Aug 22, 2007 6:36 pm US/Eastern
Police Name Man Who Died After Shocks From Taser
by Adam May
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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Police name man who died after shocks from Taser. (File)
AP
Police use of Tasers is up and so is the number of people who die after being shocked.
Adam May reports Baltimore City Police have released new information about a man who died shortly after being subdued last weekend.
Police were called to North Payson Street late Friday night when residents and a BGE worker saw a man wildly jumping on top of vehicles. He later ran down the street and through the front doors of the Sandtown-Winchester Nursing Center, throwing furniture around the inside before dashing into a laundry room.
"One of our officers pulled out a Taser, struck him once with it. It slowed him down, but he's still fighting. We struck him again, slowed him down long enough to get the cuffs on him," said Baltimore City Police spokesperson Troy Harris.
A short time later, 50-year-old Thomas Campbell stopped breathing.
In the neighborhood, some residents raised concerns.
"The Tasers, they're not trained to use them. It's supposed to be less lethal force, but they might as well shoot them," said a resident who wanted to be identified only as Wayne.
But Harris says police get extensive training and have limited choices.
"If the situation escalates and goes from baton, the only thing we have is going from baton to service weapons, and this gives us a medium, so we don't have to go to that use of force."
After 17 uses this year in Baltimore City, three people have died after being shocked.
In Harford County earlier this summer, a man accused of resisting arrest fell face first after being zapped with 50,000 volts.
"They said I had a little seizure. It was all that electricity," he said.
"There needs to be more study about what's causing these deaths," said Doug Ward, a Johns Hopkins University safety expert.
All of this year's Taser-related deaths in the city remain under separate investigations. For now, the police department, like hundreds around the country, is still using the device.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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