OFFICER STANDS TRIAL IN 95-YEAR-OLD'S BEANBAG SHOOTING DEATH

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

BY DON BABWIN

MARKHAM, Ill. (AP) -- A suburban Chicago police officer had better and safer options than to fire beanbags to subdue a confused, knife-wielding 95-year-old World War II veteran, a prosecutor told the court Tuesday at the outset of the officer's trial on a felony reckless conduct charge in the man's death.

With all of their police equipment, training and "common sense," Craig Taylor and the other Park Forest officers didn't have to storm into John Wrana's room at an assisted living center on July 26, 2013, Cook County State's Attorney Lynn McCarthy said during her opening statements. They did so, though, and Taylor ended up firing five beanbags at Wrana, including the fatal one that struck his abdomen and caused internal bleeding, she said.

Taylor's attorney, Terry Ekl, countered that Taylor did what he was trained to do to subdue a dangerous suspect who was coming at him with a knife. Wrana was determined enough that he kept coming at Taylor with a knife "over his head" until the final shot knocked it from his hand, Ekl told Judge Luciano Panici, who will decide the case.

Taylor, 43, could face up to three years in prison if he's convicted. His trial comes amid heightened scrutiny of the use of deadly force by U.S. police departments, and there was a strong show of support by Taylor's fellow officers Tuesday at the courthouse in Markham.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_KILLINGS_BY_POLICE_BEAN_BAG_DEATH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-13-17-33-14

[Historic NY]

1. They had a shield.......

they could have backed him into a corner since they were 8 ft away. Common sense didn't prevail

[irisblue]

2. what the hell

They couldn't have just closed the door and waited till the 5 foot 95 yr old dude sat down? what the hell?

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Respect my authoritah!

What? He didn't instantly comply? BRING ME MY RIOT GUN

[VanillaRhapsody]

5. Yeah how long can a 95 yr old go without a nap!

Just wait till he drops for the nap....then sneak in and take the knife away! Sheesh....what chicken shits some cops have become...

[freshwest]

6. Devil's Advocate: What if they locked the door and the man killed himself?

Wonder why police don't use nets to let a person calm down. Consider this:

If he'd been tazed, he would have died of cardiac arrest. If he'd been pepper sprayed, he would have died of respiratory arrest.

Bean bags can be lethal, and any use of them or pepper spray or electricity can kill a frail person or sometimes a perfectly healthy one.

I don't know what was really going on there. I do know people who have had their bones broken by elderly people with Alzheimmer's. I've known caregivers of all kinds who have suffered life long disability from violent clients in their care, through no provocation of their own.

I'm wondering, how did a guy in an assisted living facility, possibly mentally unstable, get his hands on a knife. And what he wanted to do with the knife is important.

Did he intend to kill a staffer or kill himself?

This is just freaking horrible all the way around. What a lousy way to die, no doubt in agony.

The trial will show everything as the different sides present their sides. I'm very glad there is a trial on this, too.

That needs to be done with most if not all, deaths by police or caretakers. And by gun happy individuals.

If such is given cover, calling it accidental or justified, it will keep on happening. Brutality involves more than just the victim and the perpertrator.

[tclambert]

7. Some people think these "less lethal" weapons are "non-lethal."

The results depend a lot on the target. You shoot a mixed martial arts fighter with a bean bag, it will just make him angry. You shoot a 95-year-old, it may kill him.

A tear gas grenade killed a woman in Boston. Fired from a gun at short range, it hit her just above the eye. A taser killed a woman in Florida. She twisted as she fell and cracked the back of her head on concrete. In 2002, Chechen militants took a theater full of people (about 850) hostage in Moscow. Spetsnaz pumped gas into the theater, thought to be a knock-out gas. But the gas killed about 128 of the hostages, including some children.

There really isn't any such thing as a "non-lethal" weapon.

[freshwest]

8. I know all of those. And I didn't say non-lethal or less lethal. I was answering a solution posted.

What is your solution in this case?

Do you think locking the door woud be appropriate?

If he killed himself in a locked room, who'd be at fault for that?

I'm asking because you gave a long, detailed reply, but it's not really what my post was about.

So I'd like to hear your ideas, as you seem to have a good grasp on the use of weapons.

[tclambert]

10. I don't have a solution.

It would take a really confident officer to face a knife-wielding person without resorting to weapons. What triggered my musing about non-lethal versus less lethal was thinking that the officer may not have had good enough training or enough knowledge to realize his beanbag weapon could kill.

Even if he did, I can't think of a good alternative. I think I could take a knife away from a 95 year-old without resorting to weapons, and without killing him, or getting myself killed. But he might hurt me, and I can't help wondering if the authorities would yell at me for taking the risk.

I wasn't really trying to answer your question. It just somehow triggered this line of thought on my part, and I was kind of thinking out loud (a clickety-click-click sound). I'm sorry if it seemed like I was trying to argue with you. I was really just going off on a tangent.

I do not think locking the door would be appropriate. If talking to him in a calm, soothing voice and saying, "Please" a lot didn't get him to put the knife down, then I don't know that any line of action is the "right" one. With an agitated, disoriented man with a knife, you're right, you've got to worry about him hurting himself as well as hurting someone else.

[freshwest]

12. We're cool, I do that do. And I'm looking for solutions, not people to blame, as the problem remains

after all the talking and finger pointing. I fault the lack of funding in most of these cases. Using police to resolve mental health issues shows a failure. Every other avenue should be explored, but there are not enough resources. Thanks for your comment.

[rhett o rick]

11. If they would have locked him in the room and he killed himself, HE STILL WOULDN'T BE WORSE

OFF. They killed him. They got free shots at the cop bar. High fives all around. F'n assholds.

[Bandit]

14. Yes much better to kill him outright than the slight possibility he MIGHT kill himself.

[freshwest]

15. You are only speculating and I didn't advocate that. What is your solution to helping this man?

Mine is more funding for those who take care of them. It's not a game of who wins or loses an online posting contest.

There real people involved. It should never have gotten that far out of hand, and the police being called is a failure of the system due to lack of funding, IMO. I doubt the policeman came just to kill someone in a nursing home.

Do you advocate for more taxes to pay for proper care? Do you support caregivers in such residences who are the ones who called the police? Who would you blame if he killed himself alone?

The people I know who had their bones broken or had to go to the ER afterward are still working in those places and don't blame the residents. They understand the trouble folks are sufferning from and they don't blame them for it.

[lonestarnot]

3. Yeah! Prelimary hearing like NM case now? No, trial, even better!

[PADemD]

9. Aikido vs real-life street attack

Remember this one?

Mugger gets a beat down from a tiny Kung Fu girl

[CANDO]

13. The man is 95!

Man up, Mr. Authority seeking wannabe! You go in there and grab his wrist and overpower him. He's 95! GTFO!