Las Vegas police, shown here in 2006 outside Harrah's
casino, engaged in more important duties than shooting
misdemeanor miscreants. (Jae C. Hong / AP)
November 2, 2009 - News, both serious and curious, has been coming out of Las Vegas since last Thursday when the Review-Journal reported that a libertarian activist had been tased and shot.
As of today, his condition in the hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds to his back and arm, has been described as "fair."
"He" is Raymond James "Jim" Duensing who the Review-Journal article describes as "a local attorney who last year ran unsuccessfully for Congress on the Libertarian ticket." He also ran unsuccessfully for office in 2004, 2006, and 2008.
According to reports, Duensing was pulled over by police during a routine traffic stop. When the officer tried to arrest him on a misdemeanor warrant a confrontation ensued and Duensing fled.
The officer pursued, tasing Duensing once and then firing his service weapon three times when Duensing "reached in his front pocket for a .45-caliber handgun."
The curious parts of the story includes the same article as saying that Duensing reached both for a handgun and "a large folding knife."
A young witness standing nearby said she did not see a gun.
Nor, apparently, a knife.
During a media briefing later, Capt. Randy Montandon said he saw Duensing's gun.
Police say Duensing is 31 but records indicate he's 33.
Clark County Libertarian Party chairman Nathan Santucci seemed to both accept and distance the Party from Duensing, saying, "Although he is a past officer of our party, he currently holds no official standing with our party as an elected officer."
However, in the most recent follow-up article in the Independent Political Report Duensing says, " I am a voting member of the CCLP excomm."
Duensing claims he fled because he was tased once once and, due to a heart condition, was fearful of being tased a second time.
For the latest information on this story, go to Ballot Access News. Many of the follow-up comments there either side with the police because current law allows them to exercise deadly force in these situations or decry the modern police state on the basis that those very laws should not even exist.
For Duensing's explanation of the incident go to the Independent Political Report and scroll down to comment number 73).
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Comments
It's a little difficult to envision any politician OR lawyer as a paragon of virtue and grace, but it is important to remember that every single human being has the same natural right to be considered innocent of the "charges" until proven guilty.
When cops take it upon themselves to be judge, jury and executioner, the natural rights of the victim are violated, regardless what he may or may not have done.
In the current environment I would tend to believe the victim over the LEOs in almost any circumstance. If cops say gravity makes things fall toward the Earth I'd check it out myself. It would truly take a lot for me to ever believe any agent of the state is being truthful about anything.
the problem is.....he lived to tell the tale .so now they must revise thier lies.
Another horiffic abuse at the hands of the gestapo. It's time to start holding police accountable for their abuses and transgressions against the people. Law enforcement officers must realize that oppression will not be tolerated here. This is not Burma or North Korea.
If current trends continue, the people will rise and meet this opression head on. I suggest that law enforcement officers educate themselves on the bill of rights and the constitution and rethink what it means to hold their position. Imagine how they would feel if it was their brother or father or son who was shot.
Just a thought. His injuries were describe thus: "He has a broken arm from one bullet, which entered his right pectoral, bounced off his sternum, went through his left pectoral and shattered his humerus just above his left elbow, he wrote. The second shot went into his lower right abdomen and exited his left abdomen without hitting any vital organs, he wrote.
One shot did not hit him. All three shots were fired from behind him and to the right, he wrote."
How can we account for his description of his injuries? While most headlines say he was shot in the back, his own account seems to indicate that both bullets entered the front of his body from the right side, or that he was "bladed", as it is sometimes called. Unless he was turned and angled to the right side as he moved away from the officers, (conceiveably, as if he were aiming a firearm) it would seem unlikely that these injuries would have occurred as he described.
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