Tasers are safe? Oh. Never mind then...

I take it all back. Nothing bad about Tasering people. Just a few good natured 50,000 volt tickles and you're on your way.

Taser stun guns used by the police for law enforcement are safe - the injury rate is low and most injuries appear to be minor, a US study finds.

The electric disablers that hit their target with 50,000 volts are commonly used by US police and are increasingly being used by UK forces.

Human rights experts have expressed concern about the use of the stun gun.

But a Wake Forest University review of 1,000 US cases suggests the risk and severity of injuries is low.

Most injuries were mild, such as scrapes or bruises.

Three of the subjects suffered injuries severe enough to need hospital admission - two had head injuries suffered in falls after Taser use. The third was admitted to hospital two days after arrest with a medical condition of unclear relationship to the Taser.

Two subjects died but autopsy reports suggested neither death was related to the Taser.

Interim results on 597 of the cases were published in Annals of Emergency Medicine in September.

Lead researcher Dr William Bozeman, who received funding from the US National Institute of Justice for the work, said: "This is the largest study to date and the first to detail the medical effects of Tasers under real-world conditions.

"These results support the safety of the device. The injury rate is low and most injuries appear to be minor."

He stressed, however, that the Taser was a weapon and could clearly cause injuries and even deaths.

Amnesty International says Tasers have been linked to more than 70 deaths in America.

When Tasers are fired, two metal barbs connected to the weapon by a thin wire pierce the skin before the charge is delivered.

In the UK, police officers who carry guns have also carried Tasers since 2004. In September 2007, the Home Office extended permission to non-firearms officers in pilot areas.

Amnesty International's Arms Programme Director, Oliver Sprague, said: "Let's not be misled here. Tasers are dangerous electro-shock weapons.

"This is why we are urging the Home Office to review its decision and to ensure that only specialist firearms officers use the Taser in very limited circumstances and only as an alternative to shooting a lethal weapon."

A Home Office spokesman said: "The risk of life-threatening and other serious injuries is considered to be low.

"Tasers have contributed to resolving incidents without injury where otherwise there would have been a real possibility of someone being shot and killed.

"In some cases they have not needed to be fired: drawing them or arcing the Taser has been enough of a deterrent."

In England, a Taser has been used (drawn or fired) in service by the police 851 times, since April 2003.
Link

Taser death in Canada airport

Still think Tasers aren't being misused?

Video footage has been released in Canada showing the last moments of an immigrant who died after being stunned with a Taser by police. Robert Dziekanski, 40, of Pieszyce, Poland, was restrained by police after becoming agitated at Vancouver International Airport on 14 October.Mr Dziekanski, who spoke no English, was declared dead at the scene by an emergency medical team.

The incident is being investigated by police, the airport and the coroner. Police spokesman Cpl Dale Carr said the video was just one piece of evidence, and urged people to wait for the results of the inquest. Mr Dziekanski, a construction worker, was emigrating to Canada to join his mother, who lived in the western province of British Columbia.

The incident has prompted a debate about the use of Taser stun guns by police in Canada. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation says up to 18 people have died after being stunned by a Taser in Canada since 2003.

The video was shot by Canadian traveller Paul Pritchard and handed over to police, and has only just been returned to him.

It starts before the police arrive, with Mr Dziekanski seen through a glass wall in a customs area. He appears agitated, sweating and breathing heavily. Airport security officials and passengers watch from the other side.

Having landed 10 hours earlier, he is seen pacing back and forth through an automatic door, standing briefly in the doorway with a small folding table, and then later with a chair. At one point, he takes what looks like a laptop computer off a counter and throws it to the ground, and then throws the small table against the glass wall.

Four policemen then walk into view. They walk through the glass doors towards Mr Dziekanski, who turns his back on them. Witnesses say he appeared to pick up a stapler. Seconds later, Mr Dziekanski is stunned by a Taser and falls down screaming and convulsing.

He is stunned a second time, and then the police officers restrain him on the floor. Mr Dziekanski's screams die down, and he is seen lying still. A voice is heard saying "code red", which is code for a medical emergency.

An autopsy found no sign of drugs or alcohol in Mr Dziekanski's system, and failed to pinpoint the cause of death.

Walter Kosteckyj, the victim's family lawyer, said Mr Dziekanski's mother had seen portions of the video and had approved its release to the public. "She had a son in distress, he was looking for help, he was frightened, and he didn't get that help," Mr Kosteckyj said. He said he was disturbed by the video because Mr Dziekanski was not violent.

"I was expecting to see a confrontation, a discussion and things go sideways, then the tasering... That's not what you see," he said.

Mr Dziekanski, who had not flown before, had boarded a plane a day earlier in Germany, and arranged to meet his mother at the baggage carousel in the international terminal.

Neither of them knew the baggage carousel was inside a secure area, with no view of the public arrivals hall area, except for a short distance through sliding glass doors, Mr Kosteckyj said.

No airport, customs or security employees at the airport apparently tried to help either of them, he added. Eventually Mr Dziekanski emerged into the public area, but his mother had left after six hours and Mr Dziekanski apparently panicked, the lawyer said. Link

More Taser misuse

Not cool.

LAist: OC Deputies Taser, Cuff 15-Year-Old Autistic Boy
Taylor Karras was reported missing by his mother yesterday, after running away from a Westminster social services facility where he was receiving therapy for autism.

Around 9:30 p.m., the 15-year-old boy was found just a block from his North Tustin home. Orange County Sheriff's deputies spotted Karras pushing a shopping cart in the street, chased him on foot, Tasered him once, and handcuffed him.

Only when a passing neighbor recognized Karras did the authorities realize he had been reported missing nearly ten hours earlier and that he had a disability.

Taylor Karras's mother, Doris, said she saw the entire incident and felt the police action was excessive. "He had been stopping at bus stops and reading the maps to find his way home," she said.

OC Sheriff Lt. Hal Brotheim claimed that Karras took off running through traffic when the deputies approached him. Traffic in unincorporated North Tustin at 9:30 p.m. on a Monday night. Link

Guard Tasers Man Holding Baby
In a confrontation captured on videotape, a hospital security guard fired a stun gun to stop a defiant father from taking home his newborn, sending both man and child crashing to the floor. Now William Lewis says his baby girl suffers from head trauma because she was dropped.

"I've got to wonder what kind of moron would Tase an adult holding a baby," said George Kirkham, a former police officer and criminologist at Florida State University. "It doesn't take rocket science to realize the baby is going to fall."

..."The Taser itself is a legitimate law-enforcement tool," said Kirkham, the criminologist. "The problem is the abusive use of them. They're supposed to be only used to protect yourself or another person from imminent aggression and physical harm. They're overused now." Link

Hog-tied woman tasered in jail
A Butterfield woman who allegedly was "hog-tied" and shocked multiple times with a Taser at the Barry County Jail is suing in federal court.

Melissa A. "Missy" Norman, 41, claims her civil rights were violated during a July 23 incident at the jail.

At least a half dozen officers from the Barry County Sheriff's Department and Cassville Police Department previously were placed on leave because of the incident, which is being investigated by the Missouri Highway Patrol.

None of the officers has been charged.

Norman "was handcuffed, leg shackled, hog-tied, blindfolded and tasered numerous times," according to a news release issued by her her attorneys, John Lewright and Robert Foulke.

Lewright said Monday the Taser incident was recorded by a video camera in the booking area, although he had yet to receive a copy of the recording. Lewright said he took the case — he normally focuses on criminal defense — because it "infuriated" him. The slow pace of the investigation into the woman's jail treatment and a delay in receiving the video have only added to that frustration, he said.

"If people hog-tied a dog and then took a cattle prod to that dog ... they would be federally prosecuted," he said.

The lawsuit claims: Norman's constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments were violated; the departments failed to properly supervise the officers; Norman was discriminated against under the Americans with Disabilities Act; and she was the victim of battery, negligence and infliction of emotional distress.
[....]
According to the lawsuit, Norman "was having personal difficulties" July 23 and contacted a law enforcement officer at his home. She was taken by ambulance to St. John's hospital in Cassville and given medicine to make her vomit.

Norman then left the hospital voluntarily but was later apprehended by a group of law enforcement officers, who "tackled, handcuffed, and leg-shackled" her, according to the lawsuit. The handcuffs and leg shackles were tied together behind her back while an officer "was digging his knee into Missy's neck so she could not breathe," the lawsuit said.

Norman allegedly was put into the back of a patrol car without a seat belt and taken to the Barry County Jail. Once there, a group of officers carried her into a booking area and allegedly taunted her. Norman "was terrified and started hitting her head," the lawsuit said.

The officers allegedly taped a towel around her head with duct tape, then began shooting her with a Taser multiple times. The lawsuit said that at one point the officers lifted Norman's shirt above her stomach to administer the Taser to her bare skin, causing burn wounds. Norman's screams of pain and pleas that the officers stop were repeatedly ignored, the lawsuit said.She eventually was placed in a jail cell but not released to a hospital until the next morning.

Six were punished for incident. Neither Epperly, the sheriff, nor McCullough, the police chief, returned phone calls seeking comment Monday.

Epperly — who was away at a conference at the time of the incident — said in an interview in July that Norman was emotionally disturbed and went to the home of an off-duty officer threatening suicide at about 10 p.m. the night of the incident.

Epperly said he was told officers tracked down Norman after she left the hospital out of concern for her safety.She became combative, he said, spat at and tried to harm officers, as well as herself. At the jail, Norman reportedly was hitting her head on the floor before a deputy used a Taser on her twice, the sheriff said. Link

At least the goat got away

DECATUR, Ala. (AP) - A nanny goat eluded police and a Taser stun after being spotted running into traffic in Decatur. Sergeant Jeremy Hayes said the goat, which occasionally ran onto roads, had been spotted repeatedly Sunday. He said Decatur police got three calls on the goat. Police didn't know where the goat came from and weren't sure where it was today. Lieutenant Frank DeButy said patrol officers tried zapping the goat with a Taser near Somerville Elementary school but missed as the goat was running full-stride.Hayes said police were having trouble catching the goat because they don't want to injure it. Link

H/T to Jesus' General