Minneapolis Police Taser Man to Death
Quincy Smith was a former DJ with KMOJ Radio in North Minneapolis, and died shortly after being tased by Minneapolis police during a confrontation on Knox Avenue on the north side. He is at least the 20th person killed by police in Minnesota this year.
The initial corporate news report is below. If you have information about Quincy Smith or this incident, please submit it to TC Indymedia.
http://www.startribune.com/local/35815244.html
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/12/former_kmoj_dj.php
By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune
Last update: December 9, 2008 - 3:13 PM
The domestic assault suspect who died in Minneapolis after fighting and being shot with a Taser by police was a onetime DJ with KMOJ Radio, the FM station said this afternoon.
Quincy Smith, 24, of Minneapolis, who died in the confrontation early today with police, worked at the north Minneapolis station for less than two years as "Q the Blacksmith," the station said. Smith was on the air five nights a week until about a year ago.
Officers were called to a home in the 1000 block of Knox Avenue N. at about 12:45 a.m. to investigate a report of a domestic assault by a man with a rifle, said Sgt. William Palmer.
Officers found Smith on the street and tried to arrest him. He resisted and officers shot him with a Taser, Palmer said.
After the man was subdued, he appeared to be having medical problems, and officers called for an ambulance. The suspect was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center where he died, Palmer said.
Smith's cause of death will be released later by the Hennepin County medical examiner's office.
The five officers involved in the arrest were put on a standard administrative leave as homicide and internal affairs officers investigate.
Star Tribune staff writer David Chanen contributed to this report.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
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Comments
Sad
This is sad and I wish I had not heard about it, Im 24 myself (& black) and the worst part is I am not suprised by what happend :( Life... Just when you think the world is changing after Nov 4th.........
black or not, if you resist
black or not, if you resist arrest, the police will use force. especially on a call involving a gun. you can't accuse them of using excessive force just because he was black. if it was a white guy who ended up getting away and hurting someone, everyone would bitch that they didn't do enough to restrain him.
and the title of this ad is misleading. he wasn't "tasered to death". he dies as a result of being tased. they called for an ambulance and tried to assist him. tasered to death implies that they continued to tase him until he ceased to live.
i don't want to sound like i'm supporting the police. i'm not, i'm not a fan of the police force. but i get sick and tired of black people being victimized every time something happens involving the police. race is only an issue here because someone made it so.
cops make race the issue, whether white activists like it or not
yeah, because the cop made it so. 13% of minnesota's population are POC. wanna guess how many of the deaths by cop are? c'mon, humor us.
the title is completely accurate. if he was shot with a shotgun and died later at the hospital, we would say he was shot to death. if somebody slipped poison in his drink and he died later at the hospital, we would say he was poisoned to death. of course it was excessive force: somebody died when the police officer's life was not at risk and the officer had a number of nonlethal weapons - anyone who doesn't understand by now that the taser is a lethal weapon needs to look at the catalogue of taser deaths compiled by amnesty international - at his disposal.
stop playing the race card
this is rodney king all over again. every time a black man dies or is wounded because of something the police did, the cops are portrayed as racists on a mission. white people die at the hands of police too, and you don't see anyone up in arms about that, now do you? had he not resisted, the cops wouldn't have used force, and he wouldn't have died. end of story.
and yes, the title is misleading. man dies as a result of police tasering. that gets the point across without making it sound like a malicious act.
once again, i'm not defending the police. but i can't stand by and let the black community make this a race/police brutality issue, when it's obviously a case of he should have just surrendered to the police. plain and simple.
I tend to agree with ya.
I tend to agree with ya. Unless there are facts that we don't know about this case, it seems pretty cut and dry. The man was involved in a domestic assault, that at some point involved a gun, the police were called, he resisted, he was tasered once and died. As I said, it's a god damned shame, but the police didn't use excessive force, at least not as far as anyone reading these articles can tell.
If there's more to this story - if I'm missing something - let me know.
I doubt that it is even
I doubt that it is even productive to go over all this. The usual responses will come from commentators. However, here are a few things. No gun was recovered from the scene of the contact. A news report said that. Was this man involved in a domestic assault? Maybe. Maybe not. Don't know. Was DJ Blacksmith tasered ONCE? Or did the cop expend his battery on him? We don't know, but I recommend watching some footage of the RNC events. It's damned grim.
Only those who have led sheltered, priviledged and prosperous lives harbor notions that the police are good guys. All over the world, All over the world, the police are a MAJOR problem for MOST of the population. The same is true in the Twin Cities. I've been in Mexico a lot. I'd actually say that the police in Minnesota are no better than the police in Mexico. In Mexico, actually, the police let people alone in ways that the police in Minnesota don't.
The police are not a "necessary evil." They are simply an evil, and should be completely abolished. Democratically formed neighborhood patrols could well take their place.
turn mpls...
turn the twin cities into athens.
fuck reform.
The Truth
Let us remember this truth.
Let everyone be subject to the higher authorities. For there is no authority but of God: the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Whoever therefore resists the authority, resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive condemnation to themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will you then not be afraid of the authority? Do that which is good, and you shall have praise of the same: for he is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid: for he does not carry the sword in vain: for he is a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil.
Gott ist immer noch tot.
Gott ist immer noch tot.
GOD IS A DELUSION
god does not exist...it is a delusion
not necessary evil
they were originally conceived as units of democratically formed neighborhood patrols...but no one supervised their increases in power...that is why we have the dangerousness now...
It is a racial issue
I generally find the fact that you dismiss race so easily offensive. the truth of the situation is that the cops are much more likely to be much more violent towards racial and ethnic minorities. The fact that you dismiss this situation as "Rodney King" all over again suggests you are incredibly ignorant of what happened there too.
violence toward anyone displaying psychiatric symptoms
they have no ability to evaluate emotional, behavioral, psychological or psychiatric issues either... they hate these situations because everyone they get called for has some kind of problem and they have no training, nor do they want any training...they just want problems to go away
Eeek, I too hate to seem
Eeek, I too hate to seem like I'm siding with the police, but how can you say for sure that this was excessive force? Near as I can tell (from all of the articles), the man was tasered *once* and died as a result. It's a damned shame, but was it really excessive force? Not by a long shot.
tasers are lethal weapons
tasers are lethal weapons...they are being advertised as limiting the use of force needed but actually, they are only making the officers more lethal
"Tasered to death"
It seems to me that if someone is stabbed, and they die, then they were stabbed to death. If someone is shot with a handgun, and they die, then they were shot to death. And, yes, here it comes! If someone is tasered, and they die, then they were tasered to death.
taser death
the use of the taser killed him..he was killed because he was tasered...public safety is not advanced by killing people...
ban tasers, ban tasers
Cops have guns and don't need tasers. Tasers are torture toys and should be made illegal. The arguments for cops needing tasers are corporate advertising and bullshit. Local governments have donated more than enough money to Taser, Inc.
Are you serious? You
Are you serious? You wouldn't be saying that if cops shot your friend to death because they needed to subdue him but didn't have tasers.
Or, ya know, the cops could
Or, ya know, the cops could stop shooting AND tasering people.
But that would require an egalitarian society, blah blah blah, and who would want that?
Clearly it doesn't matter
Clearly it doesn't matter since tasers can kill you. Abolish police. Abolish the state.
anarchist
When Locke, Rosseau and Hobbes envisioned the form of government we have, anarchy was not an option in entering into a social contract or will it ever be. The nature of man, the nature of his environment, the nature of power and all other related pillars of the contract warned that in the absence of regulation, the state and of power, all would fall into anarchy and chaos.
use of tasers and guns
the cops need to learn how to use the least restrictive kind of force for each situation...they are being taught that they can use force in even minor situations...there needs to be a total change in the public safety vs law enforcement equation...the cops are escalating situations and then feeling justified in hurting someone....
Quincy Smith
Three of the officers that tazed Quincy were involved in a lawsuit that Quincy had taken against them in particular. the case was looking pretty good for Mr. Smith. He was taking the Minneapolis police to court for police brutality. A witness said that he saw Quincy lying on the ground while they were tazing him, saying “I’m sorry, I’m sorry”. Mr Smith had four burn marks, two of which were by his heart. He also had a dislocated jaw and eye.
I have known Mr Quincy Smith since he was 10 years old, he and my brother have been friends ever since then. He has always been the most respectful and kind hearted young men. He had a smile that would brighten up anyone’s day. The confrontation with him and the police department is so out of his character. He has never had any prior runs in with the police! I am so deeply hurt by this incident, as I know are others whose lives he touched. I am also wondering how one officer saw the rifle but the others ones didn’t and how that rifle disappeared… where did this rifle go, and who on earth called and said he had a rifle. Domestic Violence is something that shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone….. The best thing to do is leave the situation all together, which is what I think he was doing when all of this happened. Being that they found him outside… I don’t know it’s all very sad and way too sudden… is the expected life of a human being now early 20’s?
"Three of the officers that
"Three of the officers that tazed Quincy were involved in a lawsuit that Quincy had taken against them in particular"
This is the most significant piece of information and its not mentioned anywhere above.
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