Don't Tase Me, Bro

Authorities have ordered 13 Philadelphia police officers involved in the videotaped beating of three black suspects off the streets, AP reports. The video shows the suspects being kicked, punched, and hit with nightsticks while appearing to offer no resistance. Rev. Al Sharpton compared the incident with the videotaped beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. More »

Police Tased Rays pitcher Al Reyes twice today in a Tampa, Fla. bar before arresting him for unlawful violence, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Cops say Reyes was celebrating his birthday when he picked a fight, took a punch, and "began to spit blood on the people in the area." Reyes expressed regret before tonight's game, saying, “I tried to have a good time on my birthday." More »

A Florida man died yesterday after Broward County deputies Tased him for being "naked and belligerent" in public, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Paramedics said James Garland, 41, was too violent to treat after being zapped, so deputies drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Family members say they may file suit against the sheriff's office. More »

At-home female entrepreneurs are ditching Mary Kay for Tasers, but they're keeping the pink. Taser International is marketing its user-friendly C2 "personal protector" to the public, and women with an interest in self-defense are holding independent Taser parties in states where the stun gun is legal. "It's a girl power kind of thing," said one woman. Critics, however, aren't so sure. More »

As he was being arrested at a John Kerry rally, a college student yelled, “Don’t Tase me bro!” He was Tasered anyway, and that yell is the top quote of 2007, according to the Yale Book of Quotations. Here’s the rest: Miss Teen South Carolina’s “US Americans” answer “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country” —Mahmoud Ahmadinejad More »

A Utah Highway Patrolman who Tasered a motorist in the back has been cleared of wrongdoing, the Deseret Morning News reports. A public-safety panel found that cop Jon Gardner had been justified in zapping motorist Jon Massey as he was walking back to his car after a traffic stop. Gardner has been getting death threats since Massey posted a dash-cam video on YouTube, where it's been viewed over a million times. More »

A 20-year-old man died yesterday after Maryland police shocked him with a Taser during a confrontation with a sheriff's deputy, according to police. Deputies responded to a call to find four people fighting. Police used a Taser on one of the men, who fell unconscious and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, police said. More »

Two University of Florida police officers who used a stun gun on a 21-year-old student at a campus forum with John Kerry have been placed on paid leave pending an investigation, CNN reports. Disturbing video of the incident, in which the student pleaded with police not to taser him, has been viewed around the world. More »

Police Tasered and arrested a University of Florida student after his belligerent questioning of John Kerry during a campus event last night. Andrew Meyer, who has a history of recording his own pranks, spent the night in jail after pressing Kerry beyond his allotted time, the AP reports. Officers removed him as he struggled and screamed, "What did I do?" More »