Executed for Tagging

Really, tasers have made life so much easier for police officers.  No more worrying about using lethal force (because when tasers kill, which is often, it's always an accident.) No more wasting time trying to calm down crazy people. No more stress from people refusing to obey orders instantaneously. No more taking guff from senile old people. Just apply 50,000 volts of electricity and voila! Instant cooperation.

Plus the fun of watching them dance and piss and shit themselves as they're electrocuted.

Digby:

Summary execution for tagging now?

An 18-year-old skater died yesterday after Miami Beach Police officers caught him tagging a building and then Tasered him.

Details about the death are still murky, but what is clear is that Israel Hernandez died before dawn Tuesday morning after cops caught him spray painting near 71st Street and Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. Police have yet to comment on the killing, but an officer near the scene confirmed that cops had fatally Tasered someone. Hernandez's friends on the Miami Beach skate scene are devastated.

"I just cant believe it," says best friend Rafael Lynch, on the verge of tears. "I still have his hat and his board. They still smell like him. It's crazy."

Update: MBPD has released a statement and incident report confirming that Hernandez died after being Tasered. Police chased Hernandez after catching him tagging a building and used the electronic weapon when he refused to stop.

I have said it too many times before but I'll say it again. If a drug company put out a drug that "accidentally" killed as many people as the supposedly non-lethal taser has, it would have been withdrawn from the market without any question.

And, once again, this is supposed to be a substitute for lethal force. Has it ever been acceptable police procedure to shoot unarmed graffiti artists?