Deaf Man tasered by WPD Officers for 'ignoring' verbal commands secures Legal Counsel
Those of you who are regular readers of this blog may remember the case of Donnell Williams; a 39-year old deaf man who was tasered within his home for non-compliance with verbal commands.
Officers were responding to a call of 'shots fired' when they went to the residence of Mr. Williams. When Mr. Williams didn't answer the door, the officers broke it down and entered the residence.
Mr. Williams, who was in the shower at the time, exited his bathroom to find 4 Wichita Police Officers standing in his living room. He saw that they were attempting to tell him something, and he pointed then motioned towards his hearing aids which were sitting on his dining room table. As he turned to get his hearing aids, he was tasered by the Officers. The call the officers were responding to was later determined to be fraudulent; there was no incident, there were no shots fired, and Mr. Williams doesn't even own a handgun.
Mr. Williams has now secured Legal Counsel. There were a number of complicated and intricate legal issues that had to be delineated and resolved before counsel could be secured, but those obstacles have been overcome. I will update you all periodically as this case develops and progresses, and we will continue our push to change the Force Continuum policy to no longer equate Tasers with OC or Pepper Spray, but to reclassify tasers as 'impact weapons' positioned just before Deadly Force.
