Note to Cops: When Testing New TASERS, Don’t Shoot the Duster Huffing Homeless Dude
Police in Columbus Ohio finally got their TASERS for the department. The very next day they went huntin’ for huffers behind the local Staples and found Dan Wood, homeless and high on Duster Spray. So they set their TASERS on Flambe’.
From the Columbus Dispatch here:
It didn’t take Lancaster police long to discover a potential danger with their newly issued stun guns: They can set their targets on fire.
One day after officers received Tasers this week, two of them were patting out the flames on Daniel Wood, a 31-year-old homeless man who reportedly had been inhaling a chemical from a spray can to get high.
“Clearly, this is not the way we’d hoped to get started,” Bailey said. “But I’m glad the suspect is OK, and this gives us an opportunity to review how we will do things from this point.”
Okay, this is funny enough if you just imagine the cops of Reno 911 shooting this wild-eyed mulletized vagrant. His last name is WOOD, so of course he’s flammable! But this money quote from Fox18 is even better:
“He was kicking his arms and flailing around a lot. The police officers warned him that they’d Taser him if he didn’t calm down. Of course he didn’t. When they hit him [with the Taser] he just went ‘poof,'” recalled Ellis. That “poof” was a fire that ignited on 31-year-old Daniel Wood’s chest.
Thanks to Trench for the story! Want to see another Duster Huffer walking on sunshine?
At one time, the Taser was to be used as a “non-lethal” method of ending a potentially lethal situation. Now they are used to disable senior citizens and huffers. If your police can’t handle a little old lady or some dude high on paint, without a Taser, perhaps a little more time in the gym working out is in order. A device that was designed to save lives, is now being used to make sure your uniform doesn’t get dirty.