Following up on my post last week about the increasing–and alarming–tendency of police officers to reach for their tasers even in instances of relatively minor disputes, John Cole’s Balloon Juice has drawn my attention to another head-slapping instance of a person being shocked for the crime of being in his own home.
Donnell Williams had just gotten out of the bath tub, wearing only a towel around his waist, when he turned the corner to see guns pointing right at him.
“I ain’t never been so scared,” says Williams.
Police forced entry into Williams home while responding to a shooting, but it turned out to be a false call. They had no idea at the time the call wasn’t real and that Williams is hearing impaired. Without his hearing aid he is basically deaf.
“I kept going to my ear yelling that I was scared. I can’t hear! I can’t hear!”
Officers were worried about their own safety because at the time it appeared Williams was refusing to obey their commands to show his hands. That’s when they shot him with a Taser.
Now, in all seriousness, something has gone very wrong when your “limited choices” as a police officer are:
A.) Shoot the startled naked deaf homeowner shouting “I can’t hear!”
B.) Taser the startled naked deaf homeowner shouting “I can’t hear!”
Granted, I am not a police officer, and I have a growing contempt for police based on what I read in the news and my own personal experiences, so I concede that I am not an expert. But even with my lack of expertise, I recognize that in that situation, THERE HAS TO BE A THIRD FUCKING OPTION.
At least Williams didn’t get arrested afterwards, though, unlike the man who was tasered for passing out on his couch.