AP NewsBreak: FBI investigating Virginia stun gun incident

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

AP NewsBreak: FBI investigating Virginia stun gun incident

Larry O'dell, Associated Press

Updated 2:36 pm, Thursday, March 17, 2016

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The FBI is conducting a civil rights investigation into the death of a Virginia man who died in police custody after being shocked by stun guns. The federal agency's move follows criticism that the state probe has taken too long.

Linwood Lambert Jr. died in 2013 after officers who brought him to a hospital for a mental health evaluation used stun guns to subdue him. A county prosecutor launched an investigation into the death but has not announced a conclusion. Civil rights leaders want to know why, and whether the officers involved will be criminally charged.

"A black man was killed while in custody of South Boston police," said Jack Gravely, executive director of the NAACP in Virginia. "Why did he die? What did he die of, and why has it taken the commonwealth's attorney more than two years to issue a report on the death of Linwood Lambert Jr.?"

. . .

Virginia State Police previously looked into the death of Lambert while he was in the custody of officers in South Boston, a town of about 8,000 near the North Carolina border. Their findings were turned over to Halifax County Commonwealth's Attorney Tracy Quackenbush Martin, who has been criticized by the Lambert family and civil rights groups for not yet deciding whether the officers should be charged.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/AP-NewsBreak-FBI-investigating-Virginia-stun-gun-6895680.php

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[center]

Linwood Lambert, standing with his sister, Gwendolyn.







Linwood Lambert, hands and legs shackled, is tased in the back of a police car[/center]

[giftedgirl77]

1. This is torture.

[HeartoftheMidwest]

2. And it is murder.

Or manslaughter. Tasers are deadly weapons, and are used too freely.

[giftedgirl77]

3. indeed.

[HeartoftheMidwest]

4. I think it's the British news organization/publication THE GUARDIAN....

...that's keeping statistics on police murder/killings of civilians in the U.S.A.
I wonder if they're categorizing method of death, i.e. firearm or taser??? Those are necessary statistics, too, IMHO.

[giftedgirl77]

6. MO & circumstances need to be included as well as the offender

so that we can track repeat offenders.

[HeartoftheMidwest]

5. Also, R.I.P. Mr. Lambert, and condolences to your family and loved ones.

It is criminal the way we treat the mentally ill in this country.