To: Matti Herrera Bower, Mayor of Miami Beach
The Cops Laughed As They Watched Him Die
Tasers are dangerous and can kill, especially when misused by police—and Florida has the second-largest number of deaths by Taser in the country.
Now the family of 18-year-old Israel Hernandez-Llach is awaiting medical confirmation of the cause of his death, after he was tased by the Miami Beach police for doing graffiti. We urge you to order the Miami Beach Police Department to revise its policy on Tasers to help prevent needless tragedies.
Why is this important?
Eighteen-year-old Israel Hernandez-Llach was an award-winning artist in Miami, Florida – a painter, sculptor, photographer and graffiti artist.
He was armed with nothing more than a can of spray paint, threatening nothing but the wall of an abandoned McDonalds, when the cops chased him down, tased him, and allegedly laughed and high-fived as he lay motionless and dying on the ground. Israel's family is awaiting his autopsy results to conclusively determine the cause of his death, but what we already know is that Tasers are dangerous and can kill, especially when misused by police.
And this is not an isolated incident. The Miami Beach Police Department has an appalling record of using excessive force, including firing over 100 bullets at the car of a drunk driver and falsely arresting a witness who called 911 to report police beating a handcuffed gay man. On top of that, Florida has the 2nd largest number of deaths by Taser in the country.
The events of Israel’s tragic death have devastated his family and sparked national outrage over this use of potentially lethal force to deal with a youthful indiscretion.
The Miami Beach Police are currently under investigation, but without better guidelines and training for use of Tasers, we can’t guarantee that there won’t be more needless tragedies. That’s why we need to act now, while Israel’s story is in the spotlight, and call for change.
Sign the petition urging the Mayor of Miami Beach to order a change in the police department’s Taser policy – to help prevent more needless tragedies.