A nephew of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas was punched and tasered by security while admitted to a mental health facility, after what was called a suicide attempt.
Thomas, in a concurring opinion in Wilkins vs. Officer Gaddy, has expressed his belief that prison guards may gratuitously beat inmates without denying their constitutional right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment.
From The Raw Story website:
Derek Thomas was admitted to West Jefferson Hospital in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Thursday, after a possible suicide attempt, reports ABC affiliate WGNO.
When the Supreme Court justice's nephew refused to put on a hospital gown and said he wanted to leave the hospital, doctors ordered security to restrain him.
Security guards "punched him in his lip, pulled out more than a fistful of his dreadlocks and tasered him to restrain him," a statement from Thomas' family said.
Shortly afterward, family members say, Thomas suffered a "massive epileptic seizure."
How might this affect our society's "taser madness"?
Update 1: Digby's on it like you knew she would be..