thousand miles that begins with one step doesn't become a journey of a thousand and one miles because you started out stepping in the wrong direction?

Just this week (week of August 4,2008) in my neighborhood of Swissvale, PA a man by the name of Andre Thomas was tasered to death by the police. He was frantic and under the belief that someone was trying to kill him and when someone in the neighborhood called the police TO HELP HIM the police were the ones who killed him by tasering him three times (for a total of 150,000 volts of electricity) and then punching him in the head while he lay on the ground in handcuffs. I don't think this is a laughing matter. The police constantly wonder why people no longer trust them and why no one likes them and then they turn around and do horrible things like this. It is just heartbreaking that if someone is scared and acting erratic due to some fear or emergency the police can just taser that person b/c they see fit.

When my nephew was only four years old he asked me "why do the police kill people?" I was stunned that at such a young age he would notice this. I managed to calm his fears of the police, but now he is 14 and lives in our home with us. So what do I tell him now? Why did the police kill a man before they even knew what the hell was going on????

I believe we are all potential victims of this abusive behavior. White people think they are far removed from this type of brutality, but they get tasered too (God knows not as often as blacks do). This is a decent neighborhood with a 10 pm curfew for kids under 18 where blacks and whites live side by side.

Currently there is an investigation to see if Mr. Thomas was under the influence of drugs and as always if he was everyone will breath a sigh of relief and roll over in their beds to a good night's sleep believing to themselves he was asking to be tasered and that it could never happen to them.

Are police officers so stupid as to not know the harm they can bring to an individual by using a taser or do they just not give a sh**?

We just bought our first home in Swissvale and I regret it b/c if the cops here are brutal and abusive I guess I will have to sell my home and move out to the suburbs.

DON'T TAZE ME BRO'!!!
(or is it don't taze the bro'?)

One of my guilty pleasures (no, it's NOT electrocuting people!) is Dateline's "To Catch A Predator" reality series. For the uninitiated, Chris Hansen exposes would-be child predators who hook up with underaged children online. After catching the suspects on camera, they are free to leave the premise; where police officers are waiting to make the arrest. One story was particularly memorable because the suspect (a black man) was tasered during his arrest. Apparently, he didn't surrender fast enough. While I'm not trying to draw attention away from the crime itself, equally deplorable was the amount of force used so needlessly.

I suspect that after the infamous Wake Forest study, law enforcement officials give themselves some sort of license to taser as a "safe" substitute for nightsticks or (absolute worse case) firearms. Until another study is done to contradict the veracity of the aforementioned study (to actually show a casual relationship between the use of tasers and death), I doubt tasering will let up any time soon.

Tasers are the new glocks. Torture seems to be appropriate for cops where letting off on someone and claiming "He made a move!" has gone a little sour.