The Fort Worth law firm of Kobs & Haney has issued a press release announcing that they have filed a lawsuit on behalf of clients Kathi Hammock and daughter against Taser International for the wrongful death of Eric Hammock.
Eric Hammock died shortly after being shot multiple times with a Taser in Fort Worth on April 3, 2005. See my earlier entry titled Eric Jay Hammock: 5/20/1961 - 4/3/2005, R.I.P. for details.
Jeffrey Kobs and Mark Haney apparently represent the plaintiffs.
An earlier news report [sorry, no news link] had said that the cause of Mr. Hammock's death was cocaine intoxication and not the Taser. I wondered at the time just how anyone could say for sure that cocaine caused his death and that he would have died anyway if he had not been shot with the Tasers. One might expect a self serving statement from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office, but Dr. Nizam Peerwani at least doesn't deny that Tasers played a role. See Dallas Morning News:
"We can't say Tasers caused the death," said Peerwani, the county's medical examiner since 1979. "Tasers may have played some role. We are basically saying there's a temporal relationship."
The anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that a human body might be more susceptible of dying from a Taser wound if the person had an intoxicating drug in his/her system. I'm not condoning illegal drug usage, and I don't use them myself. But, it shouldn't condemn a person to death at the muzzle end of a Taser gun.
To be continued.
Update: 7/18/05, 2:34 pm - More about this case and Taser in links below:
- AP article in the 7/18/05 edition of the Midland Reporter-Telegram titled Groups question Taser gun safety after suspects' death.
- FWWeekly article about Tasers titled Torture by Taser.
- AZCentral.com special report on Tasers saying, among other things, "The Arizona Republic, using computer searches, autopsy reports, police reports, media reports and Taser's own records, has identified 132 cases in the United States and Canada of death following a police Taser strike since September 1999."
Well, a violent person under the influence of drugs is THE most likely person to use the Taser on. Let's remember what the alternative(s) are to the Taser right now: bullets, batons, or lawlessness. Since people will not stop abusing drugs or fighting cops, right now this is what we have.
Posted by: GruntDoc | July 18, 2005 at 02:54 PM
The Midland PD has had pretty good luck with a gun that shoots a rubber bullet about the size of a billiard ball.
It leave a bruise but so far at least it hasn't killed anyone.
Posted by: Geo | July 18, 2005 at 03:40 PM
They haven't killed anyone in Midland, but all the kinetic 'less than lethal' devices can kill, you just have to be lucky.
And, that's beside the point. There's no way every patrol officer could carry one of those guns (which shoots once, then has to be reloaded), but they can carry the taser, which is smaller, and can be used several times, as needed.
Posted by: GruntDoc | July 18, 2005 at 03:51 PM
The rubber bullet gun is just one of them. There's also a gun that shoots pellets containing some sort of pepper.
GruntDoc, I don't have the stats, but I sincerely doubt that the Taser is the least lethal of the "non-lethal" weapons.
But, as for convenience, I agree with you that Tasers are extremely easy to use, as needed or not. And clearly some jurisdictions are willing to make that trade off.
Posted by: Geo | July 18, 2005 at 05:21 PM
eric was a friend i know from high school.new deal.he was always a good person and as far im concerned he was executied.eric you will be missed
Posted by: darrell doss | December 30, 2006 at 09:11 AM
There are many obstacles to be overcome when making a wrongful death claim for compensation – not least your own feelings of grief as you compile the documents which are required to support your application. With the exception of wrongful death claims which are due to medical negligence
Posted by: wrongful death | December 13, 2010 at 10:30 PM
A taser gun is just like a stun gun but it is more effective in terms of its voltage and in some other aspects as well. It is a long-ranged weapon which means that it can pick off targets at long distance as well.
Posted by: Jairus Nadab | July 25, 2019 at 06:02 AM