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By now, most of you have seen the video of Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officers using a Taser on Marty Atencio, an assault suspect who died after getting zapped while already in jail (see our story on Atencio’s death here).
However, some of you might have missed it — you see, the MCSO strategically waited until late in the day on the Friday before Christmas to release the video, when many people were traveling, or not paying attention to the news while preparing for the big day.
They could have released it Thursday, but that would have stolen headlines from a story Sheriff Joe Arpaio actually wanted you to hear about — a story (described in an MCSO press release issued Thursday) about how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents refused to pick up some illegal immigrants Arpaio’s boys in beige arrested Wednesday night.
But we haven’t forgotten about Marty.
The video, as an MCSO deputy explained to us last week, speaks for itself. We happen to agree — the video speaks for itself in that it shows an unarmed man who’s already in jail — and isn’t putting up much of a fight — getting manhandled by nearly a dozen cops before a detention officer Tased him repeatedly.
Watch the video above and tell us what you think: did MCSO detention officers have any reason to use a Taser on Atencio?
Cast your vote below.
