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Anthony Firkins's family wonders what might have been had officers handled things differently. He was tasered six times (according to the Idaho Statesman's count).It should be noted that once he was in cuffs, officers calmed down and tried to get him to relax; footage doesn't suggest multiple officers putting weight on his back for an extended period, like in the Brian Torgerson case (although the police cams don't pick up everything and it's pretty dark). The two officers, Joshua Krohn and Eric Duke, who spent the most time with Firkins after he'd been restrained, tried to calm him down. "Just relax man. Take deep breaths, you're alright," Krohn told him.Julie Firkins couldn't understand why a dead dog got more attention than her dead husband.
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In 2014, a Filer, Idaho, officer shot and killed a black lab. The story was widely reported, the dead dog memorialized on a Facebook page with more than 11,000 likes demanding that "Officer Hassani get out of Filer, Idaho." The mayor and city council faced a recall campaign over the incident.Julie Firkins couldn't understand why a dead dog got more attention than her dead husband.Both she and Anthony Sr. still don't get why no one faced any consequences for her husband's death, or why the family didn't even get an apology. It took Julie ten months to even get access to one of the videos—the chief of police let her watch it, but only if she promised not to bring recording materials into the room (the Nampa Police Department declined to comment, noting that the statute of limitations hadn't expired).Eventually, the family gave up on suing, because the amount of money they might have obtained in a lawsuit wouldn't have offset the money spent on lawyers and experts, and money is tight. Anthony Firkins left three kids behind, now aged 12, eight, and six."We're talking about a human being's life," says Anthony Sr. "Three boys," he adds of the kids. "I wish I could have filmed the funeral, so [the police] could see their broken hearts."A version of this article was originally published by the Influence, a news site that covers the full spectrum of human relationships with drugs. Follow the Influence on Facebook or Twitter.Follow Tana Ganeva on Twitter.