I am truly concerned about how this has been reported on other News channels.

Chris had just turned 36 years old on 2/27/08. That needs to be corrected, but other than that I think News channel 9 has done a more comprehensive job of investigating this issue.  I would suggest that someone attempt to discuss this particular case with the Sheriff's department since they were there on the scene as well.  Interviewing the Clay Police Commissioner only might get you a very narrow view of this case.

I hope that you can get a picture to put a face with the name for the public, so that they understand that Chris wasn't a big bad man of an athletic build by any means.  In this article a quote makes reference to the use of common sense in a situation like this and well not much of that was used by members of the Clay police department.

IF he got tasered in the first place, it is no ones fault but his own, he deserved it. Personally i dont think the taser is the only thing that killed him.

TASER SAVES LIVES EVERYDAY

A Taser has never killed anyone. Months from now when the truth is known and the cause of death is found to be unrelated to Taser use the facts will be reported in several lines buried deep in the newspaper

Listen IF YOU DO NOT DO ANYTHING ILLEGAL, YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT GETTING ARRESTED, SHOT, SPRAYED, OR TASERED!!!!! The guy was not following direstions from  the officer and therefore anything that happened after that, is his fault.  Had he listened to the officer, he would not have forced the officer to use the taser.  Truly Concerned need to wake up and realize that it does not matter what size this guy was.  If you do not comply, there are consequences.  While I do not want someone to die from this, I tend to agree with Dave.  Again, tragic loos of life, but done by himself.!

some people have medical cond

While I don't have a lot of sympathy for the dead man, the safety of tasers needs to be reexamined.  This would not be the first device that manufacturers claim to be safe and more humane that, in the end, is more dangerous than expected.

True, most people hit by a taser recover, but this is not the first time someone has died after being stunned.  I'm always concerned that these so-called "safe" devices are increasingly used to avoid physical confrontations, and the chance that someone vulnerable to such electric shock (which is what tasers do) will be irreparably harmed or killed thus increases.  What concerns me more is that the taser will be used as the weapon of "first resort" rather than only when necessary.

Whether that's the case here remains to be seen.  Descriptions of the incident indicate the man was out of control.  People who have temporarily lost control do not think rationally.  Expecting them to meekly obey an officer's direction is silly.  Sometimes the best action is to take no action and wait for the situation to resolve itself.  The officers probably did the procedurally correct thing, and likely saved themselves from physical harm.

Hey Bubba,

Sorry, my foirend, but there are thousands of cases of people who were arrested, mistreated, and seriously harmed who had done nothing beyond being in the wrong place or looking too much like someone else.

FaceFurny. Give me some examples.  At least 20 % of the thousands you claim to take place. I agree that this may take place, but it is not the standard practice.  Show me some evidence.  Not everycop is perfect.  There are a few bad ones.  However, this is not one of them

Certain actions of behavior are not acceptable.  The role of Law Enforcement is to keep everyone of us safe including themselves.  A domestic dispute can and does result in death to any party involved.  Just recently in Bridgeport and Chittenango!!!  At the age of this man, he should have respected the wishes of law enforcement.

Hey, the problem is that our society blames everyone else for their problems.  Yes we live in a democratic society but that does not give us the right to do whatever we want.  It's always someones fault.  take a survey in the prison system.  Everyone is either innocent or it was somebody else who put them there.  

Is everyone supposed to be going around wearing medical condition signs?  The police are humans how are they supposed to know?  They are here to protect us and at the same time need to protect themselves.  If someone is not following what they are asked to do when caught they must deal with the consequences.

It's time for all Americans to stop putting the balme on something rather than themselves.  It is time to Man up and own up to our actions!

Amen Tazer!!!!!
Face you said " Sometimes the best action is to take no action and wait for the situation to resolve itself. " Do you really believe what you just wrote?  Have you ever been in that situation?  Try telling that to an officer and see what they say.  Here is onething to consider.  If the officer had waited for him to clam down and someone got hurt, you and everyone else would be calling for the officer's badge and lining up to file a suit against the dept.  Bad things happen sometimes that can not be easliy explained.  Stop being a Monday morning quarterback..

facefurney, how haveyou been ; glad to hear someone intelligent on the blog. how many police were there; was this man armed with a weapon. noooooo. was he a huge imposing man  noooooo. two cops with back up and they needed a taser. sounds like a cop who wanted to stick someone with it. years ago , people were subdued without tasers or any other DANGEROUS device. if the man was upset , hitting his walls how much of a crime existed here. a very fine line to qualify for police brutality and also manslaughter. im sorry bubba but tasers are dangerous and lethal; the human body has many internal weaknesses that may cause a seizure; brain or heart; these town cops are not medical specia;lists, my conclusion is he never had threatened with lethal force , 3 on 1 or even 2 0n 1 ; the cops are responsible , legally and ethically for the death of this little man;  

The police officer used a taser on the individual to get him to calm down, he had no idea that this person was going to die because of it.  Had he had to use a gun yes then the police officer would have known the individual would have been injured and or killed.  The men and women in law enforcement have to face these situations on a daily basis, not knowing what the outcome for themselves or anyone else will be. Yes it is an unfortunate situation that the person died, but the officers must protect themselves and other innocent people around them.

Chris , what part of STOP OR I'LL SHOOT did you not understand !! If the officer didn't shoot him with a taser his 40 cal. would 've been 2nd choice .There much louder and would've made quite the mess .

Tazer & Bubba,

I never said the officers should not have used the taser.  I did say that expecting someone who is ranting to behave rationally is silly.  I also said they may have acted in a procedurally correct manner.  Sometimes it IS best to back away and let things calm down on their own.  Their was no statement that he was armed.  Eventually, he might have just exhausted himself.  Since you weren't there either, your "Tase first and ask questions later" is as much armchair q'backing as anyone.  

If the man actually posed a threat to someone, fine.  Tasers don't "calm down" anyone - they essentailly immobilize them by stunning their nervous systems.  That's no small matter, and in some cases, the effect is serious.  Their use should be limited to situations where it's either taser or deadly force.  

Darned if you do and darned if you don't.  This guy had heart problems right.  While if he was allowed to rant and rave he may have still had a Heart Attack.  Then the Headlines would read:  Police Stand By While Man Has Heart Attack.  Then you and the rest of them would be talking about how the police should have done something to calm the man before he had his attack.  You can't have your cake and eat it too.

According to the news "After Clay Police arrived, they say Jackson became aggressive towards an officer and the taser was used".  While you or I were not there, if in a tense situation a person makes a move towards the officer... case closed!!  People can sit back and question what the people involved were thinking, but, not being there allows people to second guess the situation?  It  is their job to protect people and property to the best of their ability, let's stick to ours.   By the way I am still waiting for your eviidence from your earlier posts.  

Facefurny, it is cool that you speak your mind but when it comes to Bubba learn how to spell friend :-)

Right on Bubba!  There are too many "Monday Morning Quaterbacks" out there.

OK, wow Tazer.. are you that dumb that you have to say something about his spelling? Come on, get real. I read through what Bubba said and there really wasn't anything wrong. Sure he may have made a few errors due to his typing, but he did not mean to spell them wrong. Get a life dude.

    I am a nurse and my biggest question is.  Did the police immediately start cpr or did they wait for the paramedics.   Also  dont they have AED's in the cop cars now?  An AED is an automatic defibrilator and could have probobly saved this guys life.  police are supposed to be trained in the use of them.

Mission complete, someone finally got annoyed.  I guess people really do read these things.  As for my life I really am happy with it so I'll keep it.  Calm down and try not to let it ruin your life.   I might add that if you knew how to read a little more carefully you would have read that I was not correcting anything Bubba spelled.  Maybe you should  start reading from the top of this page to see what I was writing about.  Oh, by the way I happen to have a Maters Degree in Education so I can't be that stupid.  How about you?  One More thing I know who Bubba is and if he made a spelling error I would just tell him face to face :-)  Have a wonderful night.

Amen Tazer!!!!

I personally think that people deserve what they get and if you going to get all pissed off and act stupid then you should deal qith the consequenses.  Tasers are used to protect not kill. These officers have to go through all that training and most of them will have to get tasered themselves before they can even carry one.  So I am not about to blame the police dpartments for this event.... they were just doing their job.

Right on Celeste!!!!!!!

It's a shame that a life was lost, but consider this, 99.9 percent of the population knows that the Police carry tasers, and will use them if they feel that their life is in jeopardy. Now if you have an underlying medical condition, why would you place yourself in a situation where it may be used on you. I consider myself pretty healthy, but would never put myself in a position to get tasered, I have no idea how my body will react to it. Very simple, when ordered by the Police to do something, do it, then you have nothing to worry about. Look at all the stabbings, shootings, domestic disputes and beatings on the streets daily, I don't blame the Officers for looking out for their own safety. They don't know you, much less know if your high or strung out. Beating walls may not be a major crime, but it certainly indicates somethings not right.  

Before the taser they would have just shot him and it would be over.  You get what you ask for.

Right on Taser, neutral observer, and Bill!!!!!!!!!

It's terrible that someone lost a life, it really is.  But honestly, the guy was clearly doing something that police felt they need to use the taser for.  If he was being aggressive toward an officer who knows what he was capable of, what weapons he had, etc.  Police are trained to handle these situations w/out having to use any kind of force, and the officer must have felt like he had to do something to take control of the situation.

Ironically enough, imagine what the news story would have been if the guy stabbed the officer or shot him.  The man who died would be made to look like an awful person, yet b/c he died he did nothing wrong and the police are at fault???

First we need to take the blame off those who are there to protect and serve us, this being the police department, the fire department and the ambulance that was on scene. Under no accounts, and this is proven by all the medical records, has a person died specifically from the tazer shock. They have had something else, a pace maker, a metal plate, etc. That was not known about. Please believe that this man had done something to get tasered. Stop making excuses for people breaking the law, you people are the reason so little accountablity. GROW UP AMERICA!

and all law enforcement persons MUST be tazered to carry one, just remember that.

While I don't always agree with the police and the things they do, I do however believe that they have the right to defend themselves and we have for the most part taken that right away from them.  It would not surprise me if eventually we lost all law enforcement officers to better jobs, you know one that they will not be persecuted for doing, then where will society be.
This man was involved in a domestic disturbance w/violence it was an apartment building not his private house, and when confronted by police he advance one of them, the police were sent there to take control of an out of control situation before someone got hurt because of this mans violent outburst, not to sit and watch.

I am am not a cop but I am a firefighter and in the military.  The mind set I have everyday and when I was overseas was "Either I go home today or this scum bag lives" and trust me I would do anything in my power to make sure it was me that went home.  Nobodies actions are going to dictate how my life ends up.  He should have followed the actions of the police and he would like to beat his girlfriend another day.  Shame on this man.  Now he can think about his actions 6 feet under.

In todays society as in the days of 'ole, we are taught to look up to police officers. Which I have done all my life. However, there are some 'men in blue' who can be a little on the excessive side in my opinion. Hey, there is good and bad in everything. Police are NOT Gods, they are here to protect and serve. I have personally seen the 'not serve' a few times.  I don't believe in tazers period. Now if it had been the old days, the officer would have tossed his night stick at the offender, he would have fell down and the officer could have handcuffed him. Case closed, that man would have still been alive.
The loss of this man's life is a shame.

I have the Napolean Complex.

a citizen, right on ; arent police trained to take one SMALL MAN down; there was no weapons on the man , period. this situation might get swept under the rug by the police or district attorney, but to all those who defend this paticul;ar action, i hope your not feeling drunk or out of sorts and you get tased by the police, when hand to haqnd combat could suffice. im sure the police didnt expect the result[death] , but tasers are more needed when your life is lethally challenged. im strict on law and order, but better judgementis required; remember the dewitt cop who assaulted the deaf person because he was waving his hands around in his own car; im sure he thought he was exercising his judgement properly too. good thing he didnt use his taser.

Walk in their shoes and stop being a monday morning quarterback.  Yes it was a shame that this happened.  Are their cases of police going too far.  Yes.  There are other professions where people go too far and as a result they are all lumped in together.  Let's break it dow. If he was not there causing a problem, then we would not be talking about this.  This was a series of unfortunate events that could have been stopped if he was not causing a problem.  Math equation: not causing a problem+no cops being called= cops do not show up to restore order and man is still alive!!!!!!

Are you kidding?  Lets look at the whole situation.  If he was not doing anything wrong would there have been ANY need for the police to be called????? NO Case closed.

Sorry that was my post above

I happen to know a little about Chris and that he was shot in the head a few years ago which left him with many medical issues.  There is no way the officers could have known there were pre existing medical issues that could have caused a problem with being tased.  This is a very sad ending to a life that was already scarred with a horrible accident to a beautiful young man that was very hard working with integrity and pride.  The officers only saw a violent man trying to attack them and they did not know why so used the tools provided by the police department to bring the young man under control.  No malice or misuse involved in my opinion.  Just a horribly sad accident.