North Carolina Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Just hours after a jury awarded $10 million to North Carolina wrongful death victim, Darryl Turner, another Charlotte man died after being tasered by police.

Lorenzo Williams, who an acquaintance described as having a prior criminal history that included assault on a female, among other charges, was pronounced dead shortly after being tasered by police while he was in the process of beating a woman.

Although the police use of the taser against Williams appeared to be justified, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department has suspended the use of Tasers for up to 45 days. According to witnesses, Williams and a female companion exited the Lynx line at the Woodlawn station and were arguing. Williams was seen choking and beating the woman. It was during the assault that a CMPD officer fired his Taser at Williams.

Police did not release information regarding where Williams was tasered, but did state that the event was likely captured on video camera and they would be analyzing those films.

The family of North Carolina wrongful death victim, Darryl Turner, was awarded $10 million after a jury found that there was a great risk of cardiac arrest if a taser was discharged into the chest area near the heart, that Taser International knew of the risk, and that Taser International failed to so warn its users.

In March, 2008, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police were summoned to the Food Lion where Turner was working in order to remove Turner from the premises. Turner, who hadn't actually been charged with a crime, had thrown something at his employer, and was in possession of 3 bags of marijuana. Due to his "agitated" state, Turner was ultimately tased by the police. An autopsy found no evidence or pre-existing heart conditions, and that Turner died as the result of his excessive and irregular heart beat.

Turner's family had already been paid $625,000 by the City of Charlotte, even though it denied it had done anything wrong, prior to the verdict. Following Turner's death, all CMPD officers had to receive more training with the use of Tasers.

A pair of North Carolina tractor trailer accidents claimed several lives on June 30.

Thursday, June 30 was a deadly day on North Carolina's highways. The first North Carolina truck accident occurred just before 10am on I85 in Orange County and actually involved 2 separate truck accidents. The first tractor trailer accident occurred when a tractor trailer was speeding along I85 south and lost control and flipped. As the result of that accident, traffic on I85 was backed up for nearly 1 mile. It was at the end of the traffic pile-up where the second, and ultimately fatal, accident occurred. Another tractor trailer traveling southbound on I85 did not slow for traffic and slammed into the rear of a tanker truck causing the tractor trailer truck to burst into flames. The driver of the tractor trailer truck was killed. The impact also caused the tanker truck to crash into 2 other vehicles, causing non-life threatening injuries.

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