What is the world coming to

[quercus alba]

95-Year Old Man Tasered to Death by Police in Illinois Nursing Home
Posted on July 29, 2013



PARK FOREST, Ill., July 28 (UPI) – A 95-year-old Illinois man who allegedly confronted police officers with a knife and cane died after they shot him with a stun gun and bean bag rounds.

Yes, a cane.

Officers were called to an assisted living home in the village of Park Forest Friday after the man, identified as John Warna, allegedly became combative with employees of a private ambulance company who were attempting to transfer him to a hospital for medical treatment, The (Chicago) SouthtownStar reported.

Police said Warna was threatening the facility’s staff and paramedics with a metal cane and a shoehorn when officers arrived.

There’s that cane again.

Police said they used a stun gun on Warna and struck him with beanbag rounds after he refused to drop the items and grabbed a 12-inch butcher knife instead.

A cause of death had not been released by Saturday evening, NBC News reported.

I may not be a medical examiner, but I’m pretty sure 50,000 volts and a round of bean bags may have had something to do with it.






The hospital staff says there was no knife and none was found at the scene.

[LW]

A. How would the hospital staff know what was at the scene? And the knife sure wouldnt have been taken to the hospital.
B. How did he get a knife? Could be a good reason such as it was an apartment setting at an assisted living facility.
C. Why didn't somebody subdue him before he grabbed the knife?
D. My paramedics would have treated him like the unruly child that he had the mentality of and situation controlled.
E. Somebody just got their tazer.

[HideHunter]

Very good post LW.

All they had to do was walk off a safe distance for 30 minutes. I don't know about 95 but at 62, by then I'd forgot what I was mad about.

[Thumper]

An aggressive 95 year old? Sheeesh! The first thing that comes to mind is dementia.

One of my contracts was with a "chain" of nursing homes (Florida is FULL of them). Before signing my contract, the management required me to sit through a "training session" on dealing with the elderly. Part of the training concerned patients with dementia. I learned it is very common for dementia sufferers to sometimes display violent behavior. In fact, I believe the statistic they quoted in the meeting was something like 96% (or 98% maybe?). Surely the tazer should have been a last resort. Tazers are considered non-lethal, but come on, I'd have to assume hitting a 95 year old with one would have made me think it very well could be. I think someone was a bit "trigger happy" here. They probably could have knocked him off his feet (or at least off balance) by throwing a pillow at him. He may have broken a hip ... but it probably wouldn't have been lethal.

[Big Skyz]

Whenever I read about such things about old people or children, I just consider, I wasn't there and don't know how things went down. He may have come across as a real threat. We've all been around some crazy old coot that if they had a weapon they could do some damage. I've also been about some very angry elementary aged children that if they had a weapon they would be just as potentially lethal as an adult. Bottom line if the cops show up and you are DUMB enough to brandish a weapon, then you get what you got coming to you.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I guess that's one way of looking at it. I'm not sure a 95 year old man with dementia is capable of being crazy or foolish though, any more than a bear or cougar is capable of being vicious. they are just being what they are.

BKB

[quercus alba]

Said he had a metal cane and a shoe horn. I'd hate to think I couldn't disarm a 95 year old man with a lightweight aluminum cane and a shoe horn. Another article said the police officers were in full riot gear with shields. Imagine what would have happened if they had to face an 80 year old armed with a "gasp" wooden cane and a safety razor.

back off and let him settle down then sedate him. I sense a lawsuit of biblical proportions coming on.

[johnboy]

Yeah, sounds like a complete over reaction. Unless he was in the process of hurting someone just back off and wait till nap time and he'd have fallen asleep.

Sounds like the cops in Toronto shooting a guy with a knife on an empty streetcar 9 times then tazering him when he was down. Why not just close the door and leave him there to cool down?

[Thumper]

Hmmm, seems age may not be the culprit. This is hot off the Florida presses:

Florida teen dies after being shocked by police stun gun

Published August 08, 2013
Associated Press

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Miami Beach police say an 18-year-old died after being shocked with a stun gun as he resisted arrest for spraying graffiti.

Chief Ray Martinez told the Miami Herald that officers spotted Israel Hernandez-Llach painting graffiti on an abandoned fast-food restaurant early Tuesday. Martinez said the teen ran, but was eventually cornered. He said Hernandez-Llach then ran at the officers and one shot him with a Taser in the chest. The teen went into medical duress and died at a hospital.

The teen's friends told the Herald that Hernandez-Llach was originally from Colombia. His teachers at Miami Beach High School said he was a talented artist and photographer.