Use of Taser raises issues

An Elon officer used a stun gun in the 2006 arrest of an Alamance County man on traffic charges

GRAHAM -- An Alamance County man was standing on the front stoop of his mobile home, wearing only his boxer shorts and an undershirt, when an Elon police officer zapped him with a stun gun less than a half-minute after he answered the door.

John Wayne Paylor, 53, found four police officers outside his home June 18, 2006, to arrest him on a misdemeanor traffic charge from the day before.

The case, tried Tuesday and Wednesday in the old Alamance County Courthouse, highlights mounting concerns that lawyers, social workers, human-rights advocates and others raise as law enforcement agencies stock their arsenals with weapons commonly known as Tasers.

A jury found Paylor guilty Wednesday of reckless driving but not guilty of resisting arrest, a charge that was brought after the Taser incident. A patrol car videotape of the arrest, which showed Paylor being stunned twice and yelling in pain, was entered as evidence.

Paylor said he plans to file complaints with the State Bureau of Investigation.

There are no uniform state policies governing when, where and how law enforcement officers should use Tasers.

The issue is being studied by the N.C. Campaign Against Racial Profiling, a coalition that includes the state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP, mental health organizations, social worker associations, justice groups and others.

Tasers, which resemble handguns, fire darts that, while connected to the device, carry an electric current that temporarily can paralyze muscles of the targeted person.

Police say the stun guns are effective for subduing people and cause fewer injuries and deaths than guns.

But as more sheriffs' and police departments arm their officers with the weapons, critics of the new tools are sounding alarms across the country.

Amnesty International, a human rights group tracking what has been described as a growing number of post-Taser deaths, has called for law enforcement agencies to suspend their use of the stun guns.

Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell, president of the N.C. Sheriffs Association, has such strong concerns that he keeps only a couple of Tasers at the jail but does not arm his patrol deputies with them.

"The reason I've not purchased them for use is I am concerned about the amount of discussion throughout the state about the use of Tasers and the improper use of Tasers, and the results on the humans they are used on," Bizzell said.

Elon officer Harold Dunn testified in court this week that he thought it was OK to use a Taser on a suspect to bring him into compliance with the law.

Paylor, a man who admits to being argumentative if he believes he is in the right, said after court Wednesday that he thought the officer shocked him as part of a systematic attempt to harass him.

"They're just prejudiced cops," Paylor said.

Warrant obtained

Paylor's problems with police in June 2006 stemmed from his behavior at the scene of a traffic accident where a motorcycle had collided with a van.

Police from the town of Elon and the campus of Elon University had blocked off a major intersection near Paylor's home.

Paylor said that during an encounter with Dunn, an officer posted at the intersection, he exchanged profanities with the officer.

Other officers testified that Paylor drove through the intersection in a way that forced an officer to jump out of the way.

Elon police, though, did not cite Paylor with reckless driving at the time. Instead they went to before a magistrate and got a warrant for his arrest.

Initially, police charged Paylor also with using profanity on a public highway, but that charge was dismissed before the trial.