July 19, 2010

Taser Autopsy: Death of Sukeba Jackson-Olawunmi is Ruled a 'Homicide'

DeKalb County medical examiner Pat Bailey ruled that the death of Sukeba Jackson-Olawunmi was a homicide and the use of a Taser was one of several contributing factors. [SOURCE]

Other factors that contributed to death were drugs, prior medical conditions and obesity.  Jackson-Olawunmi, 40, died of a cocaine-induced delirium. In addition to cocaine, she had blood pressure medication in her system to treat her hypertension.

Physical exertion and morbid obesity also contributed to his death; Jackson-Olawunmi was 359 pounds when police used their taser on her.

If you remove the Taser, you can’t say [she] wouldn’t have died anyway,” Bailey said.
Jackson-Olawunmi died May 14 after a Taser was used on her four times. Police were called to a Clarkson apartment complex after neighbors reported she was frantically shouting that someone was trying to kill her, according to witness statements. She kicked in several doors before falling off a second-floor balcony.


Police arrived to find Jackson-Olawunmi stealing a car and attempting to flee, the report stated. A Taser was used on her after she refused to surrender and fought officers. She remained violent until police used the Taser against her side. Thirty seconds later, she became unresponsive. She was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.

The next step in this process rests with the prosecutors. They need to review the autopsy report and decide whether or not to bring criminal charges against the taser-wielding police officers for their role in this homicide.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Police think they have the right to break the law. Instead of being good citizens like they expect us to be.

Unknown said...

Police do whatever they want and never get held accountable. It is never ok to take a persons life. We will never be safe with this justice system.

Unknown said...

Police think they do no wrong but they action change lives.

Unknown said...

A person killing another person is the worst crime you can commit. These officers are not better than anybody. They are trained and are paid to protect. If they can't secure a female without killing her, we are all in line to be murdered if we don't do exactly what they say. Sounds like we're still slaves.! Where's the justice, the humanity, or just doing what's right. RIP SASSY

Unknown said...

Majestic, Richard & Unknown - I do hope that police take a harder look at the training that they get regarding tasers. Too often, it appears that tasers are being used for convenience rather than to handle life-threatening situations. Anyhow, I appreciate you for taking time to read and comment on my blog post re: Ms. Jackson-Olawunmi.

Unknown said...

Sukeba Jackson was my mom I'm trying see the right way to go by this if you have any information please contact me at bosnewyork@yahoo.com thank you so much for y'all support