Apparently there is nothing more dangerous to public safety than a lethal weapon in the hands of a government employee who lacks common sense, during a quasi-crisis.

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A Brooklyn man, exhibiting irrational behavior one would normally expect everyone to recognize as a mental health problem, was tasered while he stood naked on a second-story ledge of an apartment building. Predictably, he pitched forward face-first hitting his head on the pavement below and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Inman Morales, 35, whose mother called the police for what neighbors say was a totally out-of-character tirade resulting from an argument. Morales did scream at the police, and was also swinging and jabbing a florescent tube-style lightbulb at officers who climbed unto the fire escape, delighting the crowd below. Somehow, this kept New York police at bay for about 40 minutes.

The ground officer who pulled the trigger was ordered to do so by a lieutenant, also on the ground, who had to know, if he had eyes to see, that the inflatable bag for breaking falls had not yet arrived. Paul Browne, spokesmen for the Brooklyn PD said that the “order to employ the Taser under these circumstances appear[s] to have violated guidelines, reissued June 4, 2008, which specifically state that ‘when possible, the C.E.D.[taser] should not be used ... in situations where the subject may fall from an elevated surface.’ ” “None of the E.S.U. [Emergency Services Unit -- new-fangled term for extra police] officers on the scene were positioned to break his fall, nor did they devise a plan in advance to do so,” Browne’s statement said, after the ordeal was over.

Of course, now the police department and the district attorney’s office will have to go through the trouble of launching an internal investigation and review, which usually produces vindication for all officers involved ("they acted according to guidelines, etc., etc.), if we go by past experience. For now, the unidentified lieutenant who ordered the tasering was placed on modified assignment, and the trigger puller is being punished by administrative work desk side.

This all comes on the heels of Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly’s assessment that he is open to broadening the use of the weapons after a city-commissioned study on police shooting habits urged the department to consider using Tasers more frequently instead of deadly force when applicable.

Tasers instead of deadly force weapons?

Tasers are deadly force weapons — they just demonstrated that.

This mentality is part of the problem. Taser-using abuse is much more likely to occur just because the officer thinks it will do no permanent damage, making it in reality a far more dangerous weapon of choice.

We have a situation where a mentally disturbed person needs actual help, and needs to be talked down from his precarious perch. (I think they have real professionals who can actually do that now, along with family members who are a good bet as well.) Swinging a light bulb does not fall into that category; I’ve had worse things swung at me.

We do have a lack of common sense all the way around, from the lieutenant’s decision to have someone taser the poor individual to the absence of planning, again due to lack of common sense, by a profession that is always screaming about public safety. (Animals tranquilized out of trees are usually not left to go splat on the sidewalk for pity’s sake.) And we have a violation of the PD’s own rules — not the “appearance” of a violation — the real McCoy.

While I don’t doubt that these officers are indeed trained in the use of all the lethal weapons they wield, a problem also might lie with the morality and ethics — or lack thereof — that they are inculcated with when it comes to decision making.

Decision making that affects the lives of innocent human beings. Lives that could just as easily be yours or mine if we are ever caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What happened in Brooklyn can only be termed brutish.

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