Police charged with tasering handcuffed suspects

Los Angeles - Two Desert Springs policemen surrendered today after being charged with tasering handcuffed suspects and denying them their civil rights.

Both policemen have been charged with deprivation of rights under color of law for allegedly using X26 Tasers to to subdue the suspects, under a Federal statute that requires persons of authority not to use excessive force or unusual punishment against suspects because of their race or ethnicity.. Police Officer Anthony Schlafini, 40, allegedly used an X26 Taser gun against handcuffed suspects in two separate incidents during February 2005. During the second incident he was reported to have sprayed a female suspect in the face with pepper spray. Police Officer David Raymond Henderson is accused of using an X26 Taser gun against a handcuffed suspect in August 2004. The policemen voluntarily surrendered to authorities after they were informed they had been indicted by a federal grand jury. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in obtaining the indictments against Schlafani and Henderson following investigations of the reported incidents. Deprivation of rights under color of law under the U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 13, 242, according to legal references of Cornell University, refers to a government employee subjecting a person to unique punishment as a result of the person's color, race or national origin. An individual may be sentenced to death if a subject dies as a result of that punishment. The FBI is the principal agency for the investigation of color of law abuses and explains how those involved in enforcing laws have unique powers given them and must be restrained from abusing those powers. The Bureau observes "That's why it's a federal crime for anyone acting under "color of law" willfully to deprive or conspire to deprive a person of a right protecterd by the Constitution or U.S. law. "Color of law" simply means that the person is using authority given to him or her by a local, state or federal government agency. In 2005, according to the Bureau, the FBI investigated more than 1,100 color of law cases that fell into five principal categories including: excessive force, sexual assaults, false arrest and fabrication of evidence, deprivation of property and failure to keep from harm.