http://www.kmeg14.com/Global/story.asp?S=7273138

Taser Report Causes Tension

Oct 29, 2007 08:21 AM

Some local Native Americans claim they're targets for being tasered by
Sioux City Police. Accusations stem from the recent release of a taser
report breaking down each incident by race.

The report says of the 70 people tasered by Sioux City Police last year, 13
of them were Native American, that's roughly 17% of all those tasered.

The report comes just days after a 13 year-old, 90 lb. Native American girl
was tasered by police outside of Rollerama.

Frank LaMere is outraged. He says proportionately the report spells out
injustice, since Native Americans only make up 2% of Sioux City's
population.

Defending his department, Police Chief, Joe Frisbie, says the numbers found
in the report are ethical, equal and non-discriminatory.

However, LaMere still claims Native Americans are being picked on.

"If they read between the lines the information we received bears a lot of
scrutiny and to me, it's somewhat scary," says Frank LaMere.

"The incredible fact here that he [LaMere] needs to get a hold of is that
we had 70 incidents, can you imagine that we only used the taser 70 times
in over 9,000 arrests. That means less than one percent of the time
overall, and a lot less than that for them," says Police Chief Joe Frisbie.

LaMere says he hopes to get a more detailed report from Chief Frisbie
outlining the different circumstances for each incident.