Harris County Sherrif's office member takes blood sample from handcuffs used to restrain the dead man
Are you having trouble making sense of the headline? A family called 911 for help, emergency responders arrived, they killed the man and now the 911 responder is
suing the dead man's family. The reasoning is that the family - in the middle of an emergency - failed to warn the responders that the man was a violent threat. Maybe it's just me, but isn't kind of the reason you'd be calling 911 in the first place? Because, you know, you feel threatened because someone is posing a danger to themselves and/or you?
Deputy Brady Pullen is seeking $200,000 from relatives of Kemal Yazar, who authorities said confronted EMS workers who responded to a 911 call at a Katy home. The man's wife, authorities said then, had told EMS that Yazar was acting irrationally.
Two deputies, including Pullen, who were called to help struggled with Yazar and used a Taser on him, officials said then. Both deputies fired shots at him, killing him. Pullen was injured and taken to a hospital for treatment of a concussion, cuts and a bite.
The 911 responders version of the story is that Yazar attacked Pullen and another officer, trying to grab their weapons, so they had to Taser and shoot him to death. The family is disputing this version saying he never assaulted the officers.
But so what if he had? That is part of the job of an EMS responder. The victim was unarmed, so the police overreaction seems just a tad hysterical.
According to a legal scholar commenting on the case the suit will not hold up because of the inherent risk in such a job. But Pullen is not deterred.
Pullen's lawsuit seeks damages for past and future medical expenses, past and future mental anguish, physical disfigurement and impairment, future and past pain and suffering, and loss of earning capacity.
The same legal scholar fears if the suit is held up it might dissuade people in trouble from calling 911 for help. Ya think? You can already be
evicted from your apartment for calling 911 for help if you are getting domestically violently beaten up. So now you may have to reconsider whether you should even call for help in an emergency, in case the poor officer suffers a bite in an altercation. And, your family member will be dead.