Police in Miami Beach are investigating the death of Israel Hernandez-Llach...an accomplished artist known as Reefa...who died while in police custody...after the 18-year old was shocked with a stun gun...as cops attempted to arrest him...for spray painting graffiti...on an abandoned, dilapidated building.In a statement...the Miami Beach Police allege that just before dawn...on Tuesday morning, August 6th, 2013...they observed Hernandez-Llach in the act of vandalism...but that the young man took off running...and "ignored officers' commands to stop." When police eventually caught up with Hernandez-Llach...authorities say, "In order to affect his arrest...an officer deployed his conducted electrical weapon (Taser). Once in custody...the subject displayed signs of medical duress." He was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
What is happening in this country? What is happening in our United States of America? Is it open season on minority teenagers? Or is it Trayvon Martin and Israel Hernandez-Llach that we just know about? How many other unarmed teenage boys - black ones, brown ones, yellow, red and even white ones - are receiving unreasonable force...of one form or another?
Now...a kid - oh I realize he was legally an adult...but he was a kid - has lost his life...because he spray painted a boarded-up, fast-food restaurant. I am thoroughly disgusted and disturbed by some of the insensitive individuals who I have been speaking with the last several days...who have no compassion or humanity...no sympathy or mercy. All I've heard is - "the kid broke the law." Sure he did. I don't argue that fact. I don't deny that Israel Hernandez-Llach did something wrong. But he paid the ultimate price for doing it.
There is no doubt that - if he had lived...it would have been justifiable for Hernandez-Llach to be punished...taught a lesson for vandalizing somebody else's property...but this was a misdemeanor...not a capital crime. Oh I realize that he did run away from police...so technically he was resisting arrest. However, an unidentified friend of Hernandez-Llach reportedly stated that Israel was afraid of getting deported back to his native Columbia...even though he, his father, mother and sister were granted political asylum eight years ago.
Nevertheless...Hernandez-Llach spray painted an empty building. He didn't rob someone at gunpoint. He didn't kidnap or rape someone. He didn't commit murder. Therefore, I've got to wonder how the cop who Tasered Hernandez-Llach feels today? That officer - according to the Miami Beach Police Department - has been placed on paid administrative leave and will undergo psychological counseling. However, a police spokesman said the officer could return to work as soon as the chief of police deems him fit to do so. Meanwhile...the Miami Dade Medical Center completed an autopsy on Wednesday, August 7th...but as of Sunday, August 11th...there had not been a ruling on the actual cause of death of Israel Hernandez-Llach...and toxicology results were also pending. No matter whether Hernandez-Llach died because of being shocked by the Taser or not...he's still dead...and it's tragic. This is a total tragedy.
And for those of you who feel Hernandez-Llach deserved what he got - as some people have communicated to me - his offense is nowhere as bad...as what some of them have done. How many of you...get behind the wheel of a car everyday...and drive 10, 20...maybe even 30 miles per hour over the speed limit? You could be endangering your life...or the lives of others. Israel Hernandez-Llach was expressing himself artistically...and police stopped him by using - what turned out to be - a deadly weapon.
Tasers are not firearms...and, therefore...they are not subject to regulations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Maybe they should be. Yes...they need to be.
There are states in this country that have done away with the electric chair. When you think about it...Israel Hernandez-Llach died in the same basic way...and yet...he was never allowed to go to trial...never convicted... and certainly never sentenced to death. He spray painted an old building... and died for doing it.
In 2012...the human rights organization, Amnesty International...reported that since 2001...more than 500 people in the United States had died...from being shot by a Taser gun...and that the state of Florida suffered the second largest number of deaths from Tasers.
Also in 2012...a study by Dr. Douglas Zipes...was published by the American Heart Association journal, Circulation. Dr. Zipes concluded...that stimulation from a Taser can cause a person to have a massive heart attack. However...a spokesman from the Miami Beach Police Department has stated that, "You don't die of a Taser." According to Dr. Zipes and the American Heart Association...that's simply not true.As a journalist, radio talk show host and news anchor/reporter throughout the last 40 years...I have had the great pleasure of working with policemen... some of which I respect not only as law enforcement officers...but as my friends. And these honorable, brave and courageous people - who risk their lives everyday to help protect the citizens of our local communities nationwide - have advised me that stun guns of any kind are never to be aimed at a person's chest. Being "Tased" in the buttocks...will knock a guy flat on his face...but will likely not kill him. And Tasers are never to be activated for more than 5 seconds.
A reporter from WPLG-TV Channel 10 in Miami...interviewed Hernandez-Llach's sister, Offir. The 21-year old was asked if she believed police had gone too far. Offir Hernandez replied..."My brother is dead, isn't he? Of course (the police) went too far. (Israel) didn't come home. The police did."
Thiago Souza and Felix Fernandez were friends of Israel Hernandez-Llach...and they told CBS News...that they witnessed their pal being arrested. Souza articulated that "(Police) tried to lift up (Israel's) arms...and they would just fall...they would just collapse back to the floor." And Fernandez remarked that "(Police) were making fun of how (Israel) tensed up when he got Tased. They were just laughing. Oh you should have seen him...you should have seen how he tensed up."
Maybe if these particular policemen didn't find the matter to be so funny... and didn't joke around - celebrating with "high fives" as Hernandez-Llach lay on the ground - as a witness said...the officers might have realized...that they perhaps could have saved the life of Israel Hernandez-Llach.
On Saturday, August 10th, protestors rallied outside the building where police spotted Hernandez-Llach spray painting earlier in the week. Demonstrators demanded there be an independent investigation in to the excessive force used to capture Hernandez-Llach. One sign that was exhibited in the crowd read, "How can they kill a boy for being an artist?"
Here again - as in the death of Trayvon Martin - another Florida teenager has died...when other means of apprehension could have been...and should have been used. The police in Miami Beach - like neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman in the incident involving Trayvon Martin - could have...and should have handled the capture of Israel Hernandez-Llach...a lot differently. If they had...another Florida teenager...wouldn't be dead.Meanwhile, city officials in Miami Beach say they have formally requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review any findings from the police department's investigation. Furthermore...the state attorney's office for Miami-Dade County is also conducting its own inquiry in to the death of Israel Hernandez-Llach.
Israel Hernandez-Llach had a can of spray paint in his hand - not a 357 Magnum. Israel Hernandez-Llach was an artist - not a mass murderer...not a serial killer. He was one credit short of graduating from Miami Beach High School...and was not a threat to anyone. Israel Hernandez-Llach...didn't deserve to die.
All it would have taken...was a few gallons of paint...to cover up the graffiti. Instead...a family...now has to cover up a grave.
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy will make an effort to publish a new commentary every Sunday and Wednesday. Unscheduled essays may appear, from time to time, on other days as well.
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Why does everything come down to race with you? You made the comment "Don't you think a couple of strong policemen - who, by the way, also carry guns with bullets - could have gently wrestled - or even, if necessary - tackled - Hernandez-Llach to the ground...without using force of an electrical stun gun?" police in most cases are instructed to avoid physical contact when possible and use what the US DOJ calls "Less-Lethal Weapons" tasers to stop a suspect from getting away. Most injuries to police offers come from trying to subdue a suspect by use of physical force, Tackling or wrestling as you call it. Officers have the right to protect themselves and try to prevent injury to themselves. It is not always about race!
ReplyDeleteWho said anything about race. I never said a thing about race. I merely noted that Israel Hernandez-Llach was a skinny kid who probably didn't weigh as much as each of the police officers who were chasing after him...and that it would have been so much easier...and safer...to gently wrestle him to the ground than to shoot him with an electrical stun gun when all he did was spray paint on a building. As for "avoid(ing) physical contact" - as you stated - and your comment that Tasers are "less-lethal weapons" - that may be so. They may be "less" lethal...but the fact of the matter is - they can and are lethal. The proof...is a dead 18-year old boy. GBD
ReplyDelete"Who said anything about race?" You did, your opening paragraph:"another Florida teenager...from a minority ethnic heritage...has died...for no good reason whatsoever. This time...it was a Hispanic male." Later on you write "Is it open season on minority teenagers?" You made it about Race!!
ReplyDeleteHmmm, interesting. But I never used the word "race." I was merely stating a fact about the people who have died. However, as the old saying goes..."If it walks like a duck...quacks like a duck"...well...I'm sure you know the rest. GBD.
ReplyDeleteMy commentary speaks for itself. There was no reason for Israel Hernandez-Llach to be "Tased" for the simple misdemeanor of spray painting an abandoned building. It makes no sense for me to reiterate the thoughts I expressed in my column. The fact of the matter is - another minority teenager is dead - and for no reason whatsoever. It's a crying shame and a tragedy that a young man died for a little bit of graffiti - a real crying shame and tragedy. GBD
ReplyDelete