NY: Greens Call for Moratorium on Police Use of Tasers

From News LI:

(Suffolk County, Long Island) - “The Green Party of Suffolk is outraged to discover that Suffolk County has continued using Tasers against its residents,” said its chair Roger Snyder. “It is inconceivable that Suffolk has continued to use Tasers given the questions about the Taser-related death of Darryl Bain in 2009.”

Snyder repeated the Green Party’s plan to protect the lives of Suffolk residents: “In line with our pillar of nonviolence, the Green Party of Suffolk demands Suffolk County seek out ways to avoid the use of easily abused and potentially lethal Tasers. As an immediate step, the Green Party of Suffolk calls on the county to put a moratorium on the use or purchase of any Tasers. In the long term, the Green Party calls on the county to train the police in nonviolent methods of resolving situations.”

The renewed call for a moratorium on Taser use in Suffolk County was prompted by the death of Daniel McDonnel after he was tasered twice by the Suffolk Police. According to Newsday, McDonnel is the fifth person to die after being tasered by Suffolk Police. Amnesty International USA has found that at least 350 people died in the United States and Canada after being shot by Tasers since June 2001 . . .