That's a tough one. Sure, their use has killed people, but so has medical malpractice. I feel that the good far outweighs the bad and they've actually saved countless lives, criminals and peace officers alike.

Tasers are Less Lethal weapons. They're capable of killing, sure but they're used in place of tools that are INTENDED to be lethal.

I looked into this several years ago. Amnesty International was one of the first to say they're lethal and say cops shouldn't have them, then a bunch of other people picked up on it. In digging a little farther back at the time, I also found press releases by Amnesty International that said that pepper spray and handcuffs were lethal and cops shouldn't have them. In my opinion, Amnesty International can get pretty wild.

I looked at research on in-custody deaths after use of the taser, and I also looked at a lot of reports of individual in-custody deaths. What I found was that the vast majority of people who died after being tased were on a LOT of really serious drugs, usually meth or cocaine. They had overdosed on something and were probably going to die anyway. The rest had very serious medical issues, all heart related. If you have a heart condition, getting in a knock down drag out with the cops is going to put a lot more stress on your heart than the taser will. Some had both serious medical conditions and a lot of drugs. I don't recall any from my research that had neither.

People tend to focus on the voltage. 50,000 volts sounds like a lot. Voltage is not what inteferes with a heart, though. Nikola Tesla actually demonstrated this at one point by running over 500,000 volts through his body. It is amperage that interferes with the heart, not voltage. There isn't nearly enough amperage in the taser to disrupt a heart rhythm.

There are some potential concerns that the device could send a person's body into a fatal level of metabolic acidosis. In my opinion, though, they would have to be incredibly sick already, have a metabolic pH level that's really really close to death, for the taser to push them over the edge. And if that's the case, a physical fight with an officer is going to push them a heck of a lot farther than a taser will. Physical activity pushes your body's pH level to the acidic side.

The other factor to consider is that officers all over the country (I didn't say all officers, I said "officers all over the country") have to ride the taser in order to carry one. It's not a legal requirement, but most departments that I've found do require it, or the officers opt to. I looked into that in my research and was able to find of one officer that was injured by the taser. He fractured a vertebrae. Turned out he had some serious undetected osteoporosis. We he got shocked in the back his back muscles flexed hard and he got a compression fracture to a lumbar vertebrae. Other than that, no dead cops.

Overall, I don't personally believe that the taser is lethal to anyone who isn't drugged to death or who doesn't have such a serious heart condition that the fight is going to kill them anyway.

The perp was former KMOJ DJ Quincy Smith.

I may get tased Wednesday night as part of my department's ongoing police reserve training. They will brief us on the use of the taser (although I've done a lot of reading on it already) and will offer to tase some of us, if desired.

I don't have any fear whatsoever that it will kill me. It's the three to five seconds of intense pain that causes me to hesitate to volunteer. However, I'm one of the leaders in our unit and think that it would be good for me to lead by example.

DJ

Do it. I didn't think the pain was "intense" but it did feel like getting hit with a few firm baton strikes. When it wa done, the pain was done. I'd consider doing it again.

I was voluntarily tased a few years back. There's no way it causes death all by itself. Gives a guy a little "tingly" feeling and makes the legs stop working. AGoodDay covered it... those who die when tased were on drugs, drunk and massively stressed, had heart conditions, etc.

That being said, I think it's absolutely reprehensible that cops use them as compliance tools. Not saying that was the case in the most recent death, just saying we've all seen the videos and heard the stories.

ETA: Sultan, let's have a taser party. I KNOW I can stay on my feet next time.

I volunteered to take the full five second ride by getting shot in the back with the barbs. No clips for me.

My reasoning was this: I know of several shitheads who have had the taser used on them, and I KNOW they ain't tougher than me. I also wanted the best answer ready if a defense attorney asked me if I "have any idea what my client felt when he was hit with 50,000 volts of electricity?"

I most likely won't volunteer again - unless I'm in an instructor's course where it is mandatory.

It felt like someone took a steel rod, shoved it up my rear and scraped the inside of the top of my skull with it. It WAS over with when it was done, and there was no loss of consciousness like you see in the movies.
I'd promised myself I wouldn't curse. I yelled the same thing Ralphie said in front of his dad in A Christmas Story.

Someone reminded me later that most people are stoned or drunk when they get hit, and pr'y don't feel it the same way. Doh!

Good post. To expand on this a bit, the taser is a current regulated device, meaning the device is designed to maintain a constant current, not a constant voltage. The 50,000 volts is only an open circuit voltage. As soon as current starts flowing, the voltage drops to whatever it needs to maintain the desired current and it is a level much lower than 50,000 volts.

You've got to take her out, "COCAINE!"

Not by design, but rifles are.

I'm surprised they didn't just shoot him. I wouldn't want to confront a rifleman while I was armed with a bug zapper.

Well, I got Tased about two hours ago. It hurt but I must say that it was an interesting experience. There were about nine of us--eight men and one woman--who volunteered to be Tased after hearing a briefing on how the Taser works. I went first.

The training officer shot me in the back with the Taser. He said that getting shot with the probes is better than using alligator clips or taping the probes to the clothing or skin. His logic was that with the clips or tape, the charge would have to go through the skin, usually causing a minor burn wound, which would usually scab over.

The probes normally pierce the skin and have direct access to the inside of the body. This usually only leaves a pin-hole that quickly heals. There was no pain at all when he removed the two probes.

I had no worries about any lasting effects let alone death. I'm glad I did it. And I'm very glad it only lasted a few seconds.

DJ

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