An NIJ report says Tasers are fine when used on “healthy, normal, nonstressed, nonintoxicated persons.” Okaaaay…
[Thanks to The Agitator]
[Update: I just read the report. It is quite an unambiguous green-light for Taser use: “Law enforcement need not refrain from using CEDs to place uncooperative or combative subjects in custody.” It’s that “uncooperative” part I do not like. The report concludes: “CED use is associated with a significantly lower risk of injury than physical force, so it should be considered as an alternative in situations that would otherwise result in the application of physical force.” But what about when the alternative is verbal persuasion? And isn’t somerisk of increased physical injury justified if it saves a life? An approximately 1 in 400 chance of serious injury or death are not odds I would want to play.
Here’s the latest one. And Electronic Village keeps a pretty good list of Taser deaths. Or, should I say, people whose time happened to come coincidentally just a few moments after they happen to be Tasered.
Sometimes I read these things and have to double check to make sure it's not from the Onion. That's not your fault; you can only report what actually happens.
Scares hell out of me that people in positions of authority think like this.