From a reader: “So, following the memo to pick your targets carefully when employing the Taser, Taser invents a device to fire wildly into a crowd.”
Tag: tasers
Taser shock in the courts!
The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals (never known for its pro-police views) to be precise. This perhaps landmark decision has been called, “The clearest and most complete statements yet from an appellate court about the limits of Taser use.” From the story by Hudson Sangree and Kim Minugh in the Sacramento Bee. In the summer of 2005, Carl Bryan, 21,…
Handcuffed man gets tased, dies
Despite my strong opposition to the taser as a compliance tool (I much prefer old-fashioned force), this is a tricky case becausethe guy was handcuffed. He got squirrelly and started fighting. [Hey, once I was rolling on the ground with a handcuffed man. What could I do? He already had his hands tied behind his back and I still couldn’t…
Police Officer Uses Taser On 10-Year-Old Girl
As a reader pointed out: “She was just too big and tough, I guess.” My point (again) isn’t that cops violated their rules. It’s that the rules are wrong! Update November 19: The officerinvolved has been suspended for seven days (with pay, mind you). This is an example of the worst functionings in a police department. If policy is policy,…
Taser risks
According to one study, which claims to be the only somewhat large-scale study, the risk of serious injury from a Taser is 0.25% Now mind you the sample size (1,201) isn’t that large so there were only three cases of serious injury which makes the 0.25% figure a bit dodgy. But still. Let’s assume that is the case. That means…
But they told me it was safe!
The maker of Taser stun guns is advising police officers to avoid shooting suspects in the chest with the 50,000-volt weapon, saying that it could pose an extremely low risk of an “adverse cardiac event.” The advisory, issued in an Oct. 12 training bulletin, is the first time that Taser International has suggested there is any risk of a cardiac…
Tasers Get Support
PERF says Tasers increase officer safety. Of note: Not all of the people who have died after being subjected to a CED activation were chemically dependent or had heart disease or mental illness; “some were normal healthy adults.”
Tasers Kill
Rogueregime sent me this link to Electronic Village documenting 36 taser-related deaths in 2009. That’s far more than I suspected. I repeat my position: the taser is an excellent less-lethal weapon, an alternative to lethal force. The taser is not acceptable as a “less-than lethal” weapon because it, well, kills.
I love a parade!
Two police officers who chased and Tasered a 76-year-old man driving a tractor in [Glenrock, Wyoming’s, annual Deer Creek Days parade] have been fired. … Police say Grose, who was driving an antique tractor in the parade, disobeyed Kavenius’ traffic command. That led to a short pursuit and the Taser use. … Grose, a retired truck driver, said he’s unlikely…
Tasering a Unarmed Legless Man in a Wheelchair
RougueRegime sent me a link to this story in which a legless man in a wheelchair was tasered. This tasering could very easily have been “by the books.” And that’s what bothers me. The man didn’t comply. He got tased. The taser should be banned as a compliance device (except perhaps in situations where an officer is alone and backup…