Personal Injury Law

Man Files Cook County Police Brutality Lawsuit Accusing Riverdale Police of Tasering Him Because He was Too Big to Fit into Police Car

Derrick Smith is suing the Village of Riverdale and four of is cops for Cook County personal injury. He contends that he was Tasered by police on August 6, 2009 because he was too big to fit into the back of a police vehicle.

According to Smith's Riverdale, Illinois police brutality complaint, police arrived at his home in response to a call. Smith and his wife told them that everything was fine, but police took him into custody, handcuffed and ?paraded? this ?rather large, heavy man,? in front of neighbors, and walked him to the police car. Smith says that was cooperative the entire time. However, when they couldn?t fit him into the backseat of the vehicle, the officers Tasered him on his back, buttock, thighs, and chest?even though Smith?s wife had warned them that her husband suffered from several medical conditions, including an irregular heart beat, congestive heart failure, and hypertension.

In his six-county Riverdale personal injury complaint, Smith is accusing the cops of excessive use of police force and of stunning him with a Taser several times even though he never provoked them. He claims that he sustained serious and painful physical injuries, permanent disfigurement, and emotional trauma.

Taser Use by Police
Tasering has been linked to serious injuries and health issues, which is why it is important that officers have just cause when opting to use this option to detain someone. However, no time is a cop ever justified to use of excessive force or police brutality.

Just recently, another man, who sustained a permanent traumatic brain injury after he was Tasered by a cop in 2006, reached a $2.85 million products liability settlement with Taser International for his injuries. The man, 49-year-old Steven Butler, was drunk and wouldn?t get off a bus in October 2006 when a police officer used a Taser X-26 electronic control device to apprehend him. Butler went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. Medical personal were not able to revive him for about 18 minutes. He sustained the TBI and suffered decreased motor skill, the loss of his short-term memory, as well as reduced mobility.

Suit: Police Taser ?heavy man? unable to fit into squad car, WBBM, CBS Local, August 5, 2010

Watsonville man shocked by Taser, injured in 2006 wins $2.85M lawsuit against stun-gun maker, Mercury News, August 12, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Taser International

Village of Riverdale, Illinois

Full post as published by Chicago Injury Attorney Blog on August 17, 2010 (boomark / email).