Cop Watch: Texas Police Chief Tasers His Own Wife

About 100 miles south of Dallas is the little Texas town of Oakwood, and as of Monday night they’re looking for a new top cop.

Seems their old police chief was arrested and fired on Monday after he was charged with aggravated assault and jailed over in Leon County, Texas. What did the police chief do?

Apparently, Chief Oly Ivy, 31 years old, used a Taser gun on his wife. That’s right. His wife.

He was arrested, and jailed, and right now he’s out on $100,000 bond and looking for a new job (and maybe a new wife).

What’s a Taser gun and what does it do?

Taser is the brand name for a device that shoots an electric shock into the body of its human target through a small, thin wire that is shot from the “gun” into the target’s body. The electrical current sends 50,000 volts of electricity into the target, or victim, and they become momentarily incapacitated because the electric shock disrupts the superficial muscle function.

Many in law enforcement have welcomed Tasers as a safer alternative to using a gun, particularly when they are trying to control individuals incarcerated in jails or prisons. However, those same officials are also questioning the use of the electroshock guns because of rising concern that there has not been enough scientific study on their use on the human body and what the exact risk of human death may be with their use.

Some Cops Consider Tasers to be Cruel and Unusual Punishment

What is known with certainty is not only do Tasers work — the target is instantly stopped in their tracks by the electric shock — but they are very, very painful. Some police officials have described the intensity of the pain as so severe that it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment (which we all know is unconstitutional).

In most jurisdictions, before a police officer is allowed to use a Taser, he is required to be targeted with one under the theory that he will be less likely to abuse the weapon once he understands how devestating the shock can be.

One wonders if Chief Ivy was ever Tasered before he was issued one of the electroshock guns by the county. If not, perhaps his wife would volunteer for the job.

Sources:

Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6364297.html

Associated Press
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Police-Chief-Charged-with-Zapping-Wife.html

Taser.Com
http://www.taser.com/pages/default.aspx

PoliceOne.Com
http://www.policeone.com/police-products/less-lethal/articles/89933-Deaths-Spur-TASER-Debate-Police-Embrace-Stun-Guns-but-a-Series-of-Fatalities-Brings-Calls-for-Halt-to-Their-Use/