TN! of the Week: Const. Adam Cheadle, Winnipeg Police

Let's be clear about this right from the start: NOBODY deserves to die at age 17, comprende?

Yet there's one officer that keeps up the good-old rant for Taser: Constable Adam Cheadle of the Winnipeg Police Service.

Here's the bit that got him nominated:

"[Tasers are] another less-than-lethal option for them to utilize," he said.

Well, sir, is there any decency in you? How DARE you to call the taser less-than-lethal, right after this 17 year old boy died from it!?!

Actually that wasn't a rhetorical question. Let him answer it for himself (CBC News, December 17, 2007):

"Tasers are not meant to replace firearms," Cst. Adam Cheadle, the service's use of force co-ordinator, said in a recent interview. "The Taser is on the same playing field as a baton or [pepper] spray."

Let me see if I got that right:
- Don't feel like using your baton today? No problem. Use a taser.
- Too many people at the airport to use pepper spray (wink, wink)? No problem. Use the taser.

Is this Constable serious? Can't he see how inhumane his standards are? Doesn't he now 361+ people who have died after being tasered?

When a Constable starts training inhumane standards for using the taser, and has the guts to repeat the false claim that the taser is less-than-lethal right after the latest Winnipeg taser death, I'm left no other (100% non-lethal) choice than to congratulate Cst. Adam Cheadle with his nomination for taser nazi of the week.

Congratulations!

LINKS
- CTV: Winnipeg Police kill 17 year old boy with less-than-less-than-lethal taser
- CBC: Don't feel like using your baton today? NO PROBLEM!
- Getting it Right: We at the Vancouver RCMP prefer the taser because we're just not very fond of using pepper spray; it hurts the officers eyes and all.

Winnipeg Police's first taser killing is probably not their last

Disappointing, but expected: Canada has another taser death.

WINNIPEG - A man died Tuesday after being shocked with a Taser by Winnipeg police in a back lane behind a city home.

Investigators had taped off a large area to investigate the incident Tuesday evening.
A police spokeswoman said it was the first time a suspect has died after a Winnipeg officer has used an "electronic control device."

Trust me, Winnipeg Police Services; it might be your first taser death, but as long as you don't get rid of those electo-torture shock guns, it won't be your last.

"The male was conveyed to hospital in critical condition and has since succumbed to his injuries," said Const. Jacqueline Chaput.

Dare I ask “what injuries?” I though the taser was supposed to be the (warning: sales pitch ahead) non-lethal weapon of the future?

[An eyewitness, ] owner of [a] store who identified himself as Dave, said the man walked calmly across the street, turned around and began giving the occupants of [a black Chevrolet Suburban] the car the finger.

I always tell people, “don't finger black Chevrolet Suburbans because, hey, there could be police with tasers in there; and we all know the kind of hobbies they like”

You'd think that the police has something better to do (while at work) than killing people that “finger” them; apparently not.

Getting it Right knows that tasers kill. The only police forces that won't contribute to the rising taser deaths in North America (361+ dead) are those forces that don't use them.

Just a thought.

LINKS

- Ottawa Citizen: Winnipeg Police kill suspect with Taser
- Taser.org: Tasers kill AND are "non-lethal"; isn't it amazing?
- Truth not Tasers: Do Tasers kill? Some numbers that speak for themselves (except for when you're a police officers - so much for being in touch with the rest of us)