Taser Abuse Has to Stop!

A Parkland man who was Tasered on Tuesday during a scuffle with Broward sheriff's deputies in front of the Sawgrass Infiniti car dealership in Tamarac has died in the hospital, according to authorities.

The man, identified as John J. Meier Jr., 48, had been running in and out of traffic on West Commercial Boulevard while wearing only a pair of shorts. He was violently resisting arrest when he was Tasered, according to BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal. Well, let's think this over. Can we assume that a guy running in and out of traffic in his underwear has a screw or two loose?

Meier, who authorities suspected was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, died in the hospital about five or six hours later, Leljedal said. Deputies first encountered Meier about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after he began undressing and running through traffic in the 10500 block of West Commercial Boulevard. The first deputy to arrive tried to lead Meier away from the road, but he began fighting the deputy and continued to struggle when two backup deputies arrived, Leljedal said.

During the struggle, one of the deputies drew a Taser and pressed it directly to Meier's body, taking him to the ground, where he was handcuffed. Leljedal could not say how many times Meier was Tasered or how long he was hit with the stun gun.

Paramedics took him to University Hospital, where he was treated for several hours before being pronounced dead at 1 a.m. Wednesday.

..An Amnesty International report released last December listed Broward County as one of the counties in the country where the most Taser-related deaths had occurred between 2001 and 2008. One of the things that is so very clear to me as one who has debated this frequently on the radio and read about too many fatal instances, is that Tasers must not be used by law enforcement agents against any persons who appear to be in their 30's or older.