Blacks more likely Taser victims in Houston

The LA Times reports that two-thirds of people hit by stun guns used by Houston police are black.

This fact has outraged many in Houston's black community.

And the resulting outcry from black community activists and a City Council member has led Mayor Bill White to call for an independent review of Taser use by the Houston Police Department.

"The mayor took a positive first step, but what will he do when the information comes back and clearly shows that race is a direct factor in who gets Tasered?" said Quanell X, a community activist and leader of the New Black Panther Nation. "We already know that African Americans are Tasered more often than whites."

Quanell X saw blatant racism in the split-second decision by an officer to use a Taser on Weary during his Nov. 14 traffic stop: "This was a small white woman who was intimidated by a big black man and panicked," he said.

At a town hall meeting set for today, Quanell X said, he plans to highlight cases of people shocked by stun guns — including one in which a black man who was having an epileptic seizure was Tasered for failing to comply with an officer's orders.

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