[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : The town of Hurst is joining the list of North Texas cities that are reviewing their policies on Tasers after confusion over a warning from the manufacturer regarding the risks of using the device. The close-by town of Manfield temporarily banned the use of Tasers three weeks ago after they received […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : Small municipalities are worried about possible taser liability lawsuits. Police chief says: “There is some question over labeling which says that Tasers could cause serious injury or death,” so five small country police departments have withdrawn (at least temporarily) all tasers on the advice of the city’s attorneys, who have read […]
The UK Association of Police Chiefs (ACPO) answers questions about tasers on its blog (for answrs, see post) : This blog was originally published in February 2012, and was updated on 25 July 2013: When was Taser introduced? When can officers use Taser? Is every police officer given a Taser? Why use Taser at all? […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENT : Victim tasered in heart despite health warnings. In October 2010 Police intervened with an agitated 25-year-old Vietnamese student, Thinh Ba Le. Within 40 seconds he had been shot with a stun gun and handcuffed. Minutes later he was dead. The coroner decided the police “acted well” but the role the Taser […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : Dr Zian Tseng, an American electro-cardiologist and critic of tasers says Londoners “are at greater risk of harm under Met police plans to extend the use of taser”. “”There is a small but finite risk for sudden death with the use of taser,” he explained. “There have been some nice animal, […]
[[SUMMARY /COMMENTS:”Does the taser Kill?” this article asks. Quite simply, as Douglas Zipes, a widely-respected electrodardiologist specializing in heart rhythms says: “Yes”, to which TASER CEO Rick Smith, found Loitering with Intent to Sell Weapons at an Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in Chicago (Where else?), replies “No”. Pigs, OK, but human No. As […]
JUST POSTED …(October 2011) [[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: A former Waynesboro police officer is out of a job after he refused to get tased. Police-officer Curt St. Germaine refused to be voluntarily tasered since his doctor advised him not to do so – he’s twice had a heart attack. The police were required to receive taser […]
[[ SUMMARY / COMMENTS : New South Wales Green Party protests that NSW police, using tasers on average 5 times a week, are placing lives at risk following the US death of Darryl Turner. The NSW guidelines recommend: When aiming the TASER, TASER Users should aim at the centre of mass (refer to 5.7). Maximum […]
[[ Summary / Comments : The British “New scitists” reports on the tuner decision which found TASER Inc. responsible for not informing police officers of the danger os aiming at the heart. “John Burton, legal counsel for Turner’s parents, proclaimed the case would mark the beginning of the end for the energy weapon. “I […]
[[ Summary / Comments : In a major decision against the corporation, Taser International has been asked to pay $10-million in damages to the family of Darryl Turner, a 17-year-old North Carolina boy who died after he was tasered by a police officer in 2008. The court ruled that the manufacturer created an unreasonable danger […]
Taser warnings go unheeded among Harris County deputies Taser warnings go unheeded in Harris County Sheriff records indicate national guidelines aren’t followed here HOUSTON CHRONICLE, JAMES PINKERTON Harris County sheriff’s deputies have repeatedly used Tasers on criminal suspects in ways counter to safety guidelines issued by the manufacturer, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of records. […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENT: In a review of Sheriff’s Office reports of Taser usage, deputies appear to be not following national guidelines or product warnings in three key areas: stunning suspects in the chest, using Tasers against people who aren’t physically resisting and stunning subjects multiple times.]] By JAMES PINKERTON HOUSTON CHRONICLE June 27, 2011, 7:58AM […]
Salt Lake Tribune Police officers using stun guns should avoid shooting people multiple times or for prolonged periods to reduce the risk of potential injury or death, according to a U.S. Department of Justice study prompted by hundreds of police-involved deaths across the country. Coroners and other medical experts on the study panel concluded that […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Dr. Zian Tseng, a recognized expert cardiac electrophysiologist at the University of California, who testified at the Braidwood Inquiry, condemns the tasering of the 11-year-old boy in Prince George, BC: “Children should not be Tasered. They are especially vulnerable. They were pretty lucky it didn’t cause any cardiac arrhythmia.” Tasering involves have […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: A significant step by a small-town (pop.: 5,500] ]] in Southern Illinois: to effectively place a moratorium on police taser use due to lack of adequate training and TASER Inc.’s advisories on the potential cardiac problems of taser discharges. This follows a taser-abuse settlement for for $85,000 by Winnibago County, Wisconsin (pop.300,000) […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: In an interesting development, the Australian manufacturer/distributor of the FRED Easyport portable defibrillator suggests its product might have saved Antonio Galeano from dying “If the attending police officers had access to a such as Schiller’s FRED Easyport there may have been a different outcome.” This is more than “opportunism”: if police continue […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: “West Australia’s corruption watchdog has asked WA Police to investigate the conduct of officers involved in a clash which left one man in hospital and a policeman partially paralysed. The police officer received a record $3.3-million settlement, Mr McLeod made a complaint to the CCC over what he believed was excessive force […]
[[GlobalShock: “The private Ridgeland firm that administers the self-funded insurance program for county workers injured on the job is discouraging the use of Tasers in law enforcement training… The Workers Compensation Trust had received several workers’ compensation claims from county employees for injuries received from being shot with a Taser gun during training. In some […]
Friday, July 17, 2009 Taser’s curious temporal asymmetry [Updated 11 June 2010] There is a huge and ‘unexplained’ (sic) temporal asymmetry in the many taser-associated deaths… Such taser-associated deaths always seem to occur only if the taser is actually fired and the darts actually hit the victim. I’ve followed the taser news for several years, […]
[[GlobalShock: A prison officer is refused taser training because he once had a precautiooary defibrillator. He was denied access to the taser training class, where officer are obliged to volunteer to be tasered. Eventually re-integrated as guard.]] Times-Leader.com, by Terrie Morgan-Besewcker … SCRANTON – A Luzerne County prison guard who was initially denied employment based […]