Tag: taser

Logan, Qld: molotovs thrown at police station

24 February: Three molotov cocktails have been hurled at Logan’s police headquarters, weeks after an Aboriginal woman was shot by police with a Taser and blinded in one eye.

Police said while one bottle remained intact, two bottles ignited causing minor damage to one police vehicle parked outside. They said they weren’t sure whether those responsible for throwing the devices were on foot or in a passing vehicle.

Police believe the devices were thrown between 3.30 and 4am this morning. CCTV footage from the front of the police station was still being examined.

It follows weeks of tension in Logan after Woodridge woman Sheila Oakley was shot in the eye by police with a Taser and two marches were held by the local indigenous community calling for the officer responsible to be stood down.

Eleven arrested after Aurukun riot

Brisbane Times: Eleven men have been charged in the wake of a mob besieging the local police station in the far north Queensland Aboriginal community of Aurukun.

Police used a Taser on a man late on Monday afternoon, prompting a riot in the tiny community on the Cape York Peninsula.

Superintendent Brett Schafferius said police were called to the community’s general store, where they arrested a man on public nuisance offences.

But the man allegedly turned on officers, punching one in the head. Continue reading “Eleven arrested after Aurukun riot”

NZ: woman tries to taser cop

26 December: A woman used a brick as weapon and then tried to shoot a police officer with his own Taser, when two police came under attack at a party in Dargaville on Christmas day.

One officer was knocked unconscious, while the other tried to protect him but was kicked in the head after party-goers became aggressive.

“One woman used a brick as weapon and then tried to shoot the officer with his own taser. When it failed to fire she smashed it.”

Continue reading “NZ: woman tries to taser cop”

Australia: three stories about tasers

The NSW Coroner ruled that police were “reckless and excessive” and that five police should face disciplinary action in relation to the death of Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti, who died after police fired Tasers at him 14 times. The coroner said that police “threw themselves” into the confrontation “like schoolboys in Lord of the Flies” and recommended their actions be referred to the Police Integrity Commission. Curti’s family has welcomed that finding, but is pushing for criminal charges to be laid against the officers concerned.

Meanwhile the Queensland coroner has found no grounds for disciplinary action against north Queensland police officers who tasered a man 28 times. Antonio Galeano died at a home in Brandon, south-east of Townsville, in 2009 after being tasered by police. The coroner stated that he died from excited delirium, probably caused by drug use, although the Taser application also contributed to the 39-year-old’s death.

Footage has been shown on tv showing police on the NSW north coast using capsicum spray and their tasers on a 14-year-old boy who was hiding under a caravan. Kevin Henshaw, from Kempsey Aboriginal Legal Service, described the boy’s treatment as ” akin to torture. “

Sydney: Australian police Taser attack kills Brazilian student

By Zac Hambides for World Socialist Web site
21 March 2012

Visiting Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti, aged just 21, died early on Sunday morning in the heart of Sydney after six police officers chased him and forced him to the ground, reportedly firing Taser stun guns at least three times. Police also admitted using capsicum spray.

All the evidence indicates that police used potentially lethal force against an innocent young man, leading directly to his death, for no other reason that he supposedly failed to cooperate with police demands. From what is known, there was no justification for what happened to him. Laudisio Curti had committed no offence—except for a suspected theft of a packet of biscuits—was unarmed and posed no threat to anyone. Yet, he was set upon by six police, assaulted, sprayed and Tasered until he was motionless.

Continue reading “Sydney: Australian police Taser attack kills Brazilian student”