City Offers Family $2 Millon in Taser Case
The city of Fort Worth, TX is offering a record $2 million to the family of a young man who died after being Tasered by police last year. It is the largest lawsuit settlement Fort Worth has ever made for a wrongful death or injury case. This incident is one of more that 350 deaths from Tasers that have occurred in the last decade.
According to the Houston Chronicle, 24-year-old Michael Patrick Jacobs died on April 18, 2009 after being Tasered for 54 seconds. Jacobs had a history of mental illness and his family called the police when he began acting aggressively. The police used the Taser to subdue him, even though he was unarmed.
The city did not admit wrongdoing in offering the settlement, but Brian Eberstein, the family's attorney, said, "This is the city's recognition that there are serious and significant issues with respect to the policies and training of the department that need to be fixed and that the use of this weapon as a tool for compliance, which is basically how the city of Fort Worth uses it, is something that they need to carefully look at."
Tasers have been a controversial police tool since they began being used by police departments. This study by Amnesty International documents Tasers' lethal capability and abuse by police and other authorities.
If someone is wrongfully injured or killed by a Taser or other such device used by police, both the police department and the product manufacturer may be found liable. For more information on this, visit Solomon & Relihan's Product Liability information page.
