Police Taser Naked New York City Man, Who Falls and Dies
Add another individual to the death toll related to Taser use: Several New York police officers are facing potential disciplinary action after reportedly stunning a naked and incoherent man who was standing on a fire escape in Brooklyn wielding only an 8-foot fluorescent light tube.
The man, 35-year-old Iman Morales, fell to his death after apparently being Tasered, reports the New York Post.
“A New York Police Department lieutenant was stripped of his gun and badge, and the officer who used the stun gun on the man was placed on administrative duty Thursday,” the newspaper reports, citing officials. The lieutenant reportedly ordered the Taser stun gun use, and the officer complied with that order.
“He just fell face first,” witness Sean Brown tells the Post. “People were screaming and yelling. It was wrong.”
An amateur video of the incident is posted on the newspaper’s website.
An Associated Press article says police had called for an inflatable bag to break Morales’ fall, but it hadn’t yet arrived when he was Tasered. Morales apparently may have died of head trauma suffered in the fall.
“The man’s death renewed focus on the use of stun guns by the NYPD,” the news agency writes. “Thousands of city police sergeants began carrying Tasers on their belts this year after the department expanded use of the weapons. The pistol-shaped weapons fire barbs up to 35 feet and deliver 50,000-volt shocks to immobilize people.”
Updated at 12:59 p.m. Oct. 2 to include Morales’ correct age.
