Frederick County Chapter NAACP Questions County Sheriff Use of Tasers

Guy Djoken

The Frederick County, Maryland Chapter NAACP issued the following Press Release on 11-19-2007:

Frederick MD: TASER-Related Death In Frederick

NAACP Strongly Condemns the Frederick County Sheriff use of TASERS

On October 8th, 2007 Mr. Dereck Holland, an 18 year old Tuscarora High School student,
was tased by Cpl. Jody Maybush of the Frederick County Sheriff Deputy on school grounds. During an interview with the Frederick News-Post, published on Sunday November 18th, Mr. Patrick J. McAndrew an attorney who represents the Fraternal Order of Police, spoke with Cpl. Maybush about the confrontation and called Maybush's actions "heroic." The NAACP finds the use of this weapon, in this case, unwarranted and Mr. McAndrew's statement, at the least, very troubling. We demand a clarification from Mr. Patrick J. McAndrew.

In the early morning of Sunday November 18th, another deputy of the Frederick County Sheriff used the taser weapon on Jarrel Gray, another young black man. The man was taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. We are calling on the U.S Justice Department and Mr. Carl Snowden, Director of the Civil Rights Division of the office of the Maryland Attorney General, to launch an independent investigation into this serious matter.

It seems as if officers from the Frederick County Sheriff's office are using this weapon routinely rather than as a weapon of last resort as stated in national policy manuals. We are demanding that the Frederick County Board of Education and the Superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools develop a clear policy that instructs when officers in schools should be allowed to use force of this type.

In the mean time, we are calling for the Sheriff's office to suspend the use of this deadly weapon until a clear and definitive answer to the following questions/issues have been addressed:

-How long has the Sheriff's office been using tasers?
-How many times have they been used?
-What are the ages; gender and race of the victims when tasers have been used on?
-What have the studies said about the risks of the use of tasers?
-What did the Sheriff's department do to control suspects before they had Tasers?
-Why are there little or no problems/ complaints with the use of tasers by other agencies in the region?
-Is it a training problem or profiling?

A Press Conference on the Issue is scheduled for:

Date: Tuesday, November 20^th, 2007

Venue: C Burr Artz Public Library Community Room 110 E. Patrick St. Frederick,Md. 21701
Time: 5:00 PM to 5:45 PM