Police Vote with their Taser

It took a half-dozen officers and two Taser shots to subdue a New Berlin, Wisconsin alderman candidate during a bar brawl that occurred days before he announced he was dropping out of the campaign, police said.

Donald Counsell, 35, punched a security guard and spit in the face of an officer about 1 a.m. March 3 before being shocked with a Taser stun gun and arrested outside Mo's Irish Pub. He was charged with two misdemeanors - one for battery and one for resisting arrest, Wauwatosa police Capt. Jeff Sutter said.

"I'm incredibly embarrassed about this, and I'm extremely sorry to my family and supporters," Counsell said after news of his arrest surfaced Thursday. On Tuesday, Counsell announced that he had dropped out of the race because he felt he was neglecting his responsibilities to his wife and two children, ages 5 and 7. He made no mention of his arrest.

"This was not the reason I pulled out of the race," Counsell said Thursday of the incident with police. "Those who know me will know this was an effect of the things I was going through."

According to a Wauwatosa police report, officers who were sent to the bar shortly before 1 a.m. were told by security officers there that Counsell had tried to start a fight and, when asked to leave, had punched one of the security officers in the face.

After officers arrived, Counsell resisted arrest and was warned that he risked being shocked with a Taser, the report says.

"(Detective) Michael Schultz and (Police Officer) John Milotszky identified themselves as police officers and began assisting responding officers," Officer Abby Turnell, who responded first to the call, says in the report. "Counsell then spit in . . . Schultz's face."

After that, Officer Russell Richardson shocked Counsell's right side with the Taser.

"Counsell stopped fighting for the five seconds that the ECD (Taser) was employed, but once the ECD automatically shut off, Counsell immediately began to fight with us again," Richardson says in the report. "I pulled the trigger again, this time employing the ECD for approximately 20-25 seconds while (the other officers) were finally able to handcuff Counsell."

Several off-duty officers from Wauwatosa and Greenfield who were patronizing the bar assisted the on-duty officers.

The aldermanic hopeful was taken to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa for treatment and was charged later in the day.

Counsell's name will still appear on the ballot for the April 3 general election along with incumbent Roger Hegeman. The candidate who was narrowly eliminated in the Feb. 20 primary, Joe Poshepny, said Thursday that he plans to mount a write-in campaign.

Poshepny said he had granted his endorsement of Counsell on Friday.

Then, events changed, his campaign manager, Ray McInerny, said .

"I don't know what happened to him, the poor devil, but that kind of ruined his chances for sure," McInerny said of Counsell.

We can think of a number of politicians we would like to see tasered.

Drunk Apprehended with Taser

A Colorado Springs man called police six times from a cell phone last evening to report that he was driving drunk and wanted them to stop him, but when they tried, he sped off. Alexander Craig is being held in the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center for investigation of eluding, driving under the influence, resisting arrest and numerous traffic violations.

Police found Craig shortly after 11 p.m. but when they tried to stop him, Craig sped off. Police called off the pursuit because it was too dangerous, and a helicopter tracked the car, with its headlights off, as he ran red lights and went the down streets on the wrong side of the roadway.

Finally he pulled into an Albertson's parking lot six miles from the first attempted stop and charged at an officer — only to be subdued by a Taser.

A lesson: Tasers and alcohol don't mix

Cowboys and Injuns

A Seminole Indian man in Hollywood, Florida was shocked with a Taser gun by police three times and shot twice after he refused to give up his rifle, police said.

Officers responded to a call at a Seminole Territory home Thursday morning after a resident complained that someone was banging on his door. When police arrived at the man's home, they didn't see anyone in the area but noticed that his tires had been slashed.

Police then noticed the man's next-door neighbor, Dennis Osceola, sitting on his front porch with what seemed to be an AR-15 rifle in his lamp. The officers became alarmed because they said the bullet- proof vests they had on don't protect against that type of gun, so they asked Osceola to hand it over.

They asked Osceola several times to put down the gun, but said he refused, so backup was called to the scene.

A female officer arrived and one of the two initial officers began to struggle Osceola to take away the rifle. The female officer stepped in and pushed Osceola and that is when she said he pulled out a knife and tried to slash all the officers on the scene with it.

Osceola was stunned with a Taser gun by police but was able to pull out the prongs, they said.
Two of the three officers then shot and hit the 47-year-old. He was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, where he later died.

Police said that Osceola was intoxicated during the incident and has numerous priors on his record, including two driving under the influence offenses from August 2006.

What would Matt Dillon do with a taser?

Taser Used to Breakup Catfight

For the second time in less than three weeks, an officer in the Wichita school district used a taser on a female student. The latest case happened early Thursday afternoon.

Two female students got into a fight at Southeast High School. As the principal and the officer were trying to break it up, two other girls joined the fight. One of the girls became more aggressive, and despite four warnings from the officer, she would not calm down. The officer fired the taser to subdue the teen.

She was checked out by EMS because one of the barbs stuck in her back but she was not seriously injured.

We wonder what the effect of a taser would be if used on nude mud wrestling babes.

Taser Used to Stop Suicide

A news release from TASER International, the makers of the Taser.

TASER Device Ends Suicide Attempt

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices, released the following News Alert:

According to reports from the Times-Standard, a 25-year-old Eureka woman attempting to commit suicide was taken into custody Tuesday night after police were called to the boat dock just east of the Adorni Center where they found the woman, her wrists cut, holding a 12-inch fixed blade knife. Officer Leah Alexander was able to establish dialogue with the agitated woman and negotiated for her to put down the knife.

When the woman rearmed herself with the weapon, officers were able to deploy a TASER electronic control device to subdue the woman and successfully kick the knife free from her grasp. The woman was taken into custody and transported to St. Joseph Hospital where she was treated for self-inflicted injuries. She will undergo evaluation and receive further assistance from Simpervirens upon release from St. Joseph's.

This information was compiled through publicly available media reports and distributed by Dittus Communications, Inc. of Washington, D.C.

TASER International, Inc. and Dittus Communications, Inc. disclaim any responsibility for the accuracy of the media reports that are the sole responsibility of the attributed media source.