It would have been bad enough had he died only because of a complaint for panhandling by a liquor store in Waukegan.  It would have been bad enough had he been the right guy rather than someone who had nothing whatsoever to do with it.  But for Jose Martinez, he wasn’t the guy who panhandled.  Yet he’s dead anyway.  From the Lake County News-Sun :

Details remain sketchy on the circumstances surrounding the death of a Waukegan man who was tasered by police on Saturday.

Jose Martinez, 53, of the 800 block of Grand Avenue, was shocked into submission by a Waukegan police officer about 8 p.m. outside of Dave’s Liquors, 2300 Grand Ave., and reportedly suffered cardiac arrest. Lake County Coroner Dr. Richard Keller said Martinez was taken to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, where he was pronounced dead.

The only other bit of information offered:

Armando Martinez, 58, of Waukegan, [a] brother of the victim and a former Waukegan police officer, said the woman who was clerking Saturday night told the family that it was a different man who was causing problems at the store. He said he heard that police chased Martinez in the parking lot, stopped him with a Taser, then couldn’t revive him.

It’s not a crime to have a heart condition.  The police, naturally, say they are investigating.  According to Waukegan Police Chief Artis Yancey, he doesn’t want to elaborate on what happened because “I don’t want to cloud the investigation.”  Or they haven’t come up with a decent story yet.  They might be more inclined to “cloud” the investigation if there was some way to smear Martinez, say with a prior arrest or conviction. 

Had Martinez been a panhandler, which apparently he was not, his death would still be inexcusable.  Sure, panhandling is unlawful and, especially to business owners whose customers are hassled, annoying.  Does that demand the death penalty?  But Martinez reflects the worse case scenario, a man who has done nothing, not even the trivial offense that gave rise to the police presence. 

Did he fail to halt upon command of the officers?  Did he try to flee?  The above quote says police “chased” him, but that doesn’t inform whether Martinez did anything or the police saw him from a distance and ran toward him.  They could well have been out of breath (donuts will do that) and a bit miffed at the forced physical exertion.  They weren’t in a mood to chat, so tased instead.  Isn’t that their right?  After all, make a cop work and one should expect pain.  It’s one of the perks of the job.

It’s now beyond contention that a taser, though less lethal than a gun (although a gun is less lethal given the inability to hit the broad side of a barn), is, at its best, very painful and, at its worst, deadly.  So it was the combo of taser plus heart condition?  People are allowed to have heart conditions. That’s not something to hold against Martinez. 

Tasing is the use of force.  As with any use of force, its justification comes from protection against the use of force, whether directed at cops or others.  It may have become the weapon of choice of Waukegan’s Laziest, but that doesn’t offer much comfort to Martinez’s family.   Force is not a convenience for police, a quick and easy way to bring an encounter to an end or payback a noncompliant suspect.  But then, had it been merely a jolt of searing pain without death, nobody would have given this a second look.  Inflicting pain isn’t enough to make anybody take notice these days.  Heck, a death is barely sufficient to make anybody blink.  The cops in Waukegan can no more be trusted with tasers than cops anywhere else.

The story tells us almost nothing about the death of Jose Martinez.  And yet it tells everything we need to know.