USA - Police use Taser on man high on magic mushrooms 10 times before arrest

[chillinwill]

South Lyon police were forced to use a Taser on a man 10 times Saturday night before he was arrested for disturbing the peace and resisting officers.

According to South Lyon Lt. Steven Sharpe, police officers encountered the 20-year-old South Lyon man and two friends after they had been dispatched to a loud house party near Ten Mile Road and Easton. The officers questioned the three men, who were walking along the road around 3 a.m., if they had been involved at the party. During the questioning, the 20-year-old began to walk away.

Sharpe said the man's two companions told officers that he had taken some “magic mushrooms.” Officers told the man to stop several times, but he continued to wander off. Officers pursued the man, and told him he would be arrested. He allegedly began screaming in a residential area and Sharpe said he took a swing at one of the officers.

After a warning, an officer used his Taser on the suspect, who fell to the ground, but still resisted arrest. The officers used the Taser nine more times before finally securing the man. He was taken into custody.

“Due to physical problems, he was transported to a local hospital,” Sharpe said. “He told doctors there that he had ingested ecstasy and magic mushrooms.”

The man remained at the hospital until he was cleared by doctors. He was then jailed until he sobered up and was released. He was ticketed for disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. He is awaiting a court date.

Sharpe said it is the most the department has ever had to use a Taser on an individual. A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles.

By Kurt Kuban
July 16, 2009
Hometown Life
http://www.hometownlife.com/article/...431/1036/rss13

[Alfa]

Using tasers on people that are under the influence of ecstasy or psychedelics results in Rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis is the rapid breakdown (lysis) of skeletal muscle tissue.

[Greenport]

Do you have references to back that up? Why would that only happen when under the influence of ecstasy or psychedelics?

[Alfa]

Originally Posted by Greenport

Do you have references to back that up? Why would that only happen when under the influence of ecstasy or psychedelics?

This explains where I got the information from:

Originally Posted by Alfa

I think you are right on the spot here Snapper. Rhabdomyolysis is a very common result of strugling against restraints under the influence of psychoactives. The Dutch national drug information line reports that a lot of the drug related hospitalisations are not caused by the efects of drugs themselves, but by physical violence of restraining the victim. Violent bouncers, police officers and accidents are a factor in this. After detaining the druggy gone mad, the victim usually ends up restrained to a stretcher and hospital bed flipping out. Such experience can cause major damage to body and mind. I know cases(2C-T-7 combined with a accident and severe restraint & XTC combined with rough bouncer) where it took up to 2 weeks to come near to normal physical state.
I'm glad the cops do not have tasers in The Netherlands.

BTW: Cops will get tasers in the Netherlands.

[Gradient]

Originally Posted by chillinwill

Sharpe said the man's two companions told officers that he had taken some “magic mushrooms.”...He allegedly began screaming in a residential area and Sharpe said he took a swing at one of the officers....an officer used his Taser on the suspect, who fell to the ground, but still resisted arrest. The officers used the Taser nine more times before finally securing the man.

This whole event is chuck-full of assholes. First, what kind of 'companions' just blurt out that kind of information? Obviously not the friendly kind. Second, what kind of person on shrooms & MDMA is about to get all aggressive and throw screaming punches? At police, no less!? Third, we all know that hippie-flippers don't need to be tazed - just reasoned with, maybe cuddled up a bit. It's people on PCP that need to be tazed...with around 2,000kV of electricity in 9 shocks total .

This sounds like police playing with their tasers first, and pretending someone was being violent later - knowing they'd get away with it because the victim was too incoherent, chemically/legally unreliable or legally incorrigible, and too socially isolated to do anything about it. Another fine example of police protecting and serving.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Great post all round

[Gradient]

Attached is an article discussing the physiological effects of tasers. Here's a relevant statement:

Other injuries reported in anecdotal form include contusions, abrasions, lacerations, mild rhabdomyolysis, and testicular torsion. there is also a theoretical possibility of tissue injury due to electroporation (cell membrane disruption due to high voltage gradients across tissues).

The biological danger here is really in persistent muscular contraction at a cellular level due to prolonged calcium release and an inability for ATP to re-bind and permit sarcomeres to relax, coupled with strong electrical disruptions of gradients across myocyte membranes.

The second article attached discusses rhabdomyolysis in the context of recreational drugs. Here are some relevant statements:

Depletion of ATP results in loss of membrane transporter function, such as the ATP-dependent sodium-potassium and sodium-calcium pumps. Subsequently, increasing intracellular calcium concentration results in activation of phospholipases, which futher damage myocyte membranes.

Rhabdomyolysis from cocaine abuse has been widely reported...Welch and coworkers demonstrated that 24% of cocaine users have accompanying rhabdomyolysis. Cocaine appears to have direct toxicity to skeletal muscle as well as vasoconstrictive properties, which lead to muscle ischemia.

The association between rhabdomyolysis and amphetamines has been described in case reports and has many proposed mechanisms...Amphetamine and its derivatives have vasoconstrictive properties that cause myocytes and the renal medulla to become ischemic and hypoxic...Amphetamines cause elevated levels of serum NE and DA, which result in an increasing ATP demand.

Here is an article discussing rhabdomyolysis observed from 'Foxy' (5-MeO-DIPT) from the archive

The image attached is a schematic that simplifies this relationship of commonly used drugs and rhabdomyolysis - taken from the second article. This was absolutely a misuse of a less-than-lethal weapon.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Excellent explantion, relevant sources included.
	Awesome substantiation of claims again! Rock on!

[Greenport]

Appreciate it guys That does make sense, especially if the said person was flipping out.

[elzz]

I was pulled over the other day and given a breathealizer. I was 3x the legal limit.. but the cop told me he didnt want to ruin my life and let me take a cab home. really changed my view on cops. they aren't all bad.

[bennett211085]

Originally Posted by elzz

I was pulled over the other day and given a breathealizer. I was 3x the legal limit.. but the cop told me he didnt want to ruin my life and let me take a cab home. really changed my view on cops. they aren't all bad.

I want to live in your area.

[flube]

Originally Posted by elzz

I was pulled over the other day and given a breathealizer. I was 3x the legal limit.. but the cop told me he didnt want to ruin my life and let me take a cab home. really changed my view on cops. they aren't all bad.

swim have been stopped twice in Thailand for drink drving, each time my licence was not asked to be seen, beer taken off me, and a small fine. The keys were given back to me, and i was told to drive home slowly.

Never been stopped in Camdodia, swims wont drive if he knows he has had to much to drink. Swim would never drive after 1 drink in his home country.

[elzz]

I'm actually in canada

[ninjaned]

I was pulled over the other day and given a breathealizer. I was 3x the legal limit.. but the cop told me he didnt want to ruin my life and let me take a cab home. really changed my view on cops. they aren't all bad.

one thing that people tend to forget is that cops are people too. and as with all people, some of 'em are assholes and some of 'em are okay. some of 'em don't want to fuck up your life, some of em will taser you ten times.

[elzz]

Originally Posted by ninjaned

one thing that people tend to forget is that cops are people too. and as with all people, some of 'em are assholes and some of 'em are okay. some of 'em don't want to fuck up your life, some of em will taser you ten times.

heeheh yup exactly my point. tazed 10 times, shit!

[rhcpeppers1234]

Swim got pulled over last night and blew a .29 The cop gave swim a dui but disregarded the weed he had in his pocket. They arent all bad, but there are some that are.....