Another academic year, another student shocked with a Taser by the Eugene Police Department.
This time seems frightfully less justified than last time, when anti-pesticide protester Ian Van Ornum was stunned twice during a demonstration in downtown Eugene. Though it didn’t seem electric shock was required for him to be restrained, a tasing for Van Ornum was within the realm of the possible. Protestors have been getting abused by police as long as both have co-existed.
But the international student tased in his West 11th Avenue apartment, presumably for not speaking English and not having enough furniture to appear to be the rightful resident, was no agitator.
A prospective tenant at the apartment complex on Sept. 22 spotted a man sleeping inside an apartment with a reported history of squatters. The prospect tenant called police who called the landlord who said the apartment should have been vacant.
The landlord later remembered that the two men inside the apartment had visited him just hours before to pick up their keys. Unfortunately, he remembered after he heard the Taser fire shortly after police knocked on the young man’s door.
The landlord does not deserve a disproportionate share of blame here. He has clearly expressed sadness about the incident, and told The Register-Guard that police used “excessive force, given what they were presented with.”
The victim’s name has not been released, but University officials have confirmed that he is enrolled in the American English Institute. He and his roommate can enroll in regular University classes once they learn basic English. The tasing victim is being represented by the ASUO’s Office of Legal Services, which provides much-needed assistance to students abused by police and landlords.
Editorials should call for action beyond lamenting the sad, seemingly incriminating facts of a case such as this — actions like EPD stiffening its Taser policy to be used only in lieu of lethal force, or automatic investigations taking place every time a Taser is fired. But right now what students and the greater Eugene community need is some answers.
EPD has refused to release any other information about the case citing an ongoing investigation. We deserve to know what transpired between a knock on a non-English speaking student’s door and electrical shocks being fired into his body. We need to know the name of the officer who did it, how many times it’s happened before and what EPD is going to do to stop excessive force from being used on students again.
EPD’s policy is supposed to be that persons are verbally warned before being tased and only those engaged in “aggressive physical resistance” should be shocked. If there was aggressive resistance here, EPD should say so.
What we don’t need is a Seinfeldian dismissal of the facts, such as acting Eugene police Lt. Doug Mozan gave. “As a result of an inability to communicate, there was eventually a situation where a couple guys were detained,” he told The Register-Guard. “Circumstances led to the use of a Taser.”
These students didn’t speak English, they were detained, yadda yadda yadda. What circumstances lead to the use of a Taser, Lt. Mozan? Before the police department gets 60 more of these weapons, as has been requested, we need to know more about how they have been used and see some sign this will be prevented in the future.