I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Warren mayor Jim Fouts questioned whether police should continue using Tasers in his city, following the death last week of 16-year-old Robert Mitchell. [SOURCE]Fouts called for an independent investigation to determine whether Tasers are safe.
“You can’t overlook the tragic death of a human being,” Fouts said.I wish that Mayor Fouts went a step further and demanded the resignation of the two officers involved in Mitchell's death.
"I'm not a critic of the Taser nor am I a devotee," he said. "What I am interested in (are) the facts," Fouts said. "Anytime there is a tragic death you need to re-evaluate. We want to make sure we have a safe, crime-free city and balance that with no tragic, needless death."
Mitchell, a sophomore at Kettering High School in Detroit who had a learning disability, was riding in a car driven by his cousin. The car was pulled over for an expired license plate. Mitchell was unarmed, 5'2" tall and weighed all of 110 pounds. There was simply no need for the Warren police offers to taser him to death.
"It was just senseless," said his grandmother Charlotte McGlory of St. Clair Shores. She described Mitchell as a quiet boy who stayed out of trouble. "That was a misuse of power," she said. "We want justice."Can anyone provide an explanation for why this young teenager had to die?
