Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Sucks to be a cop in the
US
Wheelchair-Bound Woman Dies After Being Shocked With Taser 10 Times
Wed Sep 19, 9:38 AM ET
A Clay County woman's family said it's seeking justice after their
loved one died shortly after being shocked 10 times with Taser guns
during a confrontation with police.
The family of 56-year-old Emily Delafield said it would take the
Green Cove Springs Police Department to court, according to a
WJXT-TV report.
In April 2006, officers with the police department said they were
called to a disturbance at a home in the 400 block of Harrison
Street just before 5 p.m.
In a 911 call made to the Green Cove Springs, Delafield can be
heard telling a dispatcher that she believed she was in
danger:
Dispatcher: And what's the problem?
Delafield: My sister is waiting on my property.
Dispatcher: Your what?
Delafield: My sister (inaudible) is on my property trying to harm
me.
Officers said they arrived to find Delafield in a wheelchair, armed
with two knives and a hammer. Police said the woman was swinging
the weapons at family members and police.
Within an hour of her call to 911, Delafield, a wheelchair-bound
woman documented to have mental illness, was dead.
Family attorney Rick Alexander said Delafield's death could have
been prevented and that there are four things that jump out at him
about the case.
"One, she's in a wheelchair. Two, she's schizophrenic. Three,
they're using a Taser on a person that's in a wheelchair, and then
four is that they tasered her 10 times for a period of like two
minutes," Alexander said.
According to a police report, one of the officers used her Taser
gun nine times for a total of 160 seconds and the other officer
discharged his Taser gun once for a total of no more than five
seconds.
A medical examiner found Delafield died from hypertensive heart
disease and cited the Taser gun shock as a contributing factor, the
report said. On her death certificate, the medical examiner ruled
Delafield's death a homicide.
The family said it plans to sue the Green Coves Springs Police
Department now that it has all the reports regarding their loved
one's death.
"We're going to try to compensate the estate and the family and try
to get justice," Alexander said.
He said he believes the evidence weighs heavily in favor of
Delafield's family and that justice will be served.
"I think that this evidence is going to show, along with some of
the evidence we've collected outside of here, that there is no
reason Emily Delafield should have died that day," Alexander
said.
He said he plans to file a notice to sue sometime before the end of
the year.
