Some follow-ups in the news.

Don't read this if you want a happy-happy Friday.

Following-up to a couple of news items I've written about previously, let's first talk about a real tragedy. A week ago I wrote about a couple of additional entries in the "Taser Abuse" category, in which an obviously disturbed man in NYC fell to his death after being tased. Well, yesterday the NYPD lieutenant who gave the order to tase the man committed suicide:

NYPD Officer Kills Himself Over Taser Episode

The officer was remorseful and distraught. He apologized and sought the family's forgiveness. Then he went to his unit's headquarters Thursday morning and fatally shot himself, just hours before the family laid the victim to rest.

"The lieutenant was deeply distraught and extremely remorseful over the death of Iman Morales in Brooklyn last week," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "Sadly, his death just compounds the tragedy of the loss of Mr. Morales."

The suicide marks another tragic turn in a case that has raised questions about the use of Tasers by the nation's largest police force.

Like I said last week: "Gee, I can't imagine why."

Tasers, ideally, should only be used as a last-resort alternative to the use of a firearm. More departments across the country are putting such directives into their protocols for use of Tasers. But as the multiple abuses of this technology attest, this is not how Tasers are *actually used*. How many more people will have to die, be permanently injured, or just be tortured by these things? How many more cops will have their careers/lives screwed up by them?

There are some technologies which are just too dangerous as configured to be put into broad use. You don't have cops routinely carrying rocket launchers or grenades, even though there are conceivable situations where they might need such. Homeowners cannot install deadly traps to prevent intruders. Tasers are such a technology. Yeah, it is certainly possible that proper education could change how they're used, as could some technological tweaks to the device itself. But the current reality of how and when they are used needs to be radically changed.

*sigh*

OK, here's another item. Back in June I wrote about the death of 16-year-old Neil Beagley out in Oregon, who died as the result of a urinary tract blockage. Simple medical treatment (most likely) would have saved his life. But he did not get that treatment because he and his parents were part of a Christian church that rejects medical treatment in favor of faith healing.

Well, his parents have just been indicted in his death:

Parents In Faith Healing Death Arrested

After Beagley died, a medical examiner ruled his death could have been prevented had his family taken him to a doctor.

Based upon findings from the grand jury, the Clackamas County Circuit Court issued arrest warrants Wednesday for Jeffrey Dean Beagley and Marci Rae Beagley in connection with their son's death.

Clackamas County prosecutors said the Beagleys turned themselves into authorities Wednesday after a grand jury indicted the couple on criminally negligent homicide charges.

Good. As I said in June: "*sigh* I'm just sick of this bullshit from the religious nuts. Seems like you can't turn around without hearing of yet another kid who has died because either they or their parents were brainwashed by the local shaman."

And remember - this case may or may not stand, since Neil was over 14. And it was only recently that Oregon enacted legislation which removed a religious shield for people guilty of this kind of child abuse. From the same article above:

The Oregon City-based Followers of Christ Church isn't associated with a mainstream denomination. It has 2,000 members, most of who live in the Oregon City and Gladstone area.

After several children from the church died in the 1990s, Oregon lawmakers passed new laws striking down legal shields for faith-healing parents.

State senator Peter Courtney helped pass the law after an 11-year-old died of diabetes. The boy's parents tried spiritual healing instead of insulin.

"After several children from the church died in the 1990s..." Think about that. You watch the children of other people in your little cult *die* from lack of proper medical treatment. But you still listen to the shamen about how the Sky-Daddy will save your kid. How fucking crazy do you have to be to do that?

Gah. Sometimes I despair of our future.

Jim Downey

HT to ML for some of the information above.