It happened again! This time an unidentified Grass Valley (CA) police officer decided that the only way to respond to a disturbance was to electrocute 52-year old Bruce Chrestensen with 50,000 volts of electricity from a taser gun. [SOURCE] I imagine that the police thought that they were calming the situation ... instead they killed a man who was already in their custody.
It seems obvious that Chrestensen was experiencing some type of mental stress. When the police arrived he was standing in the middle of the street yelling at passing drivers with his pants down. The police say that he attacked a passing car and wouldn't listen to police commands. Chrestensen was a 52-year old man without a weapon ... he was *UNARMED*. Even if the police officer thought that Chrestensen was trying to steal a car ... it is worth noting that we don't have the death penalty for such a crime.
There is no indication that Chrestensen has a previous criminal history ... and it appears that his only medical condition may be high blood pressure. The police and district attorney are investigating this in-custody pre-judicial electrocution ... but, the officers involved in the taser-killing have not been removed from duty.
Noah Sherry was at work when he witnessed all the commotion.
"I looked out the window and the guy was sitting out there, or standing out there, cussing at people, and doing things" said Sherry. "I think anyone on that mindset would be on drugs."
Does drug use justify being killed by any random police officer?