The Arizona Republic – Jul. 29, 2007
Police reportedly found Ronald Marquez, of Phoenix, shirtless and choking his granddaughter as her 19-year-old mother, naked and bloody, looked on. The bloodied girl was gasping and screaming as her mother chanted and held a religious picture of some kind, police said.
Police said officers heard yelling from outside the house, gained entry through a back door and rushed to a bedroom. Two officers forced the door open slightly to find Marquez sitting on a bed blocking the door, police said. The man held the girl in a headlock with one arm as he was squeezing her torso with his other arm, causing her to gasp and scream, police said.
Investigators later learned the man was trying to “squeeze the demons out of the young girl,” [...]
One officer made his way into the room, confronted Marquez and touched him with a Taser, which apparently had no effect. A second officer followed. The officers managed to free the girl, and handed her out the door to a family member. An officer touched Marquez with the Taser a second time and eventually handcuffed him, police said.
Marquez soon developed shortness of breath and officers performed CPR until medical crews arrived.
Marquez was pronounced dead at the hospital
| Ahhh, the old Taser comes through again. It’s becoming pretty obvious that these things are more dangerous than they at first thought. |
Is it just me, or is this blog becoming more like the “National Enquirer” every day?
But still, the tazer is not as dangerous as a couple of nuts.
Aaaah you gotta love exorcism……
The tazer still isn’t as dangerous as that 9mm
Hey, in this case, lethal force was justified. Crazy Grandpa was lucky just to get the tazer. Honestly, he could have been shot. At least the officers showed restraint from drawing their sidearms.
#4 – Most LEOs carry .40 S&W sidearms. Glock 22, Sig P226, S&W… Very few LEOs use 9mm. That’s the military you’re thinking of (Beretta 92-FS Brigadier).
I agree with you Mac Guy….I think we are better off without that nut trying to “exorcise” anyone else.
Either way, the point stands. The tazer isn’t even as dangerous as a Beretta .22 neo at close range.
For that matter, I doubt it’s a dangerous as the baton most of them carry.
the taser isnt as dangerous as whatever “religion” he was practicing
holy crap religious ppls are crazy wacko
that nekkid 19 yr old chick part was a nice touch tho
While I am usually no big fan of Tazers, in this case it was warranted as the best choice for the situation.
A baton is not an effective weapon in a confined space.
Using a firearm when the child, mother, and other officers were so close, in a violent confrontation is just asking for trouble.
Asking nicely apparently didn’t work.
The man was choking the child. Since time was of the essence, the officers had to react quickly.
Physically restraining the man in an enclosed area may have resulted in more injury to the child.
The fact the man died is truly unfortunate. On the face I don’t see any problem with the police reaction in this instance.
http://angryalien.com/0204/exorcistbunnies.html
They should make this part of the taser training: Using a taser twice should be considered lethal force.
Lethal force in this case sounds like it was warranted. But, I hate hearing about police officers using tasers for crowd control or things that do not justify such force.
Gimme that old time religion … it’s good enough for me.
Involving kids in religious activities before they’re old enough to realize what’s going on is child abuse.
#14 – Jägermeister,
Good point. I don’t know which is worse, the emotional torture of “you’re so bad you must be possessed by the devil” or the actual physical choking.
Dauragon88
But somehow amusing.
16.
Somehow amusing is good enough for me
Probably, a quick word of exorcism on the man would have stopped the whole thing!
#15 – Misanthropic Scott
I think the emotional torture… it will last a lifetime.
Eventually, sensible people, on their own, come to realize what I have been preaching for decades:
“Involving kids in religious activities before they’re old enough to realize what’s going on is child abuse.”
And that includes telling impressionable, immature humans that fairytales are true, before they’re capable of reasoning.