The Denver Post
Police Tasers set to stun
Tuesday, May 04, 2004 -
As police officers talked with off- duty security guard Max Kuehn, he stood and reached for his backpack.
In an instant, he was facedown in agony. "I felt it all over my back, the prickly hot feeling all through my back," Kuehn recalled. Kuehn got a 50,000-volt shock from a Taser, a less-than-lethal tool increasingly used by Denver police to avoid wrestling, pushing, chasing or negotiating. Like 33 others among the 230 people who have been shocked by Denver police since March 2003, Kuehn was never charged with a crime. Like nearly 90 percent of those who were "tased," Kuehn was not carrying a weapon. And like many of those who have felt the jolt and crumpled to the ground, Kuehn did whatever police wanted. "Anything to stop the pain," Kuehn said. Denver police have used the jolting devices to stop dangerous suspects and disarm the suicidal. But potentially lifesaving incidents represent just a sliver of Taser uses since the weapon was distributed throughout the department last year. More often, Denver police have used Tasers to force people to obey their orders, to shortcut physical confrontations and, in several cases, to avoid having to run after a suspect, according to a Denver Post analysis of incident reports, court records and citations. And that's precisely how Denver police said they want to use them. But some criminal justice experts and civil rights advocates say the way Denver police use Tasers is at times inappropriate and occasionally abusive. In at least three dozen cases, Denver police tased someone multiple times during a single incident. And one man has been tased during three separate arrests - twice after he was handcuffed and in the patrol car. Additionally:
Click here for an interactive map that lists details of 180 incidents of recent Taser use in Denver.
More than two-thirds of those who were charged after being tased faced only a misdemeanor crime or a citation. Officers tased at least 16 people who were already handcuffed, reports indicate. Police tased 16 juveniles, though the age of those arrested meant that records about the incidents were not available from police or the courts. In 43 cases, police failed to note in court papers that they used a Taser to apprehend the accused and called an ambulance, both of which are required by department policy. Police officials say officers are using Tasers properly and are pleased they have them in their arsenal. "The Taser is not to be used to punish someone. It's not a means of torture," said Division Chief Steve Cooper, who oversees patrol. "But it's inaccurate to think that the Taser should only be used in situations where someone is actively fighting with you or in lieu of a situation where you would use your firearm." He said Tasers were never meant to displace a firearm in a deadly confrontation. Instead, they are used to avoid fighting. "Anything is better than you and I going to the ground, fighting," he said. The way Denver police use the Tasers concerns some members of a panel now charged by Mayor John Hickenlooper with reviewing police policies. "What surprises me, and what causes alarm bells to go off in my mind, is that Tasers are being used during situations that seemingly lack a crisis," said Joseph Sandoval, chairman of Metropolitan State College's criminal justice department and former chairman of Denver's Public Safety Review Committee. "It appears that most were the result of 'contempt of cop."' "It just rattles you" In recent years, the use of Tasers has risen dramatically among law enforcement agencies eager for a nonlethal alternative to nightsticks, flashlights or potentially injurious hand- to-hand battles with belligerent suspects. The maker of the device, Taser International in Scottsdale, Ariz., boasts that more than 4,400 law enforcement agencies - a third of the nation's total - use its product. More than 100 agencies in Colorado are among them. Hickenlooper in December ordered Police Chief Gerry Whitman to put Tasers in the hands of 100 additional officers, bringing to 300 the number in use in the department. A laser sight helps ensure accurate aim. A rechargeable battery provides the 26 watts of power that transmits the 50,000 volts. The shock short-circuits brain signals to voluntary muscles, stiffening them. It's a fraction of the jolt delivered by a defibrillator to restart a person's heart, but it jerks the body in a similar fashion. The entire process, from the moment an officer pulls the trigger to fire two harpoonlike darts at 120 mph, to the electric shock, is 0.25 seconds, faster than the blink of an eye. The duration of the shock is automatically 5 seconds long. It can penetrate 2 inches of clothing and is enough to make the largest man quit any resistance to police. "It's like electricity was coming out of my ears, my toes, my fingers," said Stephen Ronquillo, who was tased by Denver police in April 2003 after getting combative with officers. "It just rattles you. There's nothing like it." Police say Taser use has been a boon to them and the people they deal with. "They've been very effective for us in reducing the number of injuries to officers and prisoners," said Denver police Cmdr. Deborah Dilley, who runs District 6, home to some of the city's highest-crime areas, including Lower Downtown, Capitol Hill and Five Points. Officers in the district have tased 47 people, highest of the six police districts, records show. Hickenlooper was reluctant to comment on the analysis but said he wants police to have Tasers because it helps them do their jobs better. "I don't want to second-guess guys that are risking their life and protecting the public without hearing their side," Hickenlooper said. "I'm not saying there aren't opportunities to improve how we use Tasers, but we are a better city with more Tasers in use because it increases an officer's options." Critics say that the agony generated by the Taser, however brief, means it should be a rarely used option. "Even when it's nonlethal, the Taser causes intense, excruciating, overwhelming pain," said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the Denver chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that has questioned the use of Tasers nationwide. "I think sometimes it seems the message is that this weapon is easier, it's cleaner, we'll not have as many torn or dirty uniforms, there's no need for a wrestling match." An ACLU study released in February concluded that the use of Tasers nationally had contributed to 16 deaths in 2003 - up from three in 2001. Taser's manufacturer acknowledges that 44 people have died after being shot with a Taser, including one in Glendale, but strongly disputes that the device was the cause of any of those deaths. Instead, the company says, drug use or other contributing conditions such as heart defects were the culprits. But whether anyone can die as a result of a Taser blast sidesteps a critical question, said Stephen Nash, a spokesman for Denver CopWatch, a grassroots organization that monitors police behavior. "It's not the mechanism but how it's used that's the greatest concern," Nash said. "It's too ripe for abuse." The Taser is equipped with a computer chip that records every firing, a feature company officials say holds officers accountable for each trigger pull. But unlike a firearm, nightstick or flashlight, a Taser leaves little evidence of its use on the target - sometimes none at all. And unlike police shootings, which undergo an array of independent scrutiny, no one outside the Police Department reviews how Tasers are deployed. There have been no lawsuits and no criminal investigations in Denver regarding an officer's use of a Taser, officials said. Still, community activists are concerned by the pattern of police Taser use. "Police officers are not engaged in a sado-masochistic relationship with the public where they are masters and we are servants, where we have to obey their orders or suffer the consequences," said LeRoy Lemos, who sits on Hickenlooper's task force on police reform. "There should not be a legal justification for an officer to use pain compliance to make a citizen obey an officer's orders." Darlene Ansari agrees. Her husband, Ahmad Ansari, was tased on April 5, 2003, following a family squabble. Court records show that a drunk, unarmed Ansari was verbally combative with police, refusing to comply with their orders to calm down. Police warned him to obey or risk being tased, police reports show. Police said Ansari took a step toward them as he removed his jacket. "Since he was nice enough to remove his coat, I decided to taser him," officer Alex Golston wrote. Cut and bleeding from a window he had broken in anger, Ansari lay on the ground and, according to police, "refused to show his hands." Golston said he pulled the Taser trigger again, sending another 50,000 volts into Ansari. "I don't know why they had to shock him; he was just drinking," Darlene Ansari said of her husband, who is serving a prison term on an unrelated charge. "Maybe they felt he was talking too much." Public reporting rare It's difficult to tell where Denver ranks nationally in terms of how frequently it uses Tasers. Although some information is available, the device is still new to law enforcement, and few cities require public reporting of its use. Seattle police shocked 106 people in the first 13 months that Tasers were deployed there, beginning in January 2001, according to a report that department issued last year. The department has 158 Tasers for 1,036 officers. In Seattle, which is held up by the manufacturer as a model department for Taser use, 25 percent of suspects tased were armed. In Denver, which has about 1,380 officers, 12 percent of the tased suspects were armed. In Portland, Ore., police have tased people at about the same rate as their counterparts here - one person every day and a half, according to Portland police. But unlike some other cities with the new less-than-lethal option, Denver officers aren't shooting suspects with guns any less frequently. Seattle police made it through 2003 without a single fatal police shooting, the first time in 15 years, and officials there attribute the change to Tasers. Likewise, the Miami Police Department had no deadly police shootings for the first time in its 107-year history, and Phoenix saw its number of fatal police shootings drop to its lowest in 14 years. That hasn't happened in Denver. In the first year Tasers have been used throughout the department, records show that the number of fatal shootings has remained unchanged from previous years: seven. And, while the primary reason for issuing Tasers to officers was to reduce the number of injuries to officers, records show on-the-job injuries have increased by about 10 percent in the first year that Tasers were used. From March 2002 through February 2003, records show, 103 Denver officers assigned to the city's six police districts were injured on duty. For the same time frame a year later, the number increased to 115. Sandoval at Metro State said he has heard police argue that physical confrontations can be dangerous. "I cannot, however, come to the conclusion that these tasing incidents are where the officer would be in danger of suffering serious kinds of injuries," said the former Arvada police lieutenant. "It just doesn't seem like it's an appropriate use of Tasers." Denver police policy says Tasers are to be used "to incapacitate a combative or physically resistive person whose conduct rises at least to the level of defensive resistance," according to the department's operations manual. That would include walking or running away from a police officer. Or someone on the ground refusing to put out his or her hands to be handcuffed. In Denver, refusal to submit to handcuffing was a common reason why police used a Taser, records show. Page after page of court records and police reports gives similar accounts of people who were tased for trying to get away from police or resisting a handcuff. There were no weapons, no threats. Most times, there were no drugs found, and the suspect was not under the influence of alcohol. For example, Denver police stopped a man for a traffic infraction in December 2003, then arrested him for having a stolen license plate on his car, records show. When the man refused to comply with commands to put his hands behind his back, the officer pulled out the Taser. "Concerned he was going to run, the defendant was tased," the officer wrote. "Everything about use of force is about obtaining compliance," said John Crank, an expert on policing and police culture, and an author and professor at Florida Atlantic University. Charles Fisher, 40, knows that firsthand. Denver police tased him on March 26, 2003, after he was stopped in his car for making a left turn without a signal, records show. Fisher allegedly sped off, then pulled over a few blocks later. He resisted officers' efforts to handcuff him, police said. He was tased, officers wrote, "to gain suspect compliance." More troubling to some is that police aren't using Tasers to control only the most violent and dangerous suspects. They use them against suspects who are eventually charged with some of the most mundane crimes. Said Division Chief Cooper: "It's not always the bank robber that gives you trouble." Records show that police tased 98 people - more than half of the 180 tasings that were reviewed - but charged them only with resistance, interference or both. Most times, the person was belligerent, combative or just plain disrespectful. "Many of these situations aren't even close, where even the most stereotypical rogue cop wouldn't even dream of pulling out a gun, yet they're using Tasers," said the ACLU's Silverstein. "I am beginning to see how the Taser is being used as an instrument of torture to inflict pain when there is no legitimate law enforcement interest." Some never charged Like Max Kuehn, the 35-year- old off-duty security guard tased outside a diner, there are 33 others whom police tased but never charged with a crime. Police took Kuehn, a Denver Art Museum employee for the past five years, to Denver Mental Health Center. There, despite having no history of mental illness according to records he provided The Post, he was forced into an evaluation before his release five days later. It's not known whether others among the 34 who were tased but not charged were also treated as mental patients. There is nothing about the 34 tasings that police will let the public see. There are no police reports; there are no arrest records. Any details are hidden in the department's use-of-force reports that officers fill out every time a Taser is deployed. And police officials have refused requests to release those documents. But there have been times when Tasers were used on the disturbed or agitated - perhaps saving their lives. Persian Gulf War veteran Morgan Stewart was despondent four days after Memorial Day last year and was threatening suicide. His mother, Sherilyn Derstine, called police, who arrived to find a large, angry man who did not want to calm down. But when he refused to get up off a bed, rather than shooting him, officers tased him. "It knocked me out," the 34-year-old former Marine said. "I thought I was dead or something." His mother is grateful. "If they didn't have a Taser, they'd have to physically subdue or use a weapon on him," Derstine said. "The outcome could have ended up a lot worse." Denver hasn't used the weapon just to stop suspects from fighting, resisting or running away. On 16 occasions, Denver police tased a suspect who records indicate was already handcuffed, a practice that department rules say officers should avoid. Ronquillo, 25, was one of them. "There was no reason," Ronquillo said in a recent interview at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Center in Caņon City. He's serving a two-year sentence for felony menacing unrelated to the tasing incident. "I can understand if I took off running or was trying to kick at them or punch them," said Ronquillo, who was tased on April 19, 2003, when he became agitated during a traffic stop after police asked for his identification. Department policy dissuades officers from using a Taser on a handcuffed suspect who continues to be combative or violent, encouraging first the use of traditional hands-on methods, Division Chief Cooper said. "Would I make an assumption that just because a person was handcuffed that the use of a Taser was inappropriate? No," he said. "Just because you put handcuffs on someone, that doesn't mean the incident is over. The policy is not absolute in the prohibition against using a Taser." In some departments, such as Phoenix's, officers are prohibited from tasing a handcuffed suspect who resists entering a police car. Of how Denver police treated him, Ronquillo asked: "Why would they zap a handcuffed person?" Damon Fields, a former Thornton High School football standout, asks the same question. Police have tased him three different times, twice while he was handcuffed in the back of a patrol car, records show. Fields, currently jailed on aggravated robbery charges, said his belligerence might have goaded officers to shoot him with a Taser. "I get ignorant on them, and they shoot that thing at me," Fields said from the Denver jail's detention facility, where he's awaiting a court appearance. In the last incident, police reports show that Fields, whom police described as a belligerent crack user, kicked out a patrol car window after he was arrested and handcuffed. Fields was taken from the patrol car - "to avoid further damage," police wrote - and placed "gently" on the ground. He was tased when he tried to stand up, records show. "Incredibly painful" A mild stroke left former mortgage banker James Duncan, 58, susceptible to seizures that make him verbally combative with anyone who tries to restrain him. In July 2003, he got into a confrontation at City Park Golf Course, and police were called. Officers quickly demanded to frisk him, records show. Duncan, already in the throes of a seizure, refused. The officers warned Duncan to comply "or go to jail for interference." He pulled away when officers touched him, records show. One fired a Taser. "It was incredibly painful," he said. "Here I am at this age, I didn't do anything. I had nothing to suggest a threat or a danger." Duncan, who had never been arrested in his life, was charged with interference, disturbing the peace and misdemeanor assault, records show. The city attorney's office dismissed all charges, records show, "in the interest of justice," the office wrote. Like Duncan, four other people who were tased by police had all charges dropped with similar explanation, records show. Duncan was left with a $3,000 bill for an ambulance trip and emergency room removal of the Taser probes. The city has refused to pay, despite his innocence. Twice Duncan's relatives wrote city officials - once to the mayor - and asked them to handle the bill. The response was identical each time: "The use of the Taser was necessary," they wrote, "as was the decision to arrest Mr. Duncan."
Staff writer David Migoya can be reached at 303-820-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com . |