Toledo Man’s Death Ruled a Homicide

This story has been covered by AP, Newsday, Reuters etc.. I live nearby and watched it on our local news, I feel that there are conflicts in the versions of each story, stupid responses by officials, inadequate prosecution of the police involved and in the end, another man dead at the hands of law enforcement officers using our old enemy, the Air Taser.

Jeffrey Turner, a “Scott High” graduate was 6′3″, 220 pounds, he was shocked five times with a Taser stun gun by the Toledo cops during his arrest 1/31/05 outside the Toledo Museum of Art. Later they shocked Mr. Turner four more times with a “different” model Taser stun gun by county jail officers. The nine blasts from the Tasers, discharging five-second jolts of 50,000 volts of electricity each, occurred within a three-hour period.

The first five Taser shots were given while being arrested on charges of loitering, resisting arrest and obstructing official business, according to the police. The second 4 Taser shots were to subdue Turner after he repeatedly banged on a security window of a first floor cell Monday night according to Lucas County jail administrator Rick Keller. A nurse was called after Turner received the Taser stuns (supposedly S.O.P.) and found him unresponsive. He died shortly after at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.

Originally, one source reported that the county coroners office said an initial autopsy on cause of death was inconclusive. But in breaking news, the Lucas County coroner ruled (a few days before this post), that “multiple Taser shocks contributed to the January death of Jeffrey Turner” and ruled his death a homicide.

According to autopsy results Turner was found to have hypertension, but the coroner Dr. James Patrick, said: “However, since his death closely coincided with the application of multiple Taser shocks, this also contributed to his death.” Since the use of force contributed to his death, the manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said her office will conduct a review of the incident before deciding whether to take any action.

to be cont’d…. Part II