Illinois Jury Rules that Sheriff's Deputies Did Not Use Excessive Force Even Though They Tasered Suspect 10 Times

Thanks to blog/Google + follower AFrayed Knot for pointing out this one to me.

A jury in Madison County, Illinois ruled that excessive force was not used on a DUI suspect, Kelsi Baker, even though a sheriff's deputy reached into her vehicle and tasered her 10 times.

From the legal news publication,  Madison County Record :

""Not only did he reach in and taser her more than once. He reached in and tasered her at the most painful nerve in her body."

Baker went to the emergency room doctor the next day, who found 10 separate taser marks.

She later went to the police station to find out what happened. She saw the marks on her body and knew where they were from, according to Fenlon.

The event on the night of Feb. 6 affected her adversely, Fenlon explained.

"She has scars on her back, neck, legs. She has nightmares. She breaks up in a cold sweat. Her heart races. She has anxiety attacks. These are loss of enjoyment of normal life. She has a major depression."

Most officers will tell you, if a taser does not work on a person after 2 times, it won't work, period. Hitting them over and over again with it serves no purpose on them than to make them a high voltage punching bag.

Here's the real kicker of this story, one of the two officers involved, Jeremy Stumpf, the officer who pulled the trigger on the Taser, was part of a Saint Louis area Christian band called Dependent Soul, which disbanded in 2011, also look here at their profile on this music website, where he is listed as a band member.

I have met him several times before, back in my fundamentalist days, their band was based out of their church in the Southwest Illinois town of Wood River, they held concerts for churches and church related events for the youth departments of various congregations in the area. He always seemed to be a good guy, and I enjoyed the band's music when they came to visit the church that I was a member of, they liked to perform concerts at the youth department's annual New Year's Eve party.

Just goes to show that you really don't truly know what a person is like sometimes...