Tasered, then died
2014 > 1 July 2014
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: This is a list of known deaths in 2014 (up to 1 July) following taser discharges. Excluding the case in bold and italics, 15 deaths have been reported, all male, and all except one in the United States. This six-month total (the equivalent of a 30 year total) is certainly a substantial decline from previous years: 55 in 2013, 63 in 2012, 66 in 2011, 60 in 2010 – as reported on the TruthNotTasers web-site . ]]
Source: GlobalShock.org database
See explanatory notes below table to interpret this post
Date of death | name | age | sex | location | summary of circumstances | |
2104-06-07 | Daniel Best | 34 | M | Gilbert, Arizona | Nude and yelling, domestic violence call, unarmed, unclear how many times tasered, at least once; medical distress, died shortly after in hospital | |
2014-06-26 | Dominic Graffeo | 56 | M | Chelsea, Massachusetts | Mentally disturbed, violent, died within minutes of two taser discharges | |
2014-06-04 | Name not released | — | M | Burnaby, BC : CANADA | Agitated; tasered following domestic dispute; taser “had no effect”; medical distress on arrest; died shortly after | |
2014-05-12 | Ronald Hillstrom | 44 | M | University Place, Washington State | “out of control” with screwdriver, tasered, taken to hospital where he died | |
2014-05-07 | Dominique Franklin Jr. | 23 | M | Chicago, Illinois | Running from police, tasered, hit pole, medical distress, died in hospital 5 hours later | |
2014-05-06 | George King | 19 | M | Baltimore, Maryland | Unarmed and heavily medicated African-American foster-youth tasered in hospital 5 times in drive-stun mode, went into coma and died a week later in hospital | |
2014-04-29 | Clayton Lockett | 38 | M | Oklahoma | TASER NOT CAUSE OF DEATH, BUT … Death-row inmate victim of 54-min botched execution by the State of Oklahoma, was tasered by prison staff 11 hours before he died | |
2014-04-23 | Tyrone Davis | 43 | M | Natchez, Mississippi | Police: “he failed to cooperate” and they were “forced to use taser”; died a few minutes later | |
2014-04-20 | Randall Hatori | 39 | M | Big Island, Hawaii | Tasered multiple times and pinned down following car chase; initial cause of death: enlarged heart/cardiac arrest and methadone. 2nd medical examiner “found no evidence that being tased contributed to … death” | |
2014-04-13 | Jose Maldonado | 22 | M | East Hartford, Connecticut | Arrested for acted violently, disruptive in police HQ, tasered, medical distress following taser discharge, died in hospital | |
2014-04-13 | Edward Michael Caruth | 38 | M | Phoenix, Arizona | Acting strangely and mumbling, resisted arrest, tasered at least 4 times, medical distress, died on arrival at hospital | |
2014-04-11 | Gregory Towns | 24 | M | East Point, Georgia | Domestic dispute call, mile police-chase, tasered once (Police), tasered up to six times (witnesses), medical stress, died on arrival at hospital. Medical examiner’s initial report:“probably died from yet to be determined natural cause(s) exacerbated by his physical exertion in fleeing the scene.” | |
2014-04-11 | Treon “Tree” Johnson | 27 | M | Hialeah, Florida | Died in the custody of Hialeah police after they found him on a rooftop throwing coconuts at a dog that had bitten him. Police tasered him and transferred him to Hialeah Hospital where he went into cardiac arrest and died. | |
2014-02-05 | Willie Sams | 21 | M | Miami-Dade, Florida | Died after Miami-Dade Police used a Taser on him during an altercation. | |
2014-02-27 | Maykel Antonio Barrera | 39 | M | Miami-Dade, Florida | Altercation with police following domestic dispute call; ran from police, who tasered him as he fought with them, injuring 2 officers, according to police, became unresponsive, died shortly after arriving in hospital. | |
2014-02-26 | Name not released | — | M | Irving, Texas | Man “appeared to be on drugs”, wrestled naked with police in a bar, was tasered and then hospitalized and died. “The Taser had no apparent effect” say police |
Explanatory Notes:
Sources: The principle source is media reporting, particularly local media, and omitting “politically-motivated charges”. These followed by cross-checking independent reports, police reports, official enquiries (rare) and a few personal contacts; this information (and sources, including URLs) can be found on posts on GlobalShock.org.The outstanding single reliable source, with which these data have been cross-checked, is TruthNotTasers.blogspot.ca, where a complete, regularly up-dated “list-of-the-dead” can be found on the front-page (totalling 851 as of July 1 2014).
Date of death: Cases are arranged in descending order. The date is sometimes approximate and accurate to within a few days, since referred to as “last week”, “died a week later in hospital”, etc. Cross-checked when possible.
Name: A few not released (in italics), such as children, or on family’s request, or otherwise unavailable in our database
Location: Municipality and State in USA; Countries outside the United States where deaths are reported are CAPITALIZED.
Summary of circumstances: This is to provide an initial handle on what happened and may be contested by police, etc. Summary autopsy results (and/or coroners’ reports, etc.) are added where available. For more details in each case, victim’s name in GlobalShock.org search-box (or in Google, etc.)
Italics and bold: Cases where taser discharge preceded death (our criterion), but taser as cause of death can be ruled out.