- GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. - A woman in a wheelchair who swung knives
and a hammer at relatives and police died after being shocked by a stun
gun, officials said.
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- Police tried to talk Emily Marie Delafield,
56, into dropping the weapons before they used the Taser to subdue her
Monday, Police Chief Robert Musco said. Delafield lost consciousness after
the electric jolt and later died at Orange Park Medical Center.
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- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement
is investigating and an autopsy will be conducted to determine a cause
of death.
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- The two officers involved have been put
on paid administrative leave during the investigation, which is standard
procedure.
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- Tasers deliver a 50,000-volt jolt through
two barbed darts that can penetrate clothing. About 7,000 of the nation's
18,000 police agencies had them last year, and they were used by police
more than 70,000 times.
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- Amnesty International counted 61 U.S.
deaths following Taser use last year. Taser International officials disputed
that count, saying it linked some deaths to Taser use when there had been
no such official conclusion.
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