Iman Morales, approached by police after yelling at passers-by, started swinging a fluorescent light tube at officers. He fell 10 feet to his death after being Tased.
It’s the odd details that linger.
Photo: Richard Box
Man falls to death after being tased by Brooklyn cops
33 Responses to Man falls to death after being tased by Brooklyn cops
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Darn, I was hoping this was about David Blaine.
…Ya gotta admit, that’s a really beautiful abstract even if it has AbZero to do with the story. Rob, where’d you find it?
Was looking at this pic earlier today: http://www.doobybrain.com/2008/02/03/electromagnetic-fields-cause-fluorescent-bulbs-to-glow/
Great pic.. Good times.. unless of course you actually live in Brooklyn and are sick death of watching cops beat up bicyclists, ticket pedestrians, use unnecessary force any chance they can and even kill people without any serious reprimand. Cool lightbulbs, though.
Why tie up valuable police resources and time by talking to people when you can Taser® them and make big productivity gains!
Taser® – the remote cattle prod for ensuring compliance from your livestock!
Dumbass®
You forgot to mention that he was NAKED. If he wasn’t standing on a building ledge, I would have said “Sure, tase him all day”… I mean seriously, how long are cops supposed to stand there talking to the crazy naked guy who’s swinging a fluorescent tube at them? But dude’s on a building ledge, with a very good chance of falling and breaking his neck (or suffering serious head trauma) after you tase him. Maybe try to think of another alternative, yes?
i agree with 7 tasering is an alright way of aprehending an unruley naked man with a giant florecent bulb, but when he’s on a ledge WTF did they expect to have happen? honestally, did that cop even think about what was gonna happen when he tassed him? are the NYPD payed to think?
Om, that’s an art installation by Richard Box. Unfortunately, all his websites are dead! Here’s some more details:
http://www.stopgeek.com/richard-boxs-light-field.html
It’s the Tesla trick, but updated.
“…are the NYPD payed to think?”
The word is “paid,” thinker-man.
you are correct sir my fingers and mind dont always work as one
I enjoy the description of a fluorescent bulb as a “weapon”.
What are the odds you’d land perfectly on your head on a fall from only 10 feet?
Then again, what are the odds of coming across a naked man on a roof brandishing a lightbulb?
Such is life.
On the topic of Tasers, I was sitting at my box office job in a museum yesterday when a uniformed cop came in to purchase tickets, and a co-worker jokingly pointed at me and said “there he is”. Without hesitation, the cop replied “He won’t get further than 21 feet from this taser” and laughed. Wow, i’m glad that he is ready to tase someone who is minding their own business as well as actually trying to do something valuable with their time. Guess I should cut my hair and shave, to appease this hero.
“You forgot to mention that he was NAKED.”
so it’s ok to kill him?!
Sounds something from Guantanamo or an Iraq prison: “He was naked so it was ok to t*rture him”…
Now that’s important to me. I need to die misunderstood.
You did notice that the naked new yorker had previously worked in “the financial industry”?
hmmm….
Also note, it seems he was not attacking people with the bulb. Merely that he was trying to prevent people from touching him.
You know, sometimes when you’re naked on a ledge you don’t want people to touch you. Seems reasonable to me.
…Lessee, nekkid, running around with a fluro bulb…holy frack! Quick, someone check on the whereabouts of the Star Wars Kid!
I bet their police report says they had to tase him because he was attacking them with a lightsaber.
Hey, he was naked and swinging a flourescent tube. Obviously he was crazy, and thus not a real person anyways, right?
Yo Rob – it’s Iman. Article had a name correction FYI.
I agree with 7: Taser seemed to be totally appropriate, especially since he went down a fire escape (naked) and got the fluorescent light by ripping it from a light fixture…except for the “on a ledge” bit.
Perhaps they need to add “situational use precautions” to Taser training, like “make sure the target can fall safely to ground and is not over a ledge or water”, which would also pretty much prevent pirates from using Tasers, now that I think about it.
Come on people. He’s dead. He didn’t harm anyone. Please don’t slander him.
I have my doubts as to whether he was crazy. The police did not arrive at the building to find him naked on the ledge swinging a fluorescent tube at passersby. He was in his own apartment. They came into his home, chase him around and forced him onto the ledge.
He grabbed that light to keep those people away from him. As #17 nehpetsE says, I agree that if you’re naked, you may not want anyone to touch you right at that time, police or not.
“Department guidelines say an officer may use a Taser if an emotionally disturbed person is a danger to himself or to others.”
Fair enough but I sincerely hope those guidelines give indications of inappropriate times to use a Taser too. Increasing the danger to a person would seem to be one of those times.
ENOUGH corporate doublespeak!
Why is it called ‘electrocution’ any other time than when someone is felled by a portable consumer gadget?
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=170cc1e0-b865-413f-aaf4-cbc5d04ed428
Electrocution refers to when someone is killed by the electrical current.
From the article:
Really? The most important thing?! I think the most important thing is that the man is dead and wouldn’t have been if he hadn’t been tazed!
@21, cheers, post updated.
This happened on my block. the thing my neighbors mentioned that doesn’t show up in the times article is that he was in his apartment with the door locked, and the police kicked down his door, scaring the crap out of him. it was only then that he fled to the ledge.
There is constant police harassment of people in my neighborhood, breeding resentment. The police justify their rough behavior in Bed-Stuy by saying it’s a rough neighborhood, but that’s bullshit. everyone on my block is friendly, and I once had a neighbor bring my bike in her house because I forgot to lock it up. There is a greater sense of community here than many places in NYC, and the worst gang around are the police.
No. But it *is* a rather poignant detail to be left out of the summary. It takes the story from “angry man wields weapon at police, gets tased (and yes, a fluorescent light tube is very much a weapon… you bust that thing over somebody’s head and you’ve got glass shards EVERYWHERE) to “CRAZY man wields weapon at police, gets tased”. I’m much more likely to consider the use of a taser justified if the taser victim is beyond reason. But again, as I said… The fact that he was standing on a ledge 10 feet off the ground means that perhaps they should’ve tried a bit harder to figure out another solution.
And #22 – you missed the part where he was naked in the hallway. It’s not like the police just showed up, kicked down his door and chased him out the window. His mother said that he wasn’t taking his meds, it’s clear that the guy was at least PARTIALLY imbalanced here.
Actually, the article isn’t clear on him being naked in the hallway or not. Just that he was “acting strangely”. But clearly he WAS imbalanced enough for his mother to call 911.
The cop that did it killed himself.
He’s not the one who ‘did it’ but he is the one who ordered the officer to use the taser.