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The Law Enforcement Alliance of America called the ACLU report "junk science." Law enforcement agencies typically blame Taser-related deaths on other factors, such as the possible lethal presence of illegal drugs, pre-existing medical conditions or stress stemming from violently resisting arrest. A Fox News story last year quoted a study by the city of Houston that concluded its police officers used Tasers more often on black suspects than any other group between 2004 and 2007.
Three inmate deaths in the last five months have occurred in Stanislaus County Jail after corrections officers used Tasers to subdue prisoners. Last year, Merced County agreed to pay $650,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of an inmate who died after a struggle involving correctional officers who used a Taser at the Merced County Jail.
An afternoon to remember
Williams, a life-long Mercedian who's married with three children, said both his legs were amputated in 2004 after he was diagnosed with a serious case of deep-vein thrombosis. The condition led to gangrene in both legs.
Doctors amputated each of his legs below the knee when he was 34. Now, only withered stumps of skin exist where his lower legs once were. Williams said losing his legs was life-changing. He lost his job as a truck driver and was forced to adjust to life as an amputee. He now supports himself and his family from a Social Security allotment of $1,004 a month, from his disability.
While Williams and his wife have a 2-year-old daughter, Ginni, together, his 11-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son live with other family members.
Fast-forward to the afternoon of Sept. 11, a day Williams says he'll "always remember."
Between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., Williams said he and his wife, 28-year-old Demetrice Shaunte Phifer, were involved in a verbal argument when a marked Merced Police Department patrol car arrived at the couple's apartment, at 2355 K Street.
While one officer spoke with his wife, Williams said another officer arrived at the scene and ordered him to "go back to your house!" Williams, who held his 2-year-old daughter in his lap, said he rolled his wheelchair back to his apartment.
The officer, who Williams said he couldn't remember by name, but is identified in the police report as Officer John Pinnegar, approached him in the doorway of his studio apartment. Pinnegar said his wife had accused him of striking her, which Williams denied.
Shortly afterward, Sgt. Rodney Court and a worker with Merced County Child Protective Services came to his apartment, Williams recalled. "I'm trying to tell him nothing happened. We were just having an argument," he said.
Williams said the officers told him he was being arrested. "Arrested for what? What did I do?," Williams said he asked the officers.
A Taser to the ribs
Events went south fast. Pinnegar grabbed William's 2-year-old daughter from his lap, handing her to the CPS worker. "I said, 'What are you doing? I haven't done anything!'" Williams recalled.
Williams said Pinnegar, who was positioned behind the wheelchair, grabbed him by his left arm, pulling it backward behind his head. To prevent himself from falling out of his wheelchair, Williams said he grabbed the side of his wheelchair with his right hand. "I wasn't resisting. I was hanging on, so I wouldn't fall out and bust my head open. They weren't caring what was going to happen to me when I hit that ground, and I knew it," Williams said.
Williams said Pinnegar unholstered his Taser and jammed it into his rib cage on the left side of his body, shocking him twice. Williams said he fell from his chair on his stomach, onto the ground outside of the doorway in front of his apartment. During the struggle, Williams said one of the officers placed a handcuff on his right wrist.
