Federal Appeals Court rules on Taser use

http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=72435 (sorry for the corporate link)

“SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court in San Francisco has ruled that police can’t zap someone with a stun gun unless the suspect poses an immediate threat.

Monday’s ruling sets police standards for use of the Taser, saying stun guns must be used only when “substantial force” is needed.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said officers can’t Taser a person simply for acting erratically or disobeying orders.

The ruling allows a San Diego-area man to proceed to trial in a lawsuit against police in the San Diego County town of Coronado.

Carl Bryan said he was shocked, fell and lost four teeth because he was acting erratically but was unarmed, stood far away and never menaced the officer.

Sacramento attorney Mark Merin has represented the families of taser death victims and said this ruling is key because it eliminates qualified immunity for the officers, “Which means it could be the officers own pocket that gets hit with the penalties in this case. So I think that’s going to disuade officers from misuse of this weapon.””

Copwatch every Friday at 5:30 at Temple Coffee

We always meet at 5:30 and go out at 6 from Temple on 10th between J and K.

Same cop tases two black men (one twice) at basketball game

NEW TIME! Copwatch Shift Friday, Jan. 29 at 5:30 (no longer 6)

Meet at Temple Coffee (10th between J and K) at 5:30pm. We’ll be leaving for the shift at 6:00.

Copwatch shift: Friday, Jan. 22

Meet at Temple Coffee (10th between J and K) at 6pm. We’ll be leaving for the shift at 6:30.

Why you should file a complaint and yes, it does make a difference

On the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war (March 19, 2008) there was a protest in San Francisco that me and my brother went to. My brother got pulled into the street by the cops as they charged towards us after a dispersal order. He was trying to get out of the street because he knew the cops were going to start arresting people, but the cops dragged him into a mass arrest of people who were doing civil disobedience in the street. When my brother questioned the cop who was detaining him, the cop did a karate kid move and tripped him to the ground. When I asked the cop why he did this, the cop explained that “I have to act on him before he acts on me,” which means that this cop was trained to be overly defensive, overly aggressive, overly proactive in ensuring that to protect himself from any potential or possible danger, he must first act on the other. Besides this being an unnecessarily violent approach to dealing with someone, it turns out that this is just one of a series of moves by this officer.

My brother filed a complaint against this officer, and although nothing happened initially, two years later, a San Francisco public defender is now suing this cop because my brother’s complaint was one of a number of complaints filed against this officer, and now he’s going to be brought to justice.

So don’t think that filing a complaint doesn’t serve a purpose- it does. If enough are filed, then Internal Affairs starts to pay attention and so do prosecutors, and soon enough, if there are enough complaints, you can build a case against that cop and get him or her fired, sued, etc.

File those complaints, Copwatchers!

Copwatch shift Friday, Jan. 15

Copwatch shift: Friday, Jan. 15 at 6pm.  Meet at Temple Coffee on 10th between J and I. We’ll leave at 6:30.

Copwatch shift: Friday, Jan. 8 at 6pm

Copwatch shift: Friday, Jan. 8 at 6pm.  Meet at Temple Coffee on 10th between J and I. We’ll leave at 6:30.

NO COPWATCH SHIFT NEW YEAR’S DAY

Stay tuned for an update about Copwatch next Friday, Jan. 8

Copwatch Shift Friday, Dec. 18

Meet at Temple Coffee on 10th St. between J and K in downtown Sacramento at 6pm. We’ll leave for our shift around 6:15.