"Health & Medical News"

The U.S. Justice Department reported that more than 2,000 people died in police custody between 2003 and 2005, and that 13 percent of the deaths were related to alcohol or other drug intoxication.

Reuters reported Oct. 11 that alcohol and other drug intoxication was the second-leading cause of deaths in policy custody, trailing only “homicides by state and local law-enforcement officers,” which accounted for 55 percent of deaths. Suicides accounted for 12 percent.

Researchers found that in the intoxication-death cases, only about one-third of victims had been detained on alcohol or other drug related offenses. “Police are encountering people for all types of crimes … who can have very profound levels of impairment,” said Christopher Mumola, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In 80 percent of the cases where police killed detainees, suspects had used a weapon to threaten or attack a police officer. The report also found a sharp rise in deaths related to use of tasers and stun guns, which rose from 3 in 2003 to 24 in 2005.

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