04/25/2011 // WPB, FL, USA // Personal Injury Lawyers News // Nicole Howley
Orlando, FL — The debate on stun-gun safety is likely to become a hot topic again, after a Winter Haven man died when he was tased outside of a theater at Universal CityWalk on Friday, April 22, 2011, reported the Palm Beach Post.
According to police, Adam Spence Johnson, 33, of Winter Haven, was acting erratically while outside a theatre at around midnight, prompting four off-duty officers working at CityWalk to get help from another officer to restrain Johnson.
He was “grabbing his beard, grabbing his head…he was being disorderly,” police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones told reporters early Friday.
After a struggle, one of the officers used a stun gun on Johnson before handcuffing him.
Johnson became unresponsive after the shock. Officers began administering CPR and called for an ambulance. Johnson was rushed to Dr. Phillips Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A surveillance video of the incident was turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for investigations.
The police officers involved in the incident were place on administrative leave, which is standard procedure under such circumstances.
Jones reported that Orlando police officers used their Tasers 315 times in 2010, 357 times in 2009, and 278 times in 2008. The statistics for 2011 were not immediately available. Five deaths were reported after Orange County deputies used tasers on them between 2001 and 2008, which sparked an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The U.S. Justice Department warned against using Tasers on people who were extremely agitated or under the influence of drugs in a 2008 report.
Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for Florida wrongful death lawyers.
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