America's Taser problem: 8 unfortunate Tasing incidents

A naked man gets stunned in Walmart, a Florida cop sends a handcuffed girl into a coma, and other strange, dark tales of the Taser Police across the U.S. are increasingly turning to Tasers as a non-lethal way to subdue suspects and apprehend criminals. But there's a big problem, Amnesty International said earlier this month: At least 500 Americans have died after being Tased by law enforcement officers since 2001, either during their arrest or while in custody. Usually, the police are cleared of wrongdoing, as in the case of Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Daniel Cole, who Tased a handcuffed 20-year-old, causing her to slip, crack her head, and fall into a persistent vegetative state. Here, eight strange, sad, or darkly amusing Taser incidents from recent history:

1. Running away in handcuffs
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement concluded last week that Cole's actions in the September 2011 Tasing of Danielle Maudsley "were legal and within the scope of his duties." Maudsley, 20, had been arrested for two hit-and-run accidents, and she tried to escape custody by running away while handcuffed. In a pursuit captured on a patrol car's dash cam, Cole shot Maudsley with his Taser. Maudsley fell and cracked her head on the pavement. "I can't get up," she moaned, then slipped into a vegetative state from which she'll probably never recover. "Cole was close enough, and — at 267 pounds — big enough, that had he simply heaved himself in her general direction, he likely could have tackled Maudsley," says Mike Riggs at Reason. "Or, if he wanted to keep his uniform clean, he could've broke into a run and grabbed her."

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2. Naked shoplifting
On Feb. 15, Vernon Taylor walked into an Exton, Pa., Walmart after stripping completely naked in the parking lot, then strolled up to the customer service desk, allegedly stole a pair of socks, and put them on. When the police arrived, the 6-foot-4, 300-pound Taylor refused to leave the store or follow orders, so the cops Tased him. Taylor then reportedly spat at officers, hitting one of them in the face. "Police suspect that he was under the influence of narcotics at the time," says Andrew Tarantola at Gizmodo. "Oh really, you think?"

3. Blocking a McDonald's drive-thru
Police in Fayetteville, Ind., Tased 37-year-old Evangeline Lucca on Feb. 3, after she cut in line in a McDonald's drive-thru, then blocked the lane for 20 minutes while employees refused to serve her. When the cops showed up, "she really got mad," says sheriff's office spokeswoman Debbie Tanna. Three officers removed Lucca's 3-year-old daughter from the car, then tried to drag Lucca out. "They pulled on her a couple of times, and then they Tased her again, and when they Tased her the second time, she just flopped out of the car like a fish," fellow customer Anthony Rick tells the Fayetteville Observer.

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4. Letting the dog run free
A National Park Service ranger at the Rancho Corral de Tierra park outside of San Francisco Tased dog owner Gary Hesterberg, 50, on Jan. 29 after Hesterberg violated park rules by walking his dogs off-leash. Hesterberg provided the ranger a false name, and when it failed to check out, he ignored her order to stay put. "It was really scary," witness Michelle Babcock tells the San Francisco Chronicle. "He just tried to walk away," and the ranger Tased him in the back. "We were like in disbelief." Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) has called for an investigation.

5. Not pulling up sagging pants
After school one day in April 2011, police officers at a Derby, Kan., high school ordered Jonathan Villarreal, 17, to pull up his low-hanging pants. When he told them no, the cops pinned him to the ground with knees in his back and neck, broke his arm, and Tased him in the chest. The police say Villarreal used profanity and took "an aggressive stance" prior to the Tasing. So what? says David Drumm at law professor Jonathan Turley's blog. "If the police officers have nothing better to do than to enforce dress codes after school is out, maybe their presence and corresponding expense are unnecessary."

SEE MORE: An L.A. school's sex-abuse scandal: The extreme fallout

6. Ranting in a fig tree
In June 2006, a deputy sheriff in Bremerton, Wash., meant to Tase an increasingly hostile man who'd been talking to himself in a fig tree for hours, but pulled his gun instead. After he shot the man, wounding him, the guy climbed down by himself. "He said, 'Ow, that hurt. I'm coming down, I'm coming down,'" witness David Blakeslee tells the AP. The sheriff's office explained that officers carry both a Taser and a gun, both about the same size and shape, and that after two hours of talking, the officers feared the man was intoxicated or psychotic and posed a threat to others.

7. Running onto a baseball field
At a May 2010 baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals, 17-year-old Phillies fan Steve Consalvi ran onto the field in the middle of the 8th inning waving a white towel. A Philadelphia police officer shot him with a Taser, and Consalvi's face-plant was met with laughter and cheers from the crowd. Consalvi's mom apologized to the Phillies, but then-Gov. Ed Rendell (D) called the first-ever use of Tasers at a Phillies game a big mistake. "There's no need to use Tasers on fans," he said. "We should just have enough personnel out there to surround them, take them off the field, and off to jail."

SEE MORE: Did serial killer John Wayne Gacy have accomplices?

8. Resisting arrest... at age 14
On Feb. 15, four San Diego cops confronted a 14-year-old accused of stealing $5,000 worth of iPods from his middle school. The 5-foot-10, 150-pound boy reportedly had two of the iPods on him, and when the cops and his vice principal asked about them in a closed room, then moved to handcuff him, the boy started hitting and kicking the police. One officer shot the boy with his Taser, but the boy pulled out the barbs and kept attacking, until the cops subdued him with a second Tasing. There were five grown men versus one boy, parent Lorenza Vargas tells the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Instead of Tasing the kid, can't they restrain him?"

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Hacked: How China is stealing America's business secrets

Sen. John Kerry is fed up with China's penchant for looting technology from U.S. businesses — up to $400 billion worth of data each year. When will it stop? Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, slated to be the next leader of the world's most populous nation, is getting an earful from U.S. officials over China's shady business practices. During Xi's first official tour of the U.S. this week, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) accused a Chinese company of bankrupting a U.S. competitor by ransacking its software. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, alleges Kerry, implicating China in "cyber-attacks, access-to-market issues, espionage [and] theft." And, indeed, a flurry of recent reports indicate that Chinese hackers, backed by the government, are stealing business secrets from the U.S. Here, a guide:

What's going on?
American companies are the victim of an "onslaught of computer network intrusions that have originated in China," according to a report by the U.S. government's National Counterintelligence Executive (NCE). The report says China is trying to "build" its economy on U.S. technology, research and development, and other sensitive forms of intellectual property.

SEE MORE: China's mysterious, 'bewildering' Octomom

How is the technology stolen?
Consider the company Kerry cited: Wind-energy experts American Superconductor. Its biggest client used to be China's Sinovel — until Sinovel allegedly bribed an American Superconductor employee to steal his employer's software and give it to Sinovel. In the case of cyber-attacks, Chinese hackers may leave malware inside the computer systems of American firms, where the nefarious programs can go undetected for years, slowly bleeding companies of information.

Is the Chinese government involved?
Many experts suspect so, though China denies the charges. U.S. officials reportedly believe that a dozen Chinese groups are responsible for the bulk of cyber-attacks on U.S. companies, and that they receive direction from the Chinese government or military. 

What impact does the theft have on U.S. companies?
It can be devastating. Some say China is stealing $400 billion worth of sensitive information a year. The NCE report cited the case of paint company Valspar, which lost $20 million, or one-eighth of its annual profit, after its proprietary information was stolen by a Chinese rival.

Are there national security concerns?
Definitely. Some hacked companies have contracts with the Defense Department and other U.S. government agencies, putting classified information at risk. For nearly a decade, hackers had access to the computer network of telecommunications company Nortel Networks. If, as suspected, China was behind the breach, it likely gained valuable insight into the internet and telephone systems that government agencies, banks, and other businesses rely on.

What has the U.S. done about this?
Surprisingly little so far. Cyber-security experts are urging the government to show China that such acts will have serious repercussions. In the meantime, the NCE says China continues to be an "aggressive and capable" hacking threat.

SEE MORE: China's economic growing pains

Sources: Associated Press, CNN, The New York Times (2), The Wall Street Journal

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America's 'zombie voter' problem: By the numbers

A new study finds that millions of the names on U.S. voter rolls appear in more than one state ... or on tombstones The nation's voter-registration system is a wreck, according to a new report from the Pew Center on the States. Millions of invalid registrations remain on the books, including an "army of (potential) zombie voters" who remained registered long after they died. "Voter registration is the gateway to participating in our democracy," but the country's "antiquated, paper-based systems are plagued with errors and inefficiencies," says Pew's David Becker. "These problems waste taxpayer dollars, undermine voter confidence, and fuel partisan disputes over the integrity of our elections." Here, a look at the problem, by the numbers:

1.8 million
Deceased Americans whose voter registration remains active

2.75 million
People registered in more than one state

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68,725
Voters registered in three states

1,807
Voters registered in more than three states

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51 million
Americans who are eligible to vote, but are not registered

12 million
People registered under addresses that are old or have errors severe enough that mailings are unlikely to reach them

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24 million
Voter registrations that are inaccurate or no longer valid — nearly 13 percent of the names currently on voter rolls nationwide

76
Percentage of eligible adults who are registered to vote in the U.S.

93
Percentage of eligible adults who are registered to vote in Canada

$4.13
Amount Oregon spent per voter to process registrations in 2008. On average, local election offices spent a third of their budgets to register voters, according to a 2001 study.

$0.35
Amount Canada spends to register each voter

Sources: Gawker, Pew Center on the States, Politico, The Hill

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Short sales: The answer to America's housing crisis?

To sidestep the painful and expensive foreclosure process, lenders begin offering delinquent borrowers cash to sell their homes for less than they owe

Banks are stepping up their efforts to get troubled mortgages off their books by offering delinquent homeowners cash incentives to sell their properties at a loss. Are these "short sales" a smart way to clear out the glut of houses in danger of foreclosure and start a housing industry rebound — or will they just depress prices further? Here's what you should know:

What exactly is a short sale?
A transaction in which a house sells for less than the amount the owner owes the bank. The bank agrees to let the homeowner off the hook, and considers the loan paid in full, even though it's not getting enough money to cover the principal remaining on the existing mortgage. 

SEE MORE: Obama's mortgage plan: Who really benefits?

Why would either side want a short sale?
The seller gets out of a loan that he or she couldn't afford to pay back. And banks win too, because their losses on short sales are about 15 percent less than on foreclosures. In some ways, that's because short sales are quicker. Last year, the average short sale took 123 days from listing to closing on a new sale, while foreclosure paperwork typically took 348 days, followed by 175 days to sell the home.

Can banks afford short sales?
They're starting to realize that they can. Short sales accounted for 9 percent of all home sales in November 2011, up from 2 percent in January 2008, as the crash began. In the typical foreclosure process, struggling homeowners can end up essentially living rent-free for years before banks jump through the legal hoops necessary to force them out. Besides, Realtor Trent Chapman tells Bloomberg, many lenders have purchased troubled mortgages from other banks at a discount, so they can forgive a chunk of outstanding debt, offer cash as bait, and still wind up making a profit.

So banks are actively encouraging short sales?
Yep. Banks are offering delinquent homeowners as much as $35,000 — and giving up the right to go after unpaid debt — to get them to sell at a loss and move on. And the federal Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program offers homeowners another $3,000 to go through with a short sale. 

Is this really a win-win?
In a way. Banks are betting that clearing out the glut of looming foreclosures won't just improve their balance sheets, says Ben Walsh at Business Insider, but speed up a "broader and sustained economic recovery." But what will it do to the housing market in the near term? "As such deals continue," says Felix Salmon at Reuters, "and the homes then get dumped onto the market at any price, they will only serve to further depress the U.S. housing market," and "act as an incentive for homeowners to stop paying their mortgage and start holding out for a big check in return for leaving their homes quietly. The whole thing is an unholy and unnecessary mess."

Sources: Bloomberg, Business Insider, Realtor.org, Reuters

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Can America's relationship with Egypt be saved?

Egypt's refusal to back down from its decision to arrest 19 Americans deepens a worrying rift between the longtime allies

Tensions between the U.S. and Egypt's provisional military rulers went from bad to worse this week. Egyptian leaders, including newly elected Islamist lawmakers, refused to back down on their decision to arrest 19 Americans and 24 other non-governmental organization workers accused of aiding violent protests. In response, Washington threatened to cut off $1.5 billion in annual aid to Egypt, arguing that Cairo was launching an illegitimate crackdown on foreign groups that are only trying to promote democracy. Should the U.S. forget about repairing the alliance it had with Egypt for decades under Hosni Mubarak?

Face it. The partnership is over: An Egyptian ambassador to the U.S. once said that "the U.S.-Egypt relationship was like 'a mature marriage,'" says Steven A. Cook at the Council on Foreign Relations. By putting these NGO employees on trial, "the Egyptians are serving divorce papers." The strategic alliance once helped contain Soviet influence and forge peace between Arabs and Israelis, but the new Egypt clearly wants to distance itself from the U.S. We should oblige by ending aid, and moving on before "more damage is done."
"Egypt and the United States: It's not you, it's me"

It's not over yet: This will indeed put U.S.-Egypt relations to the test, says Dina Ezzat at Egypt's Al-Ahram. But the U.S. has cut aid to Egypt before — typically over human rights questions — without prompting a total breakup. Egypt's new government just feels it is "defending its sovereignty." That doesn't necessarily mean these two nations have to go their separate ways. 
"Targeting of NGOs puts Egypt-US relations to test"

It's time to patch things up: "Both sides have mishandled things," says Anne Penketh at The Hill. Egypt, led by its international cooperation minister, Faiza Abul Naga, "a holdover from the Mubarak era," has been irresponsible. But the U.S. overreacted by giving some of the NGO workers refuge in its embassy. Washington needs to "stand up for human rights," but "Egyptian national pride is at stake, so the United States should tread carefully." Both sides need to "walk back" from this fight, and make up.
"U.S. and Egypt should walk back on NGO row"

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