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Man who was hit with Taser dies
Ronald Petruney, 49, of 1090 Jefferson Ave., lost consciousness Tuesday after being hit by the Taser following a struggle with city police.
An officer, whose name was not released, was patrolling Jefferson Avenue Tuesday afternoon when he encountered Petruney on the ground near his apartment suffering from what appeared to be a seizure.
Petruney then stood up, disoriented, and attempted to walk into traffic, police said.
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Another officer, who also was not identified, arrived on the scene. Petruney was first shot in the legs with two Taser wires. The second officer then applied his Taser directly to Petruney’s torso, police said.
City police fought with him three or four minutes after he was hit. He then collapsed.
At a press conference Thursday, city police Lt. Daniel Stanek said the officers followed department procedures in using Tasers.
Washington County Coroner Tim Warco is taking over custody of the case and will schedule a full forensic autopsy.
© 2009 Observer Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Taser safe : 11/21/2009
this is for all the pelope who think tasers are safe and who spouted off about this man regardless of his pass run ins with the police he did not deserve to DIE because he had a seizure and was disoriented comming out of it.Any body with a little common sence knows when someone has a seizure you can become aggressive or combative comming out of one. So lets hope all the peolpe who bashed this man weather he was right or wrong in his actions dosent have a seizure in the city of washington because you may not live to see another day.
man dies of taser : 11/21/2009
Tasers should be outlawed and this is the reason why.. They are dangerous and too easy to use. Sometimes police officers don't think before acting, as in this case and in another case where a baby or toddler was tased. What kind of society have we become that makes it so very easy to use aggressive force on another person.
an who was hit with Taser dies : 11/21/2009
the cops should be fired
Tasers : 11/21/2009
A learning experience: I think we now know how many police with tasers it takes to kill a person.
You have NO idea what you're talking about. : 11/21/2009
From the above article "Petruney refused orders to sit down and charged the officer, biting him and swinging his arms when the two began to struggle". So I ask. What happens if this guy manages to get one of the officers firearms away from them? Haven't we seen enough dead police officers in western pa for a year? What if he'd have continued going after others? They tased him because they didn't want to resort to shooting him with the FIREARMS. Sadly, the result appears to be the same. Let's let the investigation happen before we start blaming the police.
Wait for results : 11/21/2009
Why does everyone jump to conclusions. This man was having a seizure and had medical conditions. The autopsy will show it was not the taser that killed him and you will all be left with the comments from the uneducated. The police did the right procedure!
common sense : 11/21/2009
Before everyone calls for the public hanging of the policeman, don't forget he was just doing his job. Lets wait to see what what the cause of death is. Maybe it was not just the police using a taser. What if the guy was on drugs...illegal drugs. I'm sure the officers involved did not set out for the day with the intentions of this happening. The officers are human. The deceased had a long troubled history. This story is sad but you can't just bash the officer. Two officers were hurt in this incident also and were treated at the hospital. What if the deceased had a uncureable illness. He bit two officers. Now they run the risk of becoming sick, along with their familys. The investigation will be done and let all the facts come out before we cast our judgement.
Comments : 11/21/2009
You know what kills me is you people want to run your mouth about the policer officer doing his job but yet who are the people you call when you need help POLICE OFFICERS !!! Yes this is a shame that the man died and I am sure that NOBODY wanted to see this happen . My prayers do go out to his family. My prayers are also with the police officer that was injured do to this incident !!!
Taser : 11/21/2009
WHY ARE YOU PROTECTING THE NAME OF THE OFFICER WHO COMMITTED MURDER?
: 11/21/2009
Everything being said about tasers is more so true about guns, Are you saying to outlaw guns!?
Plz... : 11/21/2009
Anyone & everyone need to think about what happened here. The police had no clue this guy had a seizure. All they knew is that he got up & attacked them. The police handled the situation as they are trained to do.
Officer Names : 11/21/2009
Ok when a crimnal does something wrong they make sure they list the name unless they are underage- but when a police office does wrong we get no name.....
Tasers : 11/21/2009
The police of Washington County need to re-focus and take their eyes off of people and traffic and concentrate more on drugs.
City Police : 11/21/2009
What a shame that a sick men had to die. Now its my right to know the cops names why withhold from the public if someone commits a crime our names are blasted in paper before we are found guilty or not so why should the cops be different they did wrong and will cover up I want answers for the dead men and his family
Tasered : 11/21/2009
Everybody just calm down untile the autopsy is completed and we know the real reason the man died. Where is is the man's family in all of this, did they not know he was ill? Calm down, and let's wait before unkind words are said against the man or the officers involved!
OMG !!! : 11/21/2009
What makes a difference what the police officers names are they didnt do anything wrong they simply did there jobs. I would LOVE to see what the people who are bashing these officers would do if there were involved in this incident. So before you run your mouth and blame the police officers for this mans death you SHOULD KNOW ALL THE FACTS !!! It just really bothers me that alot of you dont consider that these police officers who are here to serve and protect us were also affected and were hurt in the line of duty and may have to suffer the rest of their lives just because they were doing their jobs !!
: 11/22/2009
Its a shame that this man died but lets face it if I were a police officer and I was getting bit or attacked like these officers did I would have used deathly force . We all have jobs to do and the police officers did their jobs with the best of their ability.
Death : 11/22/2009
Oh people drive me crazy with this whole thing. What the police did what was right end of story!
Get a clue : 11/22/2009
The man had no family and as been involved with mental health of years and years. This man as been moved all over washington county and people want to blame the police for doing there job, come on. What about blaming mental health if they would have done there job this would have never happened. Thats right people are blaming eveyone and dont know the whole story.
: 11/22/2009
If all you anti-police, anti-tazer, and anti-gun bashing residence feel so strong about what the police did or didn't do then maybe you should start patroling the street of washington and cary only your flashlight and put your life on the line, because apparently only nice people live in this city. I DON'T THINK SO!!! Thank you to the police officers for what the do! and my sympathy to the family!
Death : 11/23/2009
All i know if some one was biting me and I had to tazer them to get them off. Consider them tazered. Police did the right thing, hope all the other nutballs who dont think so see the light some day......
nutballs... : 11/24/2009
is a good term. The police did their job, probably better than most of us would have done. Thank you to them. Prayers to their families. I feel bad for the man who died. It seems he had a troubled life, that is sad. It is sad that these officers had to do this in trying to protect the man as well as the general public.
Death : 11/24/2009
Sorry the man had to die but actting like that he was not having no SEIZURE!! I no I have them after one you are down !!
unappreciated : 11/25/2009
Everyone who carries a badge should call in sick for about a week........somehow I think things would change.
tasers : 11/27/2009
what is wrong with people. the police put their lives on the line everyday. it was unfortunate the man had to die. these people want to judge the city of washington police officers, try living in there shoes everyday. stop judgeing...
can you say law suit? : 11/28/2009
I also believe the officers were doing as trained. Therefore, don't forget to name the city, the city council members individually, the taser company and washington hospital in your suit. Tasers are expensive. Law suits are expensive (btw did anyone know Washington is broke?) and training officers to kill people is expensive. Facts you mention? Cops create facts. You can blame them for that. If I was the officer unnamed, I'd say exactly what happened as I'm sure he followed procedure. They shot him because it's too much trouble to subdue physically (which they're also trained to do) and cuff/ hogtie him. Way to go WPD! Don't worry, my tax dollars will pay the man's family (and your paychecks) Jeers to washington observer for keeping the names out of the paper.
tasers : 11/28/2009
You call a bite an injury, was the guy a wolf. He obviously posed no threat to the extent of death to the officer yet it takes two to tase hime. Two officers of the law could not take down 1 guy coming out of a siezure, a medical condition. Officers, yeah you call them and when they come do they listen or are they all gun ho. A gun, a badge, a uniform, those are all items that come with the duty of BEING an officer. Life on the line daily, so you did read that in the fine print when you applied or NO. Every firefighter taht puts out a fire is not a HERO it is his/her JOB. So its o.k if you are an OFFICer to kill someone who is sick. Why not they put the mentally insane to death.
tased to death : 11/28/2009
Great so half of Washington thinks its ok to kill people because you are called a police officer
DUMB : 12/1/2009
some of you ar really dumb. all you can think about is bashing the police for doing their job. maybe George is right, all the police take a week off and let the loonies and crooks have at it. when you are mugged, raped, robbed, beaten, etc. you will realize how rediculous you are being.
