Louisiana Case Debates Stun Gun Lethality

On Tuesday, August 19, 2008, a Louisiana grand jury will look into the wisdom of bringing charges against a police officer. The officer in question used a stun gun on an unruly suspect for whom a warrant had been issued.

Officers reported that the suspect, who was on drugs, refused to follow police directions. One of the arresting officers used a stun gun nine times in an attempt to subdue Baron “Scooter” Pikes.

The coroner in Winnfield, Louisiana ruled that Pikes’ death was “homicide by Taser,” a first in the controversy regarding whether such devices may be too deadly. The situation also adds fuel to the racially oriented upheavals between black youths and police in this area of rural Louisiana.

To date, no United States no police officer has ever been convicted in a case regarding a death related to the use of an electroshock weapon. Nevertheless, there is a rise in the number of deaths linked with the use of stun guns, an inevitable statistic given the increase in their use in law enforcement and security agencies around the country and around the world.

When Winnfield Parish officers took Pikes into custody, one of the arresting officers jolted him a total of nine times in fourteen minutes, information recorded by the Taser’s data chip. Police said the 21-year-old suspect was on drugs and uncooperative. The coroner’s report said he found “no signs of a physical struggle, of drugs, or of any medical condition that could have exacerbated the jolts’ effect.”

The suspect never woke up.