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Being nude and hostile in public leads to death sentence without a trial

I’m not sure I understand why it’s department policy in Lafayette, LA for an aggressive, unarmed nude man to be considered enough of a danger to officers that they could have used a gun on him. Whether this man was mentally ill or under the influence of drugs, I think a more reasonable department policy would be for police officers to restrain unarmed suspects without the use of firearms or Tasers. Would these officers have seriously shot the man 20 years ago, prior to the introduction of Tasers? How can four officers be unable to restrain a man without the use of a weapon?

From The Daily Advertiser:

Four officers were called to the Waffle House, and when the male employee freed Enard, he once again became combative toward officers, who unsuccessfully attempted to restrain him.

Francis said the officers then opted to use the Taser, but it appeared to have no effect on him despite officers using it more than once.

“That’s the state this guy was in,” he said.

Officers finally were able to subdue Enard, and he was taken to a local hospital where he was listed in critical condition. He died at 9 p.m. Sunday.

It still is unclear why Enard’s condition had deteriorated to critical by the time he reached the hospital.

Enard’s apprehension and subsequent death is reminiscent of an October 2004 incident in which police used a Taser to subdue Dwayne Anthony Dunn, whose death was attributed to a cocaine overdose.

In August 2004, police allegedly tasered a suspect upwards of 17 times while trying to force him to cough up drugs they believed he swallowed. That incident ended in an out-of-court settlement worth more than $80,000.

• keywords: aggressive , death , louisiana , nude , taser