Two former police officers in Oklahoma were convicted of second-degree murder after they used their Tasers on an unarmed man more than 50 times in 2019. The man, Jared Lakey, became unresponsive shortly after and died two days later. Court documents called the officers’ use of stun guns a “substantial factor” in the 28-year-old’s death and prosecutors said the officers deployed them in a “dangerous and unnecessary” way. A jury also found Brandon Dingman, 35, and Joshua Taylor, 27, guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and recommended 10 years in prison for both men. They are due to be sentenced early next month.
Medical providers told Lakey’s parents that he had died from multiple heart attacks, according to a suit filed by the family. The Oklahoma district attorney said Monday that officers were trained to limit Taser exposure to less than 15 seconds. Dingman and Taylor, he said, had deployed their stun guns for a total of 3 minutes and 14 seconds. Shannon McMurray, a lawyer for Dingman, called the incident “just a tragedy for everybody.” On Monday, she said her client planned to appeal his conviction. “In my opinion,” she said, “they acted within policy.”
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