Brooklyn Man TASERed to Death by NYPD

"What do we want?-JUSTICE!"
"When do we want it?-NOW!"

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Lisa Ortega 646.260.6575
Mary Dougherty 845.598.4186

Who: Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities

Why: We are outraged over the death of another person with mental illness who was tasered by the NYPD

The blood lies in the hands of the NYPD!

They must be held accountable!

The NYPD needs a change in policy and procedure
NOW IS THE TIME FOR CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAMS!

What: Joins members of RIPPD, Make the Road New York, People's Justice, Justice Committee, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, Urban Justice Center/Mental Health Project for a Press Conference/Rally

When: Wednesday, October 1, 2008
1:00 PM

Where: 489 Tompkins Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11216
C train to Kingston Throop

Read the following article to get more details of the incident:
NYP: http://www.nypost.com/seven/09252008/news/regionalnews/nypd_investigate_stun_gun_death_130718.htm
NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/nyregion/26taser.html?hp

http://www.nypost.com/video/?vxSiteId=0db7b365-a288-4708-857b-8bdb545cbd0f&vxChannel=PostUsFeed&vxClipId=1458_385679&vxBitrate=300

This is how the media puts it.
Stigmatization, like Criminalization towards those overwhelmed with Mental Illness must Stop

POST STAFF REPORT
Last updated: 5:58 pm
September 24, 2008
Posted: 5:03 pm
September 24, 2008
A deranged Brooklyn man ranting in his birthday suit from a fire escape stairway was shot by cops with a taser gun fell to his death, this shocking video shows.

The crazy rager fell about 10 feet to the street below 491 Tompkins Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant around 2 p.m. and was rushed to Woodhull Hospital with a serious head injury, cops said. He later died at the hospital.

The nudist first appears on the video standing on a fire escape stairway between the second and third floors, screaming inaudibly to a crowd below.

With police shouting for him to get down, the man climbed down to a ledge above a metal roll-down storefront cover.

He then picked up what appears to be a six-foot metal rod and waved it in the air.

"Walk down now! Move down!" the police can be heard shouting to him.

He refused the order and continued his incoherent tirade, the video shows.

Finally, one of the cops can be seen shooting him with the taser, sending the mad man head first to the street 10 feet below. It was unclear what set off his seemingly psychotic episode.

Peoples' Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability
Statement on the NYPD Killing of Iman Morales
Sept. 26, 2008

Peoples' Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability condemns the killing of Iman Morales by the NYPD last Wednesday afternoon in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Like the shooting deaths of Sean Bell and Jayson Tirado by NYPD officers, Mr. Morales death sends yet another message that the lives of people of color in New York City are expendable. Furthermore, it is another example of the NYPD's disregard and disrespect of people with disabilities.

Incidents such as the killings of Eleanor Bumpers, Gideon Busch, Khiel Coppin, and now Iman Morales are evidence of the NYPD's blatant dehumanization of people with mental disabilities. Peoples' Justice supports the call of Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities' (RIPPD) for the NYPD to make use of crisis intervention teams. Such teams, which exist in other parts of the country and have been used with great success, are well trained in non-lethal de-escalation techniques and are prepared to deal with similar situations without the use of TASERs or any other weapons. These teams also always have mental health clinicians on-site, who are prepared to offer treatment, not abuse, to emotionally disturbed individuals.

Peoples' Justice thanks the New York residents that videotaped and publicized Mr. Morales' killing. The ability to document and publicize police misconduct increases accountability and prevents the police from misrepresenting or covering up their actions as they have done many times in the past. We call on all New Yorkers to arm themselves with cameras, observe all law enforcement activity and document any incidents of misconduct. All documentation of questionable law enforcement behavior should be made available to the public.

Sean Bell's killing – in which the cops were acquitted of all charges – and that of Jayson Tirado – a killing that never even went to trial – show that the District Attorney's Office is not capable of overcoming its marriage with the police department in pursuit of justice. Therefore, we can only expect the same in this case and once again reiterate the call for the assignment of an independent prosecutor to investigate the killing of Mr. Morales and all cases of police violence, past and future.
Amnesty International's website states, "Since June 2001, more than 290 individuals in the United States have died after being struck by police TASERs. Amnesty International is concerned that TASERs are being used as tools of routine force, rather than as weapons of last resort." (http://www.amnestyusa.org/us-human-rights/taser-abuse/page.do?id=1021202&n1=3&n2=850&n3=220). This quote speaks not only to the deadly potential of TASERs, but to the fact that the police, no matter their weapon of choice, routinely act with unnecessary violence. The killing of Mr. Morales was not an isolated incident of poor judgment on the part of individual officers. The killings of all those mentioned in this statement, on top of many others, reveal the pattern – and policy – of the NYPD to kill in communities of color as an initial response, regardless of whether the circumstances call for the use of deadly force.
Peoples' Justice is a coalition of NYC-based grassroots organizations that have joined forces to win community control and police accountability.