Since 2005 there have been 16 Taser-related deaths in Connecticut, including one in Branford a few days ago at the hands of a police officer. One of the prohibitions under the state’s Alvin Penn law is that Tasers should not be used punitively, and should not be deployed multiple times. As an investigation into the Branford shooting proceeds, OneWorld is airing a public-access television show entitled, “Know Your Rights.”
Guests on the program were Michael E. Roberts, attorney, CHRO; Isa Mujahid, Field Organizer, ACLU CT, and Mario Cerame, attorney at Fazzano & Tomasiewicz, and the author of The Right to Record Police in CT. Additionally, Cerame is a civil rights attorney and often volunteers with the ACLU.
The program — which will be airing on Comcast Channel 18 in North Haven, East Haven, Branford and other Shoreline towns and on Frontier Channel 99 throughout Connecticut during the last week of April — offers viewers detailed information about the importance of understanding the Alvin Penn prohibitions, intended to protect citizens. Click on the above video for excerpts from the show, and visit the websites shown in this YouTube video to learn more. Police need to be better trained to recognize mental illness and not use Tasers to subdue people who have mental illness, the show suggests.
