Current Events > Where does CE now stand on the tazing man for trying to enter his home thing?

(+) Yeah! (+)

A Pike County man clams in a lawsuit that he was repeatedly stunned with a Taser as he tried to enter a burning building to save his stepson, who died in an October 2013 fire.

Courthouse News Service reports Ryan and Catherine Miller sued the city of Louisiana and landlord Louis Houston on March 12 in Pike County Circuit Court. The couple's 3-year-old son, Riley Rieser, died in the fire.

The Millers escaped from the home, and Ryan Miller tried to go back in to save Riley.

The lawsuit states "Officers Jeffrey Salois and William Harrison prevented Ryan Miller from entering the home to save his stepson Riley Rieser by forcibly moving and by repeatedly tasing Ryan Miller, including once in the police cruiser as Riley Rieser was being removed from the home."

The Millers say that Ryan never presented a threat to the officers or other emergency personnel, that Salois and Harrison never announced they were police officers and never placed Ryan Miller under arrest.

"I was hysterical, yes, because I wanted to save my son," Ryan Miller told the Louisiana Press Journal days after the fire.

Riley was pronounced dead at a hospital. Ryan Miller told the Press Journal that he was placed in the holding cell while Riley was taken to the hospital.

Ryan Miller says in the complaint that he was not charged with any crime. He claims that the repeated use of a Taser constitutes an unreasonable seizure and that officers "used more force than was reasonably necessary under the circumstances."

The fire was caused by faulty wiring, according to the complaint.

The Millers also claim that Houston ignored repeated warnings from Louisiana housing officials and did not have an occupancy permit to lease the property because it had not been inspected for more than two years.

Due to Houston's negligence, the plaintiffs say they "were forced to expend monies for funeral and burial expenses" and "suffered burns, bruising, tasing injuries' and other expenses."

They claim that Louisiana "failed to enforce its ordinances regarding obtaining occupancy permits for residences, and had knowledge that the home was occupied despite no occupancy permit being issued."

The Millers seek damages from Louisiana for excessive force, negligent infliction of emotional distress, wrongful death and false imprisonment. They seek punitive damages from Houston for wrongful death, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Ryan Miller was repeatedly restrained by officers as he tried to race back into the burning house to save stepson Riley. Authorities at the scene in Louisiana, Missouri, reportedly determined it was too dangerous to attempt to save the boy.

The child's grandmother, Lori Miller, said she witnessed two officers use the stun gun three times, twice after Ryan Miller had been handcuffed. She said: "He tried to get back in the house to get the baby. They took my son to jail because he tried to save his son."

Mr Miller suffered chest burns and was later released without charge. A firefighter tried to rescue the little boy but was unable to enter the building as the blaze was so hot.

Mr Miller, who was dressed in pyjamas, pulled his shirt over his head and tried to kick down the front door in a bid to reach Riley, KSDK.com reported.

The boy's aunt, Rachel Edwards, told the news channel her brother is now constantly asking "What if?"

"Riley was his world," she said.

https://i.imgur.com/V5JXuPH.jpg

The guy couldn't sue the police because of qualified immunity so he sued the city. I do not know how it went.

I'm not sure how the lawsuit went because there's too many Ryan Millers out there. I tried to look it up but I just found about 13 other unrelated lawsuits featuring a Ryan Miller.

But I do remember making a topic about it at the time way back in 2013 when it was headline news. In fact it was a 500 topic inside like a few hours which was rare at the time. Because most of CE was passionately wildly defending the cops. Only myself and a couple of other users said we thought it was wrong to taze him repeatedly and keep him in a cell while his son died.

We got insulted pretty bad it was pretty much 374 posts of ad homiems rather than justification for the cops. And a few 'Well cops and firemen are authrority so clearly they are correct' None of the users who did it are likely to come and apologize but I must admit to curiousity, 2013 CE wildly passionately believed cops were right for repeatedly tazering an innocent man for the crime of trying to enter his own property.

What does 2020 CE think? Now everyone is more cynical and less trusting of the police. Has there been a paradigm shift or does CE still think Ryan was in the wrong for trying to save his son's life even at the cost of risking his own life?

It's basically a moral dilemma:

The kid is almost certainally going to die, if the parent goes into the building to save him then he is also almost certainally going to die.

Is it justifable for the police to repeatedly taze and manhandle that man who commited zero crimes to probably save his life or is that not their perview?

After all, cops are expected to talk people out of suicide. However tazing a dude for entering his own home is beyond the pail.

On top of that, while likely, death is not assured or intended. So suicide by default falls out of the equation.

MY thoughts on this are well known, but what are yours?

Anyone back from 2013 still here? Are your thoughts the same or have they changed?
---

2013: 500 topic of hundreds of pro cop users screaming.

2020: Silence.

Yeah that about sums it up
---

7 years is a long time to get ignored