Youth dies after tasing by police

Robert Mitchell, 16, affectionately known as “Tazzy” by his family and friends, has become one of the latest victims of tasing by law enforcement.

Mitchell, who had no criminal record, was riding in a car that was stopped by Warren police on April 10. Warren is a suburb of Detroit. He was riding with an older relative after they had repaired a tire for his aunt at a neighborhood gas station. They then offered a ride to a young woman who had missed her bus to get to work.

After pulling their car over, the police ordered the vehicle’s passengers to lie on the ground while the vehicle was searched.

According to eyewitnesses, Mitchell ran from the scene and was chased by police into the city of Detroit, where he took refuge in an abandoned home on Pelkey Street on the East Side. Police officers pursued him and brought him out of the house.

The police then took Mitchell back into the same house and tased him. He passed out and later died. One of the passengers in the vehicle in which Mitchell had been riding said police told her that the youth “fainted.”

Family demands justice

Robert Mitchell’s family is not satisfied with the explanation provided by the Warren Police Department. The family, along with the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, held a candlelight vigil in honor of Mitchell’s memory on April 12. The event was covered widely by Detroit’s local television and print media.

Later that week, family members and supporters from DCAPB attended a Warren City Council meeting and demanded the termination of the Warren police officers involved in Mitchell’s death. They also demanded that the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office file charges against the cops who had crossed over into Detroit, where Mitchell died.

A memorial service was held for Mitchell on April 18 at Second Ebenezer Church on the city’s East Side. Hundreds of Mitchell’s family members and friends attended the service and expressed their grief over the incident. The family pledged to continue the fight to have the officers fired and prosecuted.

“He was the storyteller of the family,” said Ramell Savage, 14, one of Mitchell’s three brothers. Family members described Mitchell as a normal teen who loved sports and music.

Ron Scott, spokesperson for DCAPB, said, “Tasers are not nonlethal weapons. They kill. This is why the DCAPB mounted a successful campaign several years ago to ban the use of Tasers by the police in the city of Detroit. However, suburban police departments are using this weapon and there have been two deaths recently after this weapon was utilized.”

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts questioned whether the police should continue to use Tasers, which stun a person with a jolt of electricity. He called for an independent investigation into whether the weapons are safe.

“You can’t overlook the tragic death of a human being,” Fouts told the Detroit Free Press (April 15). Mitchell is the second teenager in a month to die in Michigan after being tased. A 15-year-old Bay City youth also died on March 22.