Man files complaint over Taser incident
Published: November 20, 2009
Updated: November 20, 2009
NEWPORT, R.I.—A North Providence man who claims a Newport police officer shot him with a stun gun has filed a notice of intent to sue the city.
Colin Millar alleges he had gone to a city home on Sept. 11 to register for a spearfishing tournament scheduled for the next day. He says in his complaint that while there, a uniformed officer struck him in the chest with a Taser without warning or justification.
Millar says the officer told him it was a “joke,“ and later told a paramedic the weapon discharged “accidentally.“
He is seeking $961 in medical expenses and a $25,000 settlement.
A police spokesman tells The Providence Journal the incident is under investigation. The officer was not named.
Under state law, a claimant must give the city notice before suing.
Reader Reactions
Give policemen free reign to pull and use these weapons—yes, WEAPONS—any time they want to and you’re looking for lawsuits. Or have you forgotten that these seemingly ‘non-lethal’ weapons have already resulted in the deaths of many people—some of whom were NOT punks or hoodlums.
The same thing that this weapon uses—electricity—is also used by doctors in hospitals to stop and restart heart action. These weapons can be just as lethal—and sometimes more so—than handguns. If you’re shot by a handgun, you may have more chance to survive than if you’re shot by a tazer—and your heart is stopped by the electric charge.
It was a “joke”?, this lawsuit would be a joke. Police should be allowed to use tasers whenever they want; it’s safer than having to deal with some drunk/high punk looking to cause trouble. There is not argument that this guy was doing just that, and now he is looking for money any way that he can to support his bad habits. Clearly the police officer that shot this guy should be awarded with a medal declaring him the best officer in Newport. If cops have to second guess whether or not to use their tasers in a dyer situation because they don’t want to be associated with a lawsuit, they wouldn’t be serving the public as efficiently as possible; just tase the punks and sort it out later. “Don’t tase me bro!“
Police think that since Tazers are supposed to be a ‘non-lethal’ weapon, that it is allright to pull them and use them whenever they want to. Those things are still weapons, and its high time that the police—the ones who think of them not as weapons but as something OK to brandish whenever they want to—be told otherwise.
If those Tazers aren’t weapons, why aren’t they allowed to be freely sold. They’re controlled as tightly as handguns are—even more so.
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