Driver Diabetic Shock Tasered - pals-application82’s blog

Driving While Diabetic: A Dangerous Combination The recent incident in Oklahoma of a man in diabetic shock being Tasered by police, who mistook his medical.

Unidentified man struck cars in parking lot of BJ s Wholesale Club in Portsmouth, New HampshireOfficer thought he was going for weapon and used TaserIt was determined driver had low blood sugar and conduct stemmed from medical condition

A police officer in New Hampshire fired a Taser twice at a 78-year-old driver having a diabetic fit just after the elderly man had crashed into several cars.

Officer Andre Wassouf fired the stun gun on Sunday morning at the fitting man when he came to a halt after he struck his squad car and made a movement as if he was going for a weapon.

The driver was handcuffed immediately after being incapacitated but was not charged with a crime when police realized the man was not intoxicated or on drugs but had dangerously low blood sugar.

An officer in Portsmouth, New Hampshire feared he was in danger when he used a stun gun on a 78-year-old diabetic driver who crashed into several cars at BJ s Wholesale Club on Woodbury Avenue above file photo

The 215-lb man, who suffered from from a diabetic fit, struck cars in the parking lot of store, including the officer s cruiser on Sunday morning file photo

Police had received a call at 11.37am about a man who had crashed into two cars in the parking lot of the warehouse club chain on Woodbury Avenue, according to Seacoast Online.

When Officer Wassouf attended the scene, the man, with his window raised down, started driving away.

The driver then ignored Wassouf s order to stop the car, before striking an empty parked vehicle and eventually reversing into the police cruiser, breaking a headlight.

As Wassouf thought the car was in park, he tried to pull the 215-lb man from the vehicle but failed as it kept moving in the neutral position.

The driver was shot twice with the Taser after the responding officer thought he was going for a weapon file photo

The man did not obey several commands to stop, and when he reached for something on the passenger s seat, the officer thought he was going for a weapon and used the stun device on him twice.

This allowed the officer to finally take control of the situation and get the driver into handcuffs, Corey MacDonald, deputy Portsmouth police chief.

Fire Chief Steve Achilles said firefighters observed that the driver was weak after being shocked and determined he was diabetic and his blood sugar was low.

The condition the man suffered from can mimic alcohol abuse or a behavioral problem, he added.

Achilles also said it is not uncommon for diabetics in that condition to be combative or angry which makes responses by emergency officials challenging.

The driver was given intravenous treatment, and his condition rapidly improved. He was taken by ambulance to Portsmouth Regional Hospital as a precaution.

Upon initial review, though the incident is regrettable for all involved, the officer appears to have used reasonable non-lethal force to end a potentially dangerous situation, MacDonald said.

Our police officers are not paramedics. They are charged with bringing dangerous situations under control. This driver could just as easily have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or engaging in willful criminal conduct.

The incident, like all use-of-force episodes, will be subject to review by a police committee.

Linda Johnson, the widow of a Baltimore, Maryland man that died after being assaulted by cops and repeatedly stunned with Taser guns is hoping that a just-filed.

Oct 26, 2012 A Cleburne teenager was hit with a Taser by police while he was having a medical emergency, and the incident was caught on tape. It now means police in the.

Nov 20, 2012 A video taken by the California Highway Patrol may be the first time a camera has captured all of the events leading up to a cardiac arrest following the.

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Click here for a listing of online articles and resources about Electronic Control Weapons. Click here to view a glossary of ECW terms. See also Injuries to.

A North Carolina jury has awarded 10 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against Taser International, Inc., which was filed by the family of a teen who died after.

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By DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR.

Star-Telegram

Mar. 10, 2006

EULESS -- As he finished helping a friend move in Irving on Feb. 11, Bryan McManus could feel his blood-sugar level dropping.

That was a sign to the 37-year-old diabetic that he needed to hurry home in Euless to eat something to help it go back up.

But McManus didn t make it home quickly.

McManus, a technician, went into diabetic shock on the side of a highway just a block from his home, then he was shot with pepper spray and a stun gun by police, who believed he was intoxicated

and became unruly, authorities said Wednesday.

Patrol officers used pepper spray on him then shocked him three times with a Taser before they were able to handcuff him, according to Euless police reports.

Authorities did not realize McManus was in diabetic shock until paramedics checked on him in the Euless Jail.

With proper training, they would have recognized that I was in shock, McManus said. Had they searched my car, they would have found the insulin, syringes and glucose.

Police officials said the incident is unfortunate but that the officers acted properly.

He could not drive, yet he tried to drive off while the officers were there, Euless Assistant Police Chief Harland Westmoreland said. And he was not responsive.

The incident happened shortly before p.m. Feb. 11 at Harwood Road and Texas 360.

Responding to a call of a vehicle acting suspiciously, a patrol officer observed McManus car moving very slowly, reports state.

The car finally stopped, Westmoreland said. The officer got the driver to put the car in park and tried to talk to the driver. The driver s eyes were glazed over.

According to police reports, the driver appeared intoxicated or drugged and did not answer officers questions. When the driver tried to put the car into drive, Westmoreland said, an officer used

the pepper spray.

The driver began fighting and kicking as the officers got him out of the car, Westmoreland said. They got him on the ground, but he s still struggling with officers.

At that point, an officer shot McManus three times with a Taser.

McManus said he can t remember anything that happened on the highway.

I remembered leaving Irving and driving home, McManus said. The next thing I remember is that I m in jail with Mace on my face.

Officers transferred McManus to the Euless Jail, where paramedics began treating him. McManus said he was in and out of consciousness but remembers telling a paramedic that he is diabetic. The

paramedics gave him glucose, and he began to feel better, he said. He did not need any additional medical treatment after that.

McManus said the officers had to tell him what had happened. He doesn t wear a medical bracelet, but he had a card in his wallet identifying him as a diabetic.

When officers determined that he had suffered diabetic shock, McManus was released and driven to the impound yard to get his car. Euless police paid the impound fee. He was not booked into jail

or charged with a crime.

But McManus said he received a request from the Euless Fire Department asking for his insurance information so that his insurance company could be billed for the cost of the paramedics.

McManus said he is not happy about how the situation was handled.

All police had to do was look in my car and they would have known what was going on, he said. It shouldn t have happened.

In July, Kevin Omas, 17, who had taken Ecstasy, died after being repeatedly shot with a Taser by Euless police. Omas had been acting bizarrely on a school playground, and friends had called

police for help controlling him.