Originally Posted by WCBS-TV

"He wasn't hurting anybody, witness Racquel McDonald said. "They could have just grabbed him and bring him down, but they Tased him instead and he fell to his death and it was real wrong."

Officers had radioed for an inflatable bag as the incident unfolded, but it had not yet arrived at the scene when Morales fell.

"He was there cracking jokes, posing for the cops and everything. The man wasn't a threat to nobody but himself," said witness Kirk Giddings. They had about eight cops that could break the fall. They just moved back."

"We expect the police to say we were wrong. We made a mistake," City Councilman Al Vann, D-Brooklyn, said.

And police did just that. Saying they violated guidelines.

"When possible, the CED (Taser) should not be used ... in situation where the subject may fall from an elevated surface," the NYPD said in a statement.

...

The lieutenant who directed the use of the stun gun was stripped of his gun and badge, and the officer who shocked Morales was placed on desk duty as the investigation continues. Their names were not released.

"None of the ... officers on the scene were positioned to break his fall, nor did they devise a plan in advance to do so," said chief department spokesman Paul Browne.

Morales's mother was standing just a few yards away when her son fell. According to other family members, she called police because her son had a chemical imbalance and she believed he was suffering from a bad reaction to medication.

"The mother was screaming, 'He's gonna fall, he's gonna fall!' And they said 'Ma'am step back.' They wouldn't allow the mother to talk to him," said witness Charlene Gayle-Gordon.

Originally Posted by NY Daily News

Naked and perched on a ledge, a disturbed man fell to his death in Brooklyn Wednesday when cops Tasered him without placing an air bag below, witnesses and police sources said.

Inman Morales, brandishing a light bulb, plunged 10 feet and landed headfirst on the pavement outside his Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment building. He was declared dead at Kings County Hospital.

"When they Tasered him, he froze and pitched forward. He fell on his head," said witness Ernestine Croom, 40. "They didn't put out a mattress or a net or anything."

Morales hit the ground while an air bag was being brought to the site, police sources said.

Originally Posted by NY Daily News

"It just wasn't a smart move. When you Taser someone, they drop like a stone. No muscle control. Under regular circumstances, the (suspect) could have jumped himself and been OK," a police source said.

Originally Posted by New York Daily News

They promised to take care of her son.

The mother of a mental patient who cracked his head on the sidewalk and died after cops shocked him with a Taser said she begged police to protect him.

"I said, 'Please, he's sick. He needs help! Please put a mattress under him,'" Olga Negron, 55, told the Daily News as she mourned her son, Inman Morales.

"They said, 'Don't worry. We'll take care of him.'"

...

The mother said her son was diagnosed as bipolar and had suffered from paranoid delusions in the past. His anti-depressants recently had been changed.

"That day, he had an appointment with his psychiatric doctor. I went to pick him up," said Negron, a former dental assistant who lives on Roosevelt Island.

When he came to the lobby of the Tompkins Ave. building, he didn't recognize his own mother and went upstairs.

"He was raging from the window. He was shouting, 'The appointment is canceled,'" Negron said.

Morales started climbing in and out of the window. When police arrived, he shouted, "You're not going to get me," disappeared into the apartment and reemerged naked, first on the fire escape and then on the ledge.

"The police pulled me to the side of the building. They wouldn't let me go near my son," Negron said.

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Citizens have strongly condemned the actions of two police officers who tasered a distraught, naked Brooklyn man, Inman Morales, last week while he stood on the ledge of a building, causing him to fall more than 10 feet to his death.

The lieutenant who directed the use of the stun gun was stripped of his gun and badge, and the officer who shocked Morales was placed on desk duty as the investigation continues. Their names were not released.

...

“At a time when the NYPD is considering arming patrol officers with Tasers, this incident illustrates the dangers they pose and highlights the need for both clear policies and extensive training on the use of these potentially deadly weapons,” said New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman in a press release.

“Clearly, firing a Taser at someone is a poor substitute for strong police negotiating skills and common sense,” the statement continued.

...

Witnesses and neighbors said Morales had become distraught and threatened to kill himself Wednesday. His mother called 911. When police arrived mid-afternoon, he fled naked out the window of his third-floor apartment to the fire escape. He clambered down until he reached a ledge over a shuttered storefront, where he started jabbing at officers with an 8-foot-long fluorescent light.

An amateur video posted on the Web site of the New York Post shows one of the officers raising a Taser at Morales, who freezes and topples over headfirst as the crowd screams.

Originally Posted by NY Daily News

The city's top cop said Monday that police made a "mistake" when they Tasered an emotionally disturbed Brooklyn man who then toppled to his death.

...

Morales - naked, raving and waving a fluorescent light bulb - was perched on a narrow ledge 10 feet off the ground when cops stunned him with a Taser.

He froze and then fell head-first onto the sidewalk, where he died.

Two ESU officers were placed on desk duty for violating NYPD protocol: Morales was at risk of falling when he was stunned and the lieutenant in charge had no plan in place to break his fall.

An ESU truck with an air bag was still en route when Morales fell.