tasers

News of the May 30th Tasering of UO student and pesticide protestor Ian Van Ornum has made its way to the Organic Consumers Association and they are not happy .

Van Ornum was Tasered while rallying to call attention to the use of pesticides on Oregon highways. The OCA is providing a letter for people to sign and send to the Eugene Police Department. The letter cites Taser-death statistics from Amnesty International (277 deaths since 2001). The EPD has a history with the human rights group — the Eugene police were accused of “torture” about 10 years ago after excessive use of pepper spray against a protestor .

On another note, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (and Suzi who is up on science fiction references), the word "Taser" comes from a kid's book series: Tom Swift. Taser is the first letters in the phrase: Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle.

On a kinder gentler literary note, Tom Swift also originated the "tom swifty," which is a kind of Wellerism in which a quoted sentence becomes a kind of pun through its adverbial attribution.

Examples:

"We must hurry," said Tom swiftly.
"I have a split personality," said Tom, being frank.

A Eugene example might be:

"I'm going to Tase you!" said the policeman shockingly.

I couldn't decide whether he was a "star" of The Sopranos, The Matrix series, or Memento (where I remember him best), but either way I received a painfully late and unhelpful phone tip (with no call-back number) that Joe Pantoliano will be on the corner of 10th and Olive from 10 am-11:30 am on Tuesday, June 3 to help those without health access get access to it, or something. Anyway, if you're downtown next Tuesday, stop by and check it out.

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

TUESDAY, June 3
10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.—The "Help is Here Express" bus tour, along with Emmy Award-winning actor, writer and producer Joe Pantoliano, will stop in the downtown Eugene parking lot at the intersection of West 10th Avenue and Olive Street to help uninsured and financially struggling Oregonians access information on programs that provide prescription medicines for free or nearly free. The bus tour is part of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance. Contact: Annie Klug, The Ulum Group, (503) 310-4512.

Remember when that YouTube video of the UCLA student getting Tasered in the library got wide play last November?

UCLA has finally, it seems, decided to revise its policy on Tasers.

Here's a quote:

After reviewing and analyzing selected Taser and use-of-force policies that were more restrictive than those of the UCLA Police Department, Mr. Bobb made a series of recommendations. Among them are:
· Clarifying the definitions of violent subjects and those displaying aggression and resistance.

· Limiting the use of Tasers to aggressive or violent subjects.

· Prohibiting the use of Tasers on passively resistant subjects and on handcuffed suspects.

· Clarifying the circumstances under which a Taser should be brandished.

OK, those are all good ideas (Tasering someone who's in handcuffs or is collapsed on the floor, refusing to move? Bad idea, dudes; good to change it. Not surprisingly, the UCLA police's internal review, according to Inside Higher Ed, where this whole review came to my attention, found that the infamous incident wasn't a problem. Unh hunh.).

I checked the UO website to see if it said anything about Tasers. It didn't, but the Oregon Daily Emerald did. That was in May of 2006 though. Is the UO's Department of Public Safety carrying Tasers?

Not yet. (The EPD, however, is running a pilot study on the use of Tasers on citizens.)

On hold to the DPS, where the receptionist said they don't have Tasers now (she giggled in a horrified way, which was interesting). She's trying to get me some info ... nope, none yet. Will update you when the info rolls in.

UPDATE: Lieutenant Herb Horner called back and left a message saying that the Taser issue "has been put on hold" at the DPS until the DPS gets a "permanent director." OK, no Ducks at risk (on campus) of the ol' electricity jolts just yet. Stay tuned for the city news though...