Ed Not tased, still dead

[Bell]

The father of a troubled civil servant who jumped to his presumed death from the Brooklyn Bridge after a police Taser misfire said yesterday he believes the cops bungled the operation.

After the struggle to restrain Onyenwe on the bridge failed, the lieutenant told everyone to back off and fired his Taser, which malfunctioned.

That gave Onyenwe, 29, his chance to jump.

Source: New York Post

This situation, where I would have applauded the use of a taser, ended very sad

Not sure about the father's stance though. It is understandable he want's to put the blame on someone, he just lost his son! But did the cops really attribute to Chukwudi's death?

 

[sadhatter]

All you need for a good news story is a person who has had a loss, and someone to demonize. In X number of months the cop hate will go away, but those sold newspapers will be sold forever.

 

[Bikewer]

Unfortunately, the Taser is not super-reliable. We've had one "flub" where our guys were trying to restrain a prisoner who decided to go ballistic while actually being booked. The thing misfired, with one dart remaining in the cartridge and one sort of falling out with no velocity.
When they work, they tend to be effective.

 

[WildCat]

You can't tase them all.

 

[MikeMangum]

This is not the fault of the cops. Period. Equipment malfunction.

 

[kerikiwi]

Blaming the police for failing to stop a suicide is completely unfair.
The father could just as reasonably be blamed for failing to stop his son killing himself.

 

[shawmutt]

They shouldn't have even attempted to taze him. They should have tackled him or waited for him to run out of breath.

Wait...what thread is this?

 

[Darth Rotor]

He wanted to jump. He got his wish. While tragic, it's not all that novel for people to leap to their deaths when they lose the ability to cope.

What's the problem here?

 

[NYCEMT86]

A similar story happened nearly two years ago: Naked man falls to his death after Tasered by cops in Brooklyn standoff


This is a tragic story, but I don't feel the blame should go on the LT or the NYPD. The police attempted to stop this man by restraining him and then by trying to talk him down. This man was determined to end his life and the NYPD's last attempt failed. It is my belief that there was nothing else they could have done to bring this man down.

 

[Bell]

He wanted to jump. He got his wish. While tragic, it's not all that novel for people to leap to their deaths when they lose the ability to cope.

What's the problem here?

No problem, just a sad story.

And a tad ironic, since this one time a taser could have saved a life.

 

[Bell]

A similar story happened nearly two years ago: Naked man falls to his death after Tasered by cops in Brooklyn standoff


This is a tragic story, but I don't feel the blame should go on the LT or the NYPD. The police attempted to stop this man by restraining him and then by trying to talk him down. This man was determined to end his life and the NYPD's last attempt failed. It is my belief that there was nothing else they could have done to bring this man down.

I agree. Seems the cops did everything they could.

Now, the ESU in the story you linked to, on the other hand...