Taser Death: Ronald Armstrong (Pinehurst, NC)

It happened again! We are just now getting word that 43-year old Ronald Armstrong was tasered-to-death by unidentified Pinehurst (NC) police officers. There is some discrepancy about the number of times 50,000 volts of electricity were pumped into Armstrong's body. His family says that he was tasered at least three times. [SOURCE]


The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is examining Armstrong's death. He was being taken into custody by members of the Pinehurst Police Department Saturday night based on an involuntary mental health commitment order.

The police spin on the story is that Armstrong resisted and fought with unidentified Pinehurst officers. One or more of the officers used a taser gun on Armstrong. He collapsed and stopped breathing.

Pinehurst (NC) Police Dept.

Officers immediately performed CPR and called for an ambulance. Armstrong was transported to Moore Regional Hospital where efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.  He died.

The officers who killed Armstrong have been placed on paid administrative leave.

I keep asking a simple question -- since when does resisting arrest have a punishment of the death penalty? Why do law enforcement officers all over the nation feel it is justifiable to kill an unarmed man whenever that man disrespects them (or resists arrest)?