Isn’t deadly force justified to prevent great bodily harm? I would think a taser to the face would qualify as such but I’m not a cop or lawyer so...
A local guy was having a hard time listening to the police, he was well known to them, so when they tried to tase him he ducked, the probe struck him in the eye, OOoouuwwww!
His next response was better, he reached up and jerked on the wire pulling his own eye out, he talks like a pirate now ! Aarrggeee !
Hah!
If there is video it'd make my day! Hopefully an action sequence followed up with a "where are they now"...
Here's the report.
Meadville’s police chief now claims he was misquoted in an Associated Press story that indicated he said he had no written reports about a man being Tasered in the eye by a police officer nearly a month after the Tasering took place.
Meadville Police Chief David Stefanucci’s statement comes after a Meadville Tribune request under the state’s Open Records Law turned up evidence that as many as five written reports were generated in the days immediately following the Aug. 23 Tasering of Meadville resident Michael Mondo, who lost an eye in the incident. A story that moved statewide on the Associated Press wire Sept. 16 indicated Stefanucci told AP reporter Kevin Begos that he had no written reports about the Aug. 23 Tasering.
Stefanucci says he was aware of Begos’ story Sept. 17, when it appeared in the Tribune supplemented with information gathered by Tribune reporters, but Stefanucci did nothing to correct the alleged misquote then or when the information was repeated in Tribune stories Sept. 20 and Sept. 30. He says he did not contact the Tribune or Associated Press to request a correction because he did not want to try a potential court case in the press or make statements that might influence such a case. He says he does not remember exactly what he told Begos, but claims he did not indicate that written reports did not exist.
The Associated Press is investigating Stefanucci’s claim and declined comment until its investigation is complete.
The chief’s comments are the latest odd turn in a case that has drawn public concern.
Unusual circumstances have surrounded the incident from the start. It appears that the report of the incident may have been excluded from the police paperwork typically made available to the media. As a result, the incident was not known to the public for nearly three weeks. A tipster contacted the Tribune and the Associated Press with information about the incident the week of Sept. 12 and Mondo was not charged with any wrongdoing in the incident until Sept. 14.
Exactly what happened has become a bit clearer through a Tribune open records request that was filed after City Manager Joe Chriest and Stefanucci turned down the Tribune’s request to voluntarily discuss the case. The request led the city to provide several records and make its attorney, Gary Alizzeo, available to discuss other information that was not a part of written documents but nonetheless was judged to be a public record. The details in the five written reports filed after the Tasering were withheld, however, under an exemption to the public records law for documents involved active law enforcement investigations.
Through both the account of Mondo’s attorney, Terry Toomey of Meadville, and police, we know police were called to the parking lot of a church near Mondo’s Water Street home where, in the throes of what Mondo’s attorney describes as a psychotic episode, Mondo was exhibiting unusual behavior. Mondo has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and has grappled with it for some time, according to Toomey; police were aware of Mondo’s mental health history, according to Stefanucci.
The open records request revealed that Meadville police were aware in the days immediately prior to the Aug. 23 incident that Mondo was experiencing some difficulties and that this information had been passed to the police by the Crawford County Mental Health Crisis Team, according to Alizzeo. The officers who were called to the 6:15 p.m. Aug. 23 incident had this information and police officials contacted the Crisis Team when the call about Mondo was received Aug. 23, according to Alizzeo. The team had not yet arrived on the scene when Mondo was Tasered, Alizzeo said.
The open records request revealed that Meadville police Tasers are equipped with a video camera that, under police policy “will be activated to record all that is seen before, during and after its use.” Alizzeo confirmed that there is a video of the Aug. 23 incident. In addition, the Taser policy indicates that “the preferred target area should be the lower center mass of the body. However, certain circumstances may dictate moving to alternate targets of opportunity. In general circumstances, the face, neck and groin are to be avoided.”
Under the Taser policy, three reports must be filed when a Taser is used. The officer using the Taser, in this case Sgt. Glen Peterson, must file two reports and the supervisor in charge of the shift must file a report. Alizzeo indicated that all three reports were filed and appear to have been completed the day of the incident. A fourth report was filed by the second officer who responded to the incident. A fifth report, prepared by the department’s detectives, appears to have been filed Aug. 25, according to Alizzeo.
Meanwhile, Mondo, who requested an interview with the Tribune, disputes Toomey’s claim regarding Mondo’s state of mind the day of the incident. Mondo says that he does not believe he was having a psychotic episode at the time of the Tasering, but had left his home after becoming upset over the action of a relative and some tenants. Mondo admits that his memory of the incident in sketchy, perhaps due to the Tasering itself, and he says that he now seems to suffer from short-term memory lapses. He says he recalls the officers appearing on the scene and one of them asking him if he had been drinking alcohol. He says his next memory is of after the Tasering, and at that point he was lying on the ground at the scene of the incident.
Mondo says he does not believe his behavior warranted him being Tasered and he is concerned that Meadville police policy be reviewed to ensure weapons are used only when absolutely necessary. He also says he wants compensation for the loss of his eye.
At this point, it appears that little else about the case will become public before the end of the year. No court action is expected until Dec. 30, when Mondo is expected to appear in Meadville-area Magisterial District Justice William Chisholm’s courtroom to face the single charge of disorderly conduct issued in the case. The case was pushed back from Oct. 31 at the request of both sides, according to Chisholm’s office.
