- Two days before Brett Elder's sixteenth birthday, Bay
City Police tased the 15 year old to death.
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- This is how on March 22, 2009 police reacted to a dispute
between Elder and another individual. On that Michigan morning, the boy
was inebriated, and according to the officers involved, he alledgedly attempted
to fight them, leading an officer to use his Taser. One witness, however,
said Elder had already been cuffed by the officers when the cop fired-off
the weapon.
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- "He was flopping around and looked like a fish out
of water," Cindy Hernden told Tom Eley of World Socialist Web Site
back in 2009. "That's the only way to explain it - his whole body
was bent over," Elder's aunt went on to say. The boy later died
at a local hospital.
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- The results of an autopsy showed Elder died of "alcohol-induced
excited delirium," along with the "application of an electro-muscular
disruption device."
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- Earlier this month Elder's family got some closure for
the wrongful death when a federal judge ruled on a $1 million settlement.
Eugene E. Elder Sr., Brett's father, filed the lawsuit back in 2009 and
stated that "there's no reason for killing my boy."
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- Members of Brett's family admitted at the time he was
trying to cope with the loss of his mother and was going through rehab
for substance abuse. Although the loss of his mother isn't an excuse, his
family says that being drunk was no reason for Elder to die. Wendy Elder,
Brett's sister-in-law, told the media "the police are supposed to
protect you, not hurt you."
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- The officer that fired the Taser was placed on administrative
leave but no criminal charges were ever filed against the officer.
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- After the settlement, Eugene Elder Jr. declined to comment.
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- According to Truth not Tasers, a website which is against
Taser use, there has been approximately 682 related deaths in North America
and Elder maybe the youngest person to have died from an electro-muscular
disruption device.
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