Nashville police restrict Taser use to police supervisors

By Vince Mancini

Published on October 03, 2005

At a news conference this afternoon, officials said that the stun guns will be available if supervisors deem them necessary, but not for routine law enforcement.

The changes come in the wake of the death of 21-year-old Patrick Lee last Thursday who was shocked up to 19 times. Lee had allegedly stripped naked after being thrown out of a Cannery Row nightclub, and had told officers that he was under the influence of drugs.

Five doses of LSD were found in Lee's wallet, and a small amount of marijuana in his pants.

Lee is the son of Earl Bud Lee, a songwriter who co-wrote the Garth Brooks hit Friends in Low Places. An attorney for the family says a private autopsy seems to implicate Taser as a contributing factor in Lee's death.

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