Taser Inc. Loses First Product-Liability Suit
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Taser International Inc., the largest stun-gun maker, lost a $6.2 million jury verdict over the death of a California man who died after police shot him multiple times with the weapon. The defeat is the first for Taser in a product- liability claim.
A San Jose, California, jury yesterday said Taser had failed to warn police in Salinas, California, that prolonged exposure to electric shock from the device could cause a risk of cardiac arrest. The jury awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $5.2 million in punitive damages to the estate of Robert Heston, 40, and his parents. The jury cleared the police officers of any liability.
His parents sued Taser, alleging failure to warn of the dangers of the weapon, and Salinas police officers, claiming excessive force. The jury ``exonerated the police because they said the police didn't know repeated exposures could kill someone,'' Burton said. Read on...
I understand that law enforcement officials have difficult jobs and often find themselves in life or death situations. There are times where the use of these alternative weapons can save lives, but it seems, as in this case, as with others, if improperly used or in the wrong circumstances, they are deadly. Amnesty International has laid out some recommendations for the use of tasers, which I quite agree with; law enforcement agencies should treat them as deadly weapons:
Amnesty International calls on all governments and law enforcement agencies to either cease using TASERs and similar devices pending the results of thorough, independent studies, or restrict their use to situations where officers would otherwise be justified in resorting to deadly force where no lesser alternatives are available. Read on...
First, don't tase me, Bro!
From the Amnesty International website:
So... if an American company has a taser assembled in Taiwan, the TASERs should never be shipped back to America.
Like I said before.. Got quite a growing body count for something advertised as a non-lethal alternative to guns..... So much for advertising......JD
the stock for this company has been a wall street darling...what a surprise
One of my life-long friends is an executive in that company. He is convinced that it is a way to save lives. This and other deaths should give him reason to pause and think about things.
It's time to fight back. Do not be cowed
Albatross @ 1:
Rimshot!
How fucking stupid do you have to be not to know that prolonged exposure to electricity could be bad? My 5 year old understands that. The whole premise of the weapon is that it arrests neuro muscular functions. Last time I checked, the heart was a muscle.
Paul @ 6:
Exactly!
Cue the 'living in a police state' chorus. ;)
When exactly did these things come into being? And when did cops get them?
Paul @ 4:
"People see what they want to see, and disregard the rest ..."
*
Ok even if you don't agree with what happened to the guy at the Goodyear plant who died, the taser was never alleged to have caused his death, it was the trauma to his chest while being handcuffed. Linking to that article within this one is irresponsible, you are blaming them for something that they really had no part in.
No I don't work for Taser and I'm not even a cop, but as we liberals hold the media to higher standards and are quick to hold their feet to the fire when we find something wrong (and rightly so), we should hold our own side to the same standards. Leave the unfounded allusions to Fox news and Michelle Malkin, C&L is better than that.
i'd like to tase those cops. they were called to by the man's family to HELP him, and they electrocuted him to death. what, continuous electric shock is bad for you -- who knew?
Firearms are actually quite safer and more effective as you can regulate the level of damage inflicted through bullet placement. Well unless you're a NYPD cop who feels you have to pump 50 rounds into an unarmed non-violent suspect that is.
Tasers are too easy to use. I have heard of some law enforcement organizations that insist anyone who wants to carry one, GET tasered first. This is meant to create a better understanding of its potential and the responsibility carried by the user to do the least amount of harm.
The claims made here blame the Taser for 300 deaths in 2007 alone.
*
Police officers can also shoot a man 41 times for holding a cell phone while being black.
They can shoot a black undercover down and get away with it by saying "he wasn't wearing the color of the day."
They can gather in a ring and fire repeatedly into a car full of unarmed brown people.
These are some of the other things Police officers can do on their jobs.
living-abomination @ 12:
"One of the officers then shot the suspect with a taser. Officers say the man did not immediately respond to the taser but that after going down for a short time, he got up to try to attack them.
The officers eventually got the suspect in handcuffs. After calling paramedics, as is standard procedure for any incident involving the use of tasers, one of the officers noticed Meyers was unresponsive.
As paramedics arrived, Meyers went into cardiac arrest.
He was rushed to Franklin Square Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead."
How do you get "....it was the trauma to his chest while being handcuffed." out of that?
Trittydi @ 11:
And so they do.
living-abomination @ 12:
This is not the Goodyear employee case. So maybe it's you who should get your facts straight; hmmmm?
Good. Sue these fuckers out of existence. And those cops should have been fired for being shitty cops.
not only do tasers cause death, they are used without any discretion. So if you happen to try to reason with a cop, or are practicing free speech, you can get tasered. Tasers suppress free speech. Also, if you see one of those eye-witness videos recording taser abuse, you often see the subject down on the ground convulsing in pain, then the sicko cop yells: "Get Up!" And if the subject doesn't get up right away, then the bastard cop tasers the subject again, and again, and again! See UCLA student in library incident with fellow students recording the incident with their camera phones as he's getting tasered over and over again. Then the UCLA cops shout at the witnesses to stop questioning them or else the witnesses will get tasered! There are numerous incidences of taser abuse. Tasers must be banned!!!
The first of many defeats I hope.
Having the taser replace the lethal firearm aspect of law enforcement was a great idea. Unfortunately, it didn't just replace that aspect. It has come to replace all aspects of law enforcement.
Law enforcement is a difficult job, but if you're not prepared to do that job properly, then... well, fuck off.
ok, the electric chair was deemed inhumane.
So now cops get to carry a mini on them.
ok, just wanted to be clear on this.
here's to the development of non-lethal weapons (or, semi-lethal) that make it more acceptable for us to enjoy our days living in the stratified police state. and, pray tell, when does a supposed non-lethal weapon become just a poorly used lethal weapon? /snark off
maybe they should just go ahead and market soma, then we could be happy in our straightjackets.
that said, not sure if people caught the 60mins broadcast where they talked about the ADS (active denial system). of note: in demonstrating just how the ray gun works they brought out army personnel to be 'the enemy', and they were supposed peace activists. that is how the pentagon views anti-war protestors: targets.
I welcome more lawsuits like this one and I'll be celebrating when Tazer goes bankrupt.
pissed off patricia @ 18:
I got it from Crooks and Liars: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/05/no-charges-will-be-filed-in-ks-taser-death/
kate @ 22:
i completely agree
they lower the bar for the use of state-sanctioned violence against our CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to assembly and freedom of speech
It's about time . . .let's hope this begins a trend of more court losses for the Taser 'torture corporation'.
they should have little video and audio recorders on them, record everything from when the police 'paint' with the laser pointer until unit is deactivated. we have the technology...
Would act just like video recorders in police vehicles, make them think twice about what they are doing.
living-abomination @ 27:
Okay, I see the problem. We each went to a different link. I went to the link titled "as with others" in the post.
Samson- @ 25:
Actually there is a muscle relaxer on the market called soma. Which leads me to believe someone in big pharma has a wicked sense of humor.
Just Hussein Of It @ 7:
I've understood this since I was 3 when stuck a car key in an electrical socket.
Samson- @ 25:
Anti-war protestors are bad for business. What if there were no wars? How would the U.S. economy survive?
/snark off
Somehow methinks I'd rather take my chances with getting tased instead of dodging a bullet or baton.
You guys seem to think that any sort of death is completely unreasonable. I can't imagine that any company would want their product to kill someone. From a business standpoint it's just stupid. Obviously someone screwed up and didn't communicate the potential problems with overuse.
I'm all for non-lethal solutions because violence does happen and guns are too easy to use. Think about it, if you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and a cop tells you to stop and you run because you're scared, would you rather get tased, shot or clubbed?
My point is what is the alternative to a taser? (and don't tell me non-violence cause that's not the way the world works yet).
and free speech is not hard to come by, but when you're making a ruckus in public you will draw the attention of the cops. Why not work with the system, write letters, start discussions, vote in elections and vote with your pocketbook.
I'm not apologizing for the cops but I don't think banning everything is a solution.
ouch!
The Old Deal @ 33:
you mean they had electricity when you were 3?
having seen enough of these videos where cops delight in tasing people, i am not inclined whatsoever to be as accommodating as you re police behavior.
It will be all good until it gets to the Stuffed Court(formerly known as the Supreme Court), and they decide it is against the better interests of the corporate overlords to let the plaintiffs actually win.
Jo @ 34:
you don't even need to mark it with 'snark'... this is how our happy rulers and "betters" view the situation.
our economy needs war and war spending, and the new market of "non-lethal" measures to keep the patriots silent is burgeoning
The Old Deal @ 33:
But then, did you try the other slot to see if the effect is the same?
Marc @ 35:
You say ruckus. I say nuts to you. The cops can stop a peaceful protest using songs and chanting. Ruckus? No. First amendment rights.
Marc @ 35:
if the bar was equal for the use of taser vs guns i might agree with you. but its not. the only thing these non-non-lethal devices (not a typo) do is make the bar lower for state sanctioned violence.
and this is not "banning everything", that is an exaggeration. this is banning a device sold as being 'non lethal', when it is killing people.
Marc @ 35:
Until the tasers were invented, American streets were nothing but rivers of blood.
Obviously, we had no other solutions before taser were invented.
I'd rather not take my chances getting tased, or hit by a bullet or baton. But if you want to play the odds, it's your life.
It should be illegal to taser an unarmed man.
Police should NOT be allowed to taser a man just because they tell him to do something and he doesn't.
I have some friends who are cops and the use of a tazer is really low on what is called the force continium. They do that not only to save injury to themselves but to the suspect aswell. If you get into a wrestling match with a suspect not only could you get hurt but so could the suspect. Getting tazed hurts like hell but it only hurts for as long as the juice is being pumped through you. If your leg is broken, arm is broken you're in a helluva lot more pain for a lot longer time frame. That is why cops use tazers so often, they are instructed to (or at least the ones in minnesota are).
I'm pretty ambivilant towards the use of tazers. Don't resist the cops and you won't get tazed, it is your choice.
Seen road rage? Imagine angry (chip-on-your-shoulder & empowered) cop rage.
I think the main problem is that some cops are just a little too quick to use them. Like the kid who got tased in Florida at that Kerry speech. That kid was not a risk to anyone and they already had him down when they used the taser on him
About frickin' time!
Mr. Anon @ 46:
Ever come upon a cop with a bad attitude ?
I have. more than once.
Weaseldog @ 44:
Dude, you're not saying anything. You sound reactionary to my comments. The lawsuit against Taser is actually a good thing, not because it will get rid of the devices, but because it will make the company and the cops think before overusing the device. What's wrong with this?
I've been in protest marches but I stop short of fighting with the cops. It's not worth it to get hurt. This being said, I still would rather get tased than get shot although I'd rather not get either. If you take away the tasers you leave the cops with what? guns? billyclubs?
Edwin Hussein @ 47:
On Steroids.
really, someone with a pacemaker/defib participating in civil disobedience (our constitutional right) is risking their life. if they are tasered they will die, period.
and, in america, protesting, and speaking out against some injustice should NEVER be a life threatening venture.
this is just another way to put make the people fear speaking out.
coming soon to a neighborhood near you: predator drones, ya know, for YOUR safety /snark off
mudshark @ 50:
Nope. I don't deal with cops in their official capacity.
Mr. Anon @ 46:
unless you die.
but really, this sounds like a police-state apologist's screed. fucking scary.
Samson- @ 53:
Come on man. You have less than a .01% chance of dying from being tazed. It is far from a certainty that you will die. I'd much rather be tazed than shot like some people above seem to think (seriously wtf?)
Mr. Anon @ 54:
Yeah, well I try to avoid them like the plague. But unfortunately I have had the bad luck to get in their cross hairs in the past.
I was arrested for standing on the corner waiting for my wife to pick me up. No citation, no paper work, no trial date. They let me out the next morning. The worst part was my wife was driving around the corner when I was being pushed into the car.
She had a very surprised look on her face. So in short, they're capable of anything at anytime. If they want too.
Samson- @ 55:
Yea, it absolutely is the police state thinking. Because the only way to fight for your rights is to fight the cops and if those damned cops just didn't have tazers I'm sure you'd be so much more effective at standing up to the police state.
mudshark @ 57:
That sounds like it should've been a big payday.
Mr. Anon @ 59:
Right, my word against theirs. How do think that would play out? No paper work. They're smart Mo Fo's
mudshark @ 60:
And once they have your number, your screwed. I ended up moving 400 miles away.
As a firefighter/medic, we were frequently required to subdue patients who were messed up on one thing or another, or who were deranged by a psychological condition, or who were overwhelmed by emotion. We didn't have tazers and we did fine with muscle power and, in extreme cases, leather restraints. We once took in a deranged biker who went about 6'10'' at 270 lbs. As he kept struggling and endangering himself and us, we got permission from our med control to intravenous push valium on the subject until he became manageable. Give me a #18 ANGIOCATH and a vein and I can slow Anybody down!
mudshark @ 50:
I once had a girlfriend whose brother-in-law was a cop. We got drunk together a couple of times and the stories he told just reinforced many of the bad stereotypes I had of cops.
I'm not saying all cops are bad but some do have a bad authoritarian streak to them.
Doubting_Terrance @ 63:
I have some friends who are cops. They know whats up. These guys are genuine good people, and they take their job of protecting the people seriously. They also know that there are some real assholes out there. In this community, they don't last long. But in the next towns over, I don't go there after dark.For two reasons, The gangs, and the cops.
Mr. Anon @ 56:
If a Taser were instead a drug that killed .01 percent of the people taking it the manufacturer would have been sued out of existence. Furthermore the straw man argument that tasering is less lethal than being shot is foolish. Police officers draw their guns in response to an armed suspect not tasers. Use of force policies require it. Tasers are only used on unarmed suspects.
The .01 percent number comes by way of Taser International as does virtually all of the research on the safety of their product and is extremely suspect. That number does not cover other consequences of being tasered either. If it stops your heart long enough to cause brain damage (as has also occurred) it would be small comfort that it didin't kill you. Ban Tasers.
Don't sue me, bro!
A San Jose, California, jury yesterday said Taser had failed to warn police in Salinas, California, that prolonged exposure to electric shock from the device could cause a risk of cardiac arrest.
In a similar story today a jury said the companies "Billy Club" and "Night Sticks R Us" failed to warn police that prolonged exposure to beating suspects could cause death as well. snark
Wow, police must be the dumbest people on earth.
Tasers don't kill people, police do!!!
This quote from Amnesty International is precisely accurate, and should have been explicitly laid out for police officers before TASERs were issued to them:
"Amnesty International calls on all governments and law enforcement agencies to...restrict their use to situations where officers would otherwise be justified in resorting to deadly force..."
This should have been standard operating procedure from day one: Never, ever use a TASER unless you would have been justified in using LETHAL FORCE against the target of said TASER. Non-lethal weapons are intended to take down threats that normally only lethal weapons can, WITHOUT AS BIG A RISK OF LETHALITY. Cops using TASERs for crowd control, on traffic offenders who'd never have a gun pulled on them, or to otherwise control a situation in which lethal force isn't required, is the problem, not the existence of TASERs.
Duh?
That sounds like good advice for any "non-lethal" weapon.
I can see the headlines now "A Stunning Defeat for Taser Int'l". I'm sure it will be overturned on appeal. I am shocked, get it, shocked, that they haven't lost a lawsuit until now. I know the tobacco industry lost a lot of lawsuits but were usually overturned by higher courts.
Firearms are actually quite safer and more effective as you can regulate the level of damage inflicted through bullet placement.
That is dangerously naive complete bullshit.
Firstly, almost any shot can end up being fatal or causing permanent injury regardless of where you are shot given the typical calibre of a handgun. Real life isn't the movies where someone sucks it up after getting shot in the shoulder or leg and carries on, with no repercussions the next day. People have been permanently crippled or killed from wounds like that.
Secondly, it's incredibly stupid use of firearms. Trick shooting (picking out the precise place on the body to hit is a trick shot at medium to long range, especially with a handgun) is not only hard at the best of times, it's damn near impossible in high-stress situations and only used in specific situations. Handguns are not the most accurate weapons in the world to begin with, again TV and movies to the contrary. And what happens if you shoot someone to try and wing them and miss?
When you point a firearm at someone, you only do it being prepared to pull the trigger. If you're pulling the trigger, you do so knowing that you have to stop them. If you're stopping them, you do so knowing that it's quite possible they will die. Unless you are prepared to be the cause of someone's death, you never, ever, point a gun at someone else. Ever.
Are you suggesting cops carry syringes? Somehow, I don't think this is qualitatively safer than a taser. Also, cops get exposed to violent drug addicts much more often than a team of paramedics. Plus, getting arrested by a cop tends to bring out the worst kind of irrationality in people, especially if they happen to be high on drugs.
From the article:
If this can be proven, don't be surprised if the appeal overturns the original verdict.
Getting arrested is dangerous, period. Lots of people die during the ordeal. If we could figure out some way to put blinders over their eyes the way we do for birds and horses to get them to chill out and comply, then maybe things would be different. Some of the symptoms of meth use include paranoia, anger, and unpredictable behavior. Don't forget the fact that this man's own father called the cops to have this man restrained.
Everyone's looking for a poster boy for Taser abuse, but believe me, this doesn't seem to be the right man. He was putting himself, his family, and the police into a very risky situation because of his behavior. Just give the guy a Darwin award and move on.
I'm not a big fan of Taser use, but in cases like these, at least it can make it safer for the cop. I know a lot of cops, and most of them aren't the Orwelian boogeymen that people make them out to be. They have families, they have children, and they want to come home safely at the end of the day. I think if there was another effective way to accomplish the same thing that a Taser is supposed to do, I'd be all for it.
bbk @ 74:
No, I am not saying that the cops should carry syringes - I am saying that people have been subdued successfully for, oh; um -thousands of years without Tazer's lethal little toy. As for cops running into dopers more often, who made you an expert? I would say that we were (medics) tend to run into drug situations just as often for the simple fact that dopers don't WANT to be there when the police arrive. Talk about something that you know.
""Heston died on Feb. 20, 2005, after his father had called Salinas police because his son was ``acting strangely,'' and seemed to be on drugs, according to the lawsuit complaint. Salinas police shot Heston multiple times with the stun-gun, continuing to discharge their Tasers into him until he stopped moving, the lawsuit claims.
Heston went into cardiac arrest and died, his family said.
His parents sued Taser, alleging failure to warn of the dangers of the weapon, and Salinas police officers, claiming excessive force. The jury ``exonerated the police because they said the police didn't know repeated exposures could kill someone,'' Burton said. ""
ANYONE who is too stupid to know repeated electrical shocks of any kind will eventually kill you, should be allowed to carry weapons of any kind.
gwen @ 14:
Bullies need a taste of their own medicine, but they'll never be cured. They should be guarding things not people. Even with these and other proven "Tase-happy" cops should be permanently expelled from any police force. Kind of like lawyers being disbarred in one state not being able to practice in other states because of the original disbarrment.
mike @ 76:
You have got that right! When paremedics zap a patient with a defibrillator it completely stops the electrical conduction of the heart for a second - in hopes that the normal electrical focus of the heart will pick up the proper conduction. What do you think that the Tazer does? But the cops don't carry a load of cardiac drugs to restart a cardiac standstill, do they? Working with people at their worst is always a challenge; thats why they pay us the big bucks.(hah!) You shouldn't just take the path of least resistance if it is potentially fatal.
Wow the cops were exonerated because somehow they weren't aware that repeatedly jolting 50,000 volts into someone is considered lethal?
Oh yes, they were just doing their jobs. I forgot. /sarcasm
"Taser said it will appeal the verdict..."
Until the guy's family dies off, at which point they'll claim victory.
mudshark @ 25:
Thank you, THANK YOU THANK YOU, I am so glad someone else brought this up.. Because I don't see the difference between the Taser, or the electric chair.. How is it again that they didn't know a jolt of electricity didn't cause DEATH?? Hmmm
Tasers don't kill people.
Cops with tasers kill people
pissed off patricia @ 19:
They also have a fictitious medical condition to explain away deaths from mutliple taser shocks to the heart region,
its called excited delirium, complaint coroners happily go along with this lie.
Theres also a lycanthrope angle to cops tasering some suspects, some racist medieval hangover regarding people being animal like and unstoppable.
Go read some police reports on some of the taser deaths, the scared police use in their defense of using lethal force, say people 'acted like animals'.
thismachinekillsfascists @ 79:
Funny how OSHA and every electrical standards org in the world knows that electricity is lethal,
yet a NWO enabling company thinks tasers are for kids.
This statement from our editor points out the success of police lobbies to 'dangerize" the profession. Cops often enter into difficult situations but rarely find themselves in life or death struggles. Police officer is not even in the top ten of risky jobs.
The taser has come into fashion because cops got squeamish about wrestling subjects to the ground, an activity that is distasteful and messes up the uniform.
Please, the cops shoot unarmed men in the back and get acquitted by corrupt judges.
There is something seriously wrong in this country, and there's no reason a progressive blog should be pretending that that isn't the case.
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: June 8, 2008
The New York Police Department has issued new instructions regarding the use of Taser stun guns, telling sergeants on patrol to carry them in holsters on their gun belts, Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman, said on Saturday.
The directive will go into effect on Wednesday.
Mr. Browne said that Tasers were originally carried by officers in the emergency service unit. Older, more cumbersome models have been replaced by easier-to-carry versions, he said.
bbk @ 74:
That would be using their heads. They have been trained to see "citizens as the enemy."
And they do.
Just Hussein Of It @ 8:
Thank you. Using electrical current, the dangers are seemingly obvious. Ignorance should not be a valid defense. If they didn't know the health/safety risks of the weapons they use, they shouldn't be using them.
im4mary @ 89:
I suppose most 5 year olds don't know the difference between wattage and amperage, or that electricity travels the shortest path between two points, so yeah. Common sense if you're a 5 year old.
So let me get this straight...
The cops didn't know that prolonged exposure to ELECTRICITY can be fatal?
More importantly, why are we hiring rocks for cops?
Tasers are only superior to guns if they are only used in situations where a gun or billy club are the only alternatives. That is clearly often not the case. That being said, Let us not forget that police have a very difficult job. I would not want to be one and most people would not. There are a lot of good police. Stupid laws and bad police and messed up people make good police's jobs very difficult. If you think all police are bad then you are an idiot.
I think all the talk of these tasers being lethal in some cases misses the larger point, that police and security are using them excessively, which is in itself akin to torture. And I'd say 'excessive' is probably in most cases. Like anyone, police will use something that makes their job easier, but in the case of tasers, at what cost? We're losing our humanity here. The guy that shouted "Don't tase me bro" was just one of the most visible examples. In that case, they didn't have to use it at all. I think this is probably true in 90% of the cases where it is used. It's too damn convenient and easy to use. There should be a law that makes it a felony to use it unless absolutely necessary, and of course, it would still be abused. But at least law enforcement might think twice, if they think they could get sued.
ferrofluid (Obama 08) @ 84:
One step forward; two steps back:
I think the claim by the police that they didn't know is disingenuous. I knew it, and I'm not a police officer or in any security capacity. I think it was common knowledge.
I don't understand why the judge didn't look at the claims of the police (that they didn't know that repeated hits by a taser could be fatal) with a jaundiced eye. They should have been reprimanded for lying before a judge. Just because they say they didn't know doesn't mean they didn't.
Mr. Anon @ 47:
Don't resist the government when they come for your civil rights and you won't get hauled off to prison without charges.
marykmusic @ 16:
Youtube has many videos of cop training where they all get tasered so that they can see what it feels like. And what is amusing to me is how these big burly cops get all nervous and afraid anticipating the oncoming shock. But they are lucky...they are bolstered by two other cops holding them up.
It still doesn't seem like it instills any empathy in them however. But I don't think that empathy is on the list of pre-reqs to be a cop.
I did hear the other day, however, that these days anyone interested in becoming a cop must now first have at least a Bachelor's Degree. I don't know if this is true, but if it is, it's at least an effort to sift out some of the real dumb-asses that are out there patrolling the streets.
tazering is seriously wrong. There should be a risk to the officers when they need to restrain people. It keeps them honest. If they can just use a pain gun on someone whenever they want, they'll abuse it.
Frankly, i'd rather a cop that was going to give me a hard time had a gun than a tazer. If he thinks I'm out of line, he'll probably not shoot me, but he'll tazer me in a heartbeat and get away with it because the only lasting scars are the loss of my liberty.
Pigs and other "law enforcement" agencies believed (or maybe they don't believe) the lie that tasers are "non-lethal" means of subduing a "suspect" (and many times, innocent people the pigs didn't like). Regardless of whether the pigs believe it, they assume that "non-lethal" means it can be used without restraint - multiple shocks, and multiple tasers on one individual. Tasers are viewed by some as a legalized form of torturing individuals with impunity, something pigs in general have always wanted.
If "law enforcement" and the corporations making profit off such devices were really concerned about the lives of the victims of tasers, there would be a push to develop tranquilisers and gases to incapacitate people without injury. If anyone's response is, "Someone high on PCP won't be stopped by a tranquilizer dart!", please shut up; a taser would be equally useless at stopping such a person.
It's amazing to me that someone of adult age needs to be instructed that 50,000 volts of electricity could kill you, much less 150,000 volts or more from multiple tasers. Some things are inherently dangerous, you know?
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