The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind: TASER

Showing posts with label TASER. Show all posts

Thursday, October 02, 2008

A sad situation all around

Remember the TASER case in which a man plummeted to his death after being shocked on a ledge in New York City? Here is a follow-up.

The lieutenant who ordered the stun gun fired, a 21-year police veteran, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot today. It would have been his 46th birthday.

We all make bad decisions. The police are in a situation where that decision could turn deadly. I have to admit, my first reaction was how could anyone have ordered it. But he may have thought that the inflatable mat they'd ordered had already arrived, and it was just a 10-foot drop, so that would have absorbed the impact. I don't know the circumstances, really. I do know I have enough trouble with making minor decisions that I couldn't really be a policewoman or nurse or doctor or military person--or anyone who makes life and death decisions everyday. It's one of the reasons I'm a librarian. At worst, a book might suffer, or there is some sort of customer service fallout. No one dies because a librarian makes the wrong decision in carrying out his or her duty, unless it's some spectacular thing like a hostage situation or whatever. And I have great respect for people who do have to make those decisions every day.

Some decisions, I guess, you just can't live with. I don't know if it was the cost of another life or the potential of losing his career, or both, but Lt Michael Piggot made another decision, one that cost him his life, and my thoughts are with his family, friends, and fellow officers today, on what was his birthday.