By C. CURRAN COULTER II
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com

After Fred Weary, a professional football player, was stopped by police officers in Houston two years ago and stunned with a Taser, the issue of race became entwined with the use of the devices on suspects.

Weary, a black man who says his constitutional rights were violated, subsequently filed a lawsuit against both the city and the police officers. The lawsuit alleged that police made an unlawful stop, used excessive force and perpetrated an unlawful arrest and detention.

The incident sparked analogies to racial profiling during police stops — called “driving while black” — when critics began referring to Weary’s case as being “Tasered while black.”

In supporting legal documents, Weary’s lawyer pointed to statistics indicating that Houston’s police department was 330 percent more likely to make traffic stops and searches for blacks than whites.

“For the period between 2004 and August 2006, statistics also demonstrate that, in more than 350 cases out of about 900 Taser incidents for the Houston Police Department, no crime was committed, no person was charged, or the case was dismissed,” court papers alleged.

The number of instances in which suspects were disabled by Tasers but subsequently not charged with any crime troubled Gary Siller, Weary’s attorney.

“Tasers are not supposed to be used at the drop of the hat, but rather under specific circumstances,” Siller said, adding that officers should only use them when warranted by the threat level presented.

Charles McClelland, executive assistant chief of police for the city of Houston, said officers may use intermediate weapons, such as a conductive energy weapon, pepper spray or a baton, on individuals who are “actively aggressive.”

The officers can use them to protect themselves or others, McClelland said. An individual must be actually threatening the officer physically or engaging in some type of active resistance, he said.

Police reports reconstructed the incident between police and Weary this way:

“On Nov. 14, 2006, Weary, a football player with the Houston Texans, was pulled over by officers Margaret T. McGiven and Joe F. Vasquez for acting ‘suspiciously’ and ‘looking at (them) on several occasions’ during a ‘Zero Tolerance Hot Spot Check’ with the Drug Traffic Unit within the Houston Police Department.”

After Weary was removed from his car, Vasquez ordered McGiven to “hit him” with the Taser, and she used it several times. According to eyewitnesses, Weary made no aggressive moves and had his hands on the roof of his vehicle as requested earlier by the officers.

Weary’s attorney said Vasquez had previously been involved in several incidents when he used a Taser to shock a suspect who was never subsequently charged.

“At the time of the arrest, Defendant Vasquez was infamous as one of the nine HPD officers who most used a Taser and a third of those people who he tasered were never convicted,” Weary’s court filings allege.

Those filings also claim Vasquez was required to have a video recorder and audio on his Taser as a result of prior incidents, and it claims that was the reason McGiven stunned Weary, even though Vasquez was closer.

Police denied the allegation.

“The Houston Police Department does not have any devices with video or audio (recording method),” McClelland said. “Every single device has a computer chip that records any time the device is used, the duration it is used, and the date and time it is used.”

The police department uses Tasers 20 to 25 times in a typical month, McClelland said.

A study completed by the University of Houston accumulated data on Taser use by the Houston police for almost three years and determined blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be stunned than whites, and Hispanics are more likely to be shocked with a Taser than whites.

“If you look at the report, it shows that there are an inordinate amount of people Tasered and (in many instances) there are never any charges filed, the charges are made then subsequently dropped or the prosecutor decides not to pursue the case,” Siller said. The charges against Weary were dropped just days after the incident.

The American Civil Liberties Union has raised concerns Houston police, and other departments, may be unjustly pursuing and using Tasers on blacks.

“Human-rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Amnesty International have long charged that Tasers, which incapacitate people by sending a 50,000-volt shock through two barbed darts, can kill,” according to the Economist.

Amnesty International links the devices with 320 deaths in the United States since 2001 and wants them banned.

McClelland said the X-26, the Taser model used by Houston police since December 2004, is only able to emit 1,200 volts, despite manufacturers’ claims of being able to emit 50,000 volts. That is because the charge of its small lithium battery is less than 1 amp. McClelland said most medical experts claim risk of cardiac arrest only arises at around 8 to 10 amps.

Nearly all of the department’s 5,000 officers carry these weapons — except those in administrative positions — and are required to have eight hours of training and be familiar with official guidelines about Taser use, McClelland said.