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An Australian man died while in police custody Sunday after being tasered.
According to media reports, the police responded to calls that a man was being “disruptive” at McDonald’s and after arriving used the taser to “control” him.
The victim, Kevin Norris, was just starting to turn his life around, according to his brother. Norris’ girlfriend, however, told the media that he had been using drugs and threatened to kill her before leaving and heading to the fast food chain.
"I don't think the sort of punishment he got was appropriate," his brother David Norris told AAP. "I've lost all respect for police officers."
An autopsy is expected to be carried out in the next couple of days and CCTV footage will likely form part of the main evidence in an investigation, as there were few witnesses.
The incident is not the first time a person has been killed by police tasers in Australia. In 2012, an unarmed Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti died after six police officers chased him down a Sydney street, sprayed three cans of capsicum on him, and tasered him 14 times from behind. Police claimed they were chasing him because he stole biscuits, but a witness later told the media they had the wrong man.
The United Nations Committee Against Torture said in 2007 that “TASER electronic stun guns are a form of torture that can kill.”
A 2010 Western Australia Corruption and Crime Commission report also said police used tasers disproportionately against Aboriginal people.
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