NEW YORK --
The NYPD has appointed a new commander of its Emergency Service Unit, just days after a naked man fell to his death when a police officer shot him with a Taser gun.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has also ordered that the more than 400 officers in the unit participate in training beginning on Monday to review tactics and rules concerning encounters with emotionally disturbed people, said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman.
Deputy Chief James Molloy will become the new commanding officer of the Emergency Service Unit, Mr. Browne said. The post had been held by an acting commander, Deputy Inspector Robert Lukach, who will return to his post as the executive officer — or second in command — of the unit, the New York Times reported.
The moves come after the death of Iman Morales, 35, after a half-hour standoff with the police in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on Wednesday.
Mr. Morales was naked and waving a fluorescent light bulb at officers as he stood on a ledge. Police officers surrounded him and Lt. Michael Pigott ordered Officer Nicholas Marchesona to fire his Taser. Mr. Morales fell off the gate head first and died.
Currently, 525 members of the Emergency Service Unit and sergeants throughout the department carry a Taser gun on their holsters. Mr. Kelly has so far balked at distributing the Tasers more widely. The guns are designed to incapacitate their target with a pulsating electrical current.
Copyright 2008 by WNBC.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
