Taser Lawsuit: Jeffry Woodward (Gallatin, TN)

Jeffry Woodward died as a result of electro-shock torture from Gallatin police officers last year.   Readers of this blog recall that Mr. Woodward called police on October 27, 2009 "to report a home invasion and that his mother was in danger."   He thought that someone had kidnapped his mother.

The police arrived.  They checked his home and saw that his mother was unharmed.   The police decided to arrest Woodward for "filing a false police report."    The video news report on what happened next is horrifying.

Unidentified Gallatin police officers took Woodward out of the car ... they allowed their police dog to bite him and they tasered him multiple times.  Not surprisingly, Mr. Woodward went into cardiac arrest and was soon dead.

All of this was witnessed by neighbors and Woodward's mother.   A recent lawsuit filed by Woodward's mother states,

"While on the ground with a police canine on top of him, officers subjected him to multiple Taser applications.  Eyewitnesses report that during this time, Mr. Woodward was crying out, 'Help me! Help me!' and that she was pleading with officers not to kill her son. ... (T)he gratuitous use of force by the defendant officers against the decedent was unnecessary and resulted in severe injuries and death."

Woodward's wife and mother have filed a lawsuit against Taser International (claiming it misrepresents its products as non-lethal and safe) and the Gallatin Police Department (history of allowing its officers to use excessive and illegal force on civilians, failing to discipline the officers for it, and covering for them by falsely claiming that the beatings were "justified and proper.")

Woodward's family are represented by Joe Bednarz of Nashville.   This blog is hopeful that successful lawsuits against Taser International will drive them into bankruptcy ... and that successful lawsuits against the police department will cause them to use tasers more responsibly.