Backstabber Report

Excessive Force By Marin County Sheriffs As They Taser 64 y/o Injured Man

It seems that being an injured, crotchety old man can get you tased in your own home, if you live within the jurisdiction of the Marin County, California, sheriff’s office. It never ceases to amaze us that we have lost so many rights to privacy and liberty. It used to be you only had to worry about rogue police using excessive force if you were outside your home. Now, the Marin County sheriffs have brought it inside your residence in another example of taser happy police using the new replacement for the baton.

Most surprising is that the Marin County Sheriff believes his deputies will be exonerated. You decide.

When Marin County resident Peter McFarland and his wife Pearl returned home from a charity fundraising event shortly after midnight on June 29, 2009, Peter McFarland slipped on steps leading to his home and suffered injuries to his leg, arm and head. His wife then called paramedics at a nearby fire station who responded and treated his fairly minor injuries that did not require hospitalization.

McFarland says as the paramedics were leaving, two Sheriff’s deputies “bolted into his home.” They ran up the steps and into his room like there was a fire, according to McFarland.

As some do when having a bad day, apparently McFarland was heard to say that he “should just shoot himself in the head.” Though it is unknown who heard and reported the comment, McFarland stated that it was just “hyperbole.” He was tired, in pain, and simply wanted to go to bed.

For the Marin County deputies however, they think such a comment means they can enter your home and remove you by physical force – tasering you into submission.

ABC7 obtained the audio and video captured by a camera mounted on the Taser. It wasn’t even known to exist until McFarland’s lawyer found it as a result of a discovery motion he filed in a lawsuit now pending against Marin County. The video shows McFarland sitting on a couch with the gun’s laser beam targeted on his chest. The deputy repeatedly tells him that he is going to take him to a hospital to be evaluated because of his comment. Peter McFarland can be heard telling them, not so politely, to leave his home. This exchange lasts for about 5 minutes until Peter McFarland gets up, intending to go to bed. He is then tased, not once, but THREE times while he shrieks in agony.

The most disturbing part of the video (other than the actual tasering, which is hard to watch) is to hear the deputy stating repeatedly, “Stop resisting,” while he continues to taser McFarland. As you can see, Peter McFarland is not resisting, other than losing muscle control that would have allowed him to comply, if he were able.

Is saying  “Stop resisting” supposed to indicate to a jury that a person was resisting? It must be part of the taser training that officers receive. I can imagine an instructor telling the class of policemen and women, “Be sure to say, ‘stop resisting’ if you use your taser when it wasn’t required. You’ll want the jury to assume you kept applying electricity because you had to.”

The Marin County officers are lucky they aren’t being sued for wrongful death. McFarland has a heart condition – a condition his wife, Pearl McFarland, told the officers about before they tased him and while she was begging them not to use it on him.

Some police are abusive and this is just another example of excessive force. We hope that McFarland’s attorney is smart enough to have the trial heard in front of a jury. McFarland will likely get a deserved award from Marin County. We only hope it is large enough to make other law enforcement agencies rethink their use of dishing out electricity like it is candy and their apparent belief that excessive force can be used whenever they have a whim to do so – especially in a man’s home, when they had no right to be in it.