No Justice for Woman Tasered to Brain Death by Cop in Florida

Danielle Maudsley, 20, is brain dead after being tased by the Florida police. The cops have not been held accountable for the attack., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

No justice for woman tasered to brain death

Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:14AM GMT
presstv.ir

Danielle Maudsley, 20, has been brain dead since being tasered by a Florida police officer in September

A Florida police officer who tasered a 20-year-old US woman until she was brain dead has been cleared of wrongdoing.

The Florida Highway Police says the officer was trying to prevent the woman from fleeing and cleared the officer of any wrongdoing this week.

Danielle Maudsley went into a coma in September after Florida Highway Police Trooper Daniel Cole tasered her in the back as she tried to escape from the police while handcuffed.

Maudsley had been detained and taken to a Florida Highway Patrol Station after being suspected of involvement in a hit-and-run accident.

Footage from a police cruiser dashboard camera shows the officer firing Taser electric waves into her back. She then spun, fell backwards, and smacked her head on the ground.

Doctors have expressed concern that the victim will most likely never wake up from the coma.

The Florida Highway Police says the officer was trying to prevent the woman from fleeing and cleared the officer of any wrongdoing this week.

"Tell me that's not excessive force. I'm not saying she was an angel, but she didn't deserve that," Cheryl Maudsley, the victim’s mother, said, adding that she was suing the police.

"He couldn't reach out and grab her? He was an arm's length away. My daughter is dead because of this. She won't come back,” she stated.

Experts have excoriated the policeman for his inappropriate use of the Taser, noting that he could have easily apprehended her.

The UK-based human rights group Amnesty International has called on US police and law enforcement agencies to limit the use of Tasers, which have killed at least 500 people in the United States since 2001.

“At least 500 people in the US have died since 2001 after being shocked with Tasers, either during their arrest or while in jail,” Amnesty International said in a report issued this month.

Researchers, citing documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, have pointed to dozens of cases of police use of Tasers that suggest deviations from government guidelines.