astro
August 27, 2003, 5:48pm
1
Per this article from the Washington Post . I didn’t know the law could do this to force compliance. Even if the prisoner is a really bad guy is tasering (or the equivalent) them to force them to submit to medical tests an ethical or moral thing to do?
Sniper Case Fuels Sheriff’s Race
The use of a stun belt to subdue alleged sniper John Allen Muhammad last week at a local hospital has thrust the nationally renowned case into local politics in Prince William County, where Muhammad is being held on murder charges.
An attorney for Muhammad said that problems began Friday when hospital staff unexpectedly started to X-ray the prisoner’s head, and he resisted.
Stoffregen said five people tried to restrain Muhammad, whose legs and arms were cuffed. Muhammad ignored warnings from a deputy to calm down, and when he didn’t, the deputy activated an electronic device attached to Muhammad’s right arm. Muhammad continued to resist, and again the device was activated, this time with the desired effect.
In court yesterday, Muhammad had two small bandages on his right arm covering what his attorneys said were welts from the stun device.
Stoffregen said Muhammad again began flailing when staff members prepared him to enter the MRI chamber, so the sheriff decided to return him to jail. Stoffregen said that he could not be blamed for Muhammad’s actions and that the transfer “obviously was a successful exchange” because nobody got hurt.
Hill mocked that assessment. “That’s nonsense,” he said. “If it was a success on Friday, why are we having to do it again?” Hill said that if he had been in charge, he would have “stopped everything and returned to the facility immediately” after Muhammad first resisted.
Muhammad’s attorneys said their client was injured in the incident, with soreness resulting from his shoulders being pinned and the restraints on his arms and legs rubbing against him. “He’s a guy who is innocent unless he’s proven guilty,” attorney Jonathan Shapiro said. “It was just inappropriate.”