A 22-year-old man believed to be under the influence of meth, and reportedly carrying a couple of knives, almost died early this morning after a long struggle with two police officers that ended only after one of the cops Tasered him.
After just one Taser cycle, the man—reportedly burning so hot in the cold air his body was giving off steam—almost immediately started having breathing troubles. Then, while an ambulance was on the way, his heart stopped. He’s still alive now only because one of the officers quickly administered CPR, buying time until medical workers arrived.
It’s a lucky break for everybody that the man didn’t die—and that no officers were injured during the incident. It’s also a reminder that Tasers, introduced years ago as a way to avoid using deadly force and keep cops from being hurt during struggles, are referred to as “less-lethal,” and not “non-lethal,” for a reason.
Based on what the cops described, the man was showing signs of what some experts call “excited delirium,” an agitated state associated with stimulants and often a factor in deaths that follow the use of a Taser or other police restraints. Whether it’s the Taser or an underlying issue that’s more to blame remains something of a controversy.
“We’ve been saying that since day one,” says Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch. “A Taser can stop someone’s heart, which it apparently did.”
The timing of this incident is especially significant given two separate discussions yesterday in front of the Portland City Council. Advocates from the city’s police oversight Citizen Review Committee presented a report calling on officers to limit the number of times Tasers can be used on one person to three, citing risk of injury. The council also took up, again, federally mandated police reform that also includes Taser policy changes.
Among the proposed changes is a new rule to avoid using Tasers on someone who isn’t well—the man wasn’t acting rationally, cops say—unless an officer’s about to get hurt. Cops also likely will be told to stop after every Taser cycle, like the officers in today’s struggle did, and re-evaluate before zapping someone with 50,000 volts once again.
Read the full release after the jump.
Today, November 9, 2012, at 3:41 a.m., Portland Police officers contacted a 22-year-old man at North Ida Avenue and Central Street who was acting suspiciously and riding his bicycle without a light.
The man began acting strangely and told officers that he had something for them and lifted up his shirt, exposing the handle of a large knife in his waistband.
The officers grabbed onto the man’s arms and removed the knife from his waistband. The man began to struggle with officers and began to drag the officers northbound on Ida Avenue.
After a significant struggle, the man broke free and ran from officers, hopping a fence into a yard at North Ida and Central Street.
One officer caught up to him and the man again said he had something for the officers as he reached down into his waistband. One officer was struggling to gain control of him but was unable to so the other officer deployed a Taser.
After a one-cycle Taser deployment, officers noticed the man’s breathing was shallow, his pulse was low and he became non-responsive. Officers noted that his body was sweaty and steaming. He was not handcuffed and was rolled onto his side to assist with breathing.
Officers called for medical personnel to immediately respond then checked his pulse again and noticed that he had no pulse. Officers immediately began performing CPR. Additional officers and medical personnel arrived and were able to revive the man and transport him to a Portland hospital.
Medical staff determined that the man was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of his arrest. He is recovering in a Portland hospital.
Officers found a second knife in his pants pocket as well as methamphetamine and cocaine after his arrest. Officers discovered that the man had a Felony Parole Violation (Robbery) warrant.
Upon his release from the hospital, the man’s name will be released and he’ll be booked into the Multnomah County Jail. As in all uses-of-force by Portland Police Bureau members, an internal review will be conducted.
Shocked that the cops didn’t shoot the guy dead with a gun once they caught up to him the second time and he reached into his waistband. Maybe this is some sort of progress?
“One officer caught up to him and the man again said he had something for the officers as he reached down into his waistband. One officer was struggling to gain control of him but was unable to so the other officer deployed a Taser.”
That sounds like 100% appropriate response to the situation. The police were faced with deadly force and an erratic, uncooperative, agitated man. They attempted to restrain him without using any sort of deadly (or “less-lethal”) force, and were finally forced to use a taser to prevent harm to themselves or the assailant.
Unfortunately, the assailant had a medical reaction to the taser. The officers immediately requested medical assistance and began to perform CPR.
What more can you ask for?
Dan Handelman isn’t right on this one. This guy had two weapons and threatened the officers and wasn’t cooperating. I haven’t always been too keen on the cops use of force but we can’t expect them to get stabbed. One problem with the activists like Handelman is they do good work but go too far. Bottom line, if this guy would have died, it was his fault and no one else. I don’t want the cops to stop taking idiots off the street who are riding around high on meth with deadly weapons.
Agree with Hank. As many problems as PPD has had what do you expect officers to do in this situation?
It’s a much easier stance to criticize taser use by police AFTER it has occurred than to have an effective stance on when is an acceptable time and place to use a taser — or if the use of tasers should be an outright ban altogether?
What is Dan’s official stance on the use of tasers?
A cursory browsing of Portland Copwatch did not reveal a specific stance on tasers (i.e., whether they should be banned outright or any specific standard operating procedures a police officer should follow in order to be justified in using tasers).
I think a meth-head under the influence of drugs with felonies threatening people with deadly weapons is probably a justified case.
I wonder if Sam Adams has ever been in a situation where he had to use force to subdue someone?
Taste the rainbow, bitches.
I think they tried much harder to subdue this guy than they should have. Those of you applauding their restraint – you still think cops should be superheros, tackling bad guys to the ground and occasionally getting punched, kicked, bitten, whatever. Its nice to hear that you draw the line at stabbing, but they’re just city employees making $50k a year. Believe it or not, but brawling with drug addicts ISN’T part of their job, any more than it is for the meter maids or the DMV staff.
I’m glad they were able to get the knives away from this guy without getting stabbed, but what about the next guy? And the one after that? And the one after that? How can they expect to live through a 30-year career, if they have to manually tackle every guy with a knife? The risk for any one encounter should be low enough that, when you add up all the encounters for a 30-year career, the total is STILL low enough that everyone can live to retirement! That’s NOT what happened here.
I mean, imagine you’re facing a man with a knife who’s trying to stab you. You’re highly trained, and he’s drugged out, so the odds are in your favor. It’s 20-to-1 that you’ll take him down without getting stabbed. Great odds, right? Except that if you have to do that every week, you’ll die within 20 weeks. You’ll probably die before the end of January.
Even if you only had to do it once a year, you’d still die within 20 years.
Who the fuck would sign up for that career, for $50k a year and all the hipster hatred you want?