Since the Fort Worth Police Department started using Taser stun guns in 2001, four people have died. One of them was Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr, a 24 year-old black man suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. On April 18th Michael’s family called 911 after he started acting out at home. A Fort Worth police officer arrived at the Jacob’s home, finding Michael combative, pulled out his Taser and hit the five-foot-five, 150 pound man with 50,000 volts for a full 49 seconds.
That’s a long, long time. When 50,000 volts is coursing through your body, it’s an eternity.
It is unclear whether Jacobs was handcuffed before or after being tased.
Yesterday, Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani declared Michael Patrick Jacob’s death a homicide. This does not mean that the officer who held down the trigger on his Taser for almost a minute will be charged with murder or any other crime. It simply means that Mr. Jacob’s death was caused by 50,000 volts of electricity plus nothing.
You can find the full story in the Fort Worth Star Telegram. After the incident, Star-Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders had this advice for police chief Jim Halstead:
He should issue a moratorium on the use of Tasers until there is another thorough review of the department’s policies on the stun guns and until there can be more independent analyses of their effectiveness versus their danger. For the most part we’ve depended on the manufacturer’s analysis. Since 2001, according to Amnesty International, 351 people have died after being shot with a Taser.
The newly formed Fort Worth chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil-rights group founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, is seeking a federal investigation into the incident. SCLC president Rev. Kyev Tatum, issued the following statement:
Mr. Jacobs did not have to die and no parent should have to experience the death of a child at the hands of the very officials who have sworn to protect and serve them and the entire community. Justice should be color blind and social class should not play a role in administering it.
A news conference has been called for noon today at the Jacobs home.
Friends of Justice 
You stick your finger in a light bulb socket for 49 seconds, you’re likely to die. This sounds like murder to me. 49 seconds is sadistic. The cop should go to jail.
I was glad to read in NY Times this morning that the Justice Dept. is reenergizing the Civil Rights component of the dept. Plenty to do! Taser death in Ft. Worth. Mr. Clay in Arkansas. The couple in Arlington. The Winona case. They need to hire Alan Bean as a Civil Rights wrongs sniffer!
these excessive force officers &thier new non-lethal tool–bullshit!!!!!!!!!!!!TASERS ARE VERY LETHAL FOR SURE WHEN THE OPERATOR DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THEM EXCEPT HOW TO PULL THE TRIGGER..my husband was tasered in2005 almost a total of 2 minutes the only reason he is alive is the the good lord wanted someone to live thru this nightmare to testify we need help !!!!!!!!!!!!this has got to be stopped
So if the police arent allowed to use non-lethal forces to subdue a suspect should they be allowed to just put a bullet between their eyes. A Taser is suppose to be used to get a situation under controll, if you take these devices away, cops will endup using their side arms more often. Lets face it we live in a world that is very unpredicatable, so using a taser instead of a .45 is much better to get a suspect under controll until further investigation can be done.