From Black Voices:

The family of Ohio native Everette Howard has lost its patience following the release of an inconclusive report it hoped would tell them how their son died, according to NBC affiliate News 5.

University of Cincinnati public safety officers responded to an assault in progress and tased Howard when he didn’t step down in August of 2011, according to police reports.

Howard, who was 18 years old then and enrolled in a summer college preparatory program at the university, entered cardiac arrest, and doctors pronounced his death on the following morning.

Read the rest at BlackVoices

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A bizarre situation erupted in a Florida Atlantic University classroom a couple of days ago during a discussion on evolution. Professor Stephen Kajiura had been discussing female selection among peacocks when Jonatha Carr interrupted the lesson and began asking racially-charged questions, like why does evolution kill black people?

When the professor couldn’t answer her unexpected question, Jonatha became enraged and started yelling at the professor and other students in the class, and even threatened them.

“She became increasingly belligerent,” Professor Kajiura told the University Press. “It was at this point, a highly emotionally charged individual who was no longer capable of responding rationally. She was threatening to kill both me and the students in the class.”

After several minutes of getting in other students faces, calling them the n-word, and seemingly slapping one of the white male students, a school official entered the classroom and attempted to get Johnica to leave. Their interaction turned into a violent altercation and police had to carry the student into the back of a squad car, at which time a Taser was reportedly used to subdue her.

Because it was pretty clear Johnica’s outburst was not simply fueled by rage, the young woman was taken to a hospital for involuntary examination under the Florida Mental Health Act. Still, the Dean of Students took immediate action against the student and she has now been expelled.

Check out the video recorded by one of the students in the classroom here. Do you think expulsion is fair if Johnica was having some sort of mental breakdown?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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A “defiant” North Carolina woman was recently tasered in front of her 3-year-old daughter for refusing to leave a McDonald’s drive-thru line.

Evangeline Lucca, 37, reportedly cut the line and was refused service by McDonald’s employees who told her she had to wait in line like everyone else. Police arrived on the scene after the woman held up the drive-thru line for 20 minutes, refusing to leave unless she was served. Anthony Rich, a customer who was in the parking lot at the time, told the Fay Observer:

“Two or three officers entered the car with her and started trying to forcibly drag her out of the car, and that’s when you could hear the clicking sound of the taser one time. 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.”

Debbie Tanna, a public information officer for the Cumberland County Sherriff’s Office, said that Evangeline “would not get off McDonalds property,” and was “threatening the deputies,” when they arrived. According to her, the woman was “drive tased in her side,” meaning officers didn’t deploy the prongs from the taser, they just gave her an electric shock.

Evangeline was charged with second-degree trespassing for the hold-up, and is reportedly in custody until she pays her bond. Her daughter was unfortunately taken into protective custody.

Do you think Evangeline Lucca should have been tasered in this situation? How do you feel about police using tasers overall?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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