Reader Sarah Eidelson was at the Chapel-and-High Streets Starbucks Monday when police tased a homeless man they said was panhandling and then interefering with cops in a threatening way. Click here to read the police version. Click here for a recent story and debate on tasers. Read on for Eidelson’s version of Monday’s incident:
I spent a few hours sitting in Starbucks on Chapel Street, working, and for much of
the time that I was there a man who I assume was homeless was present in the cafe as
well. He moved around the cafe, sitting at different tables and once in a while
approaching someone unthreateningly, I suppose asking for money but I am not sure.
It seemed apparent that he was mentally ill. At no point did he seem aggressive.
I looked up from my work suddenly when I heard what sounded like a gunshot. I saw
that the shot had come from a taser. The homeless man was standing by the counter,
not moving around or trying to harm anyone, and two policemen were present. One of
them was tasing him. He continued to do so for an extended period of time, while the
man convulsed grotesquely from the electricity. The policeman then stopped and told
the man to leave, and when he didn’t move, the policeman told him to get down on the
floor. The man said, still unthreateningly, and somewhat timidly, “I don’t want to
do that.” The policeman kept telling him to lie down on the floor, and when he
didn’t the policeman said “I’m going to tase you again,” aimed the gun, and did so,
while the man looked at him, visibly extremely scared. The policeman continued to
tase him while he tried to run out the door of the cafe (as the Policeman had
originally told him to do). The man then collapsed on the sidewalk outside of
Starbucks and many police cars arrived.
At no point during this incident did I perceive the homeless man to be a threat of
any kind, to anyone.