Why Taser is Fighting to Appeal a Lawsuit it Won

"In January, judges on a federal circuit court instructed police departments to treat Tasers similarly to the way they treat firearms — as deadly weapons that can't be used when someone is merely resisting arrest. Those instructions were a big deal, setting policing precedent for departments in five states, and potentially leading the way for much more stringent rules about how Tasers are used by police nationwide.

Taser International, the company that exclusively produces and sells those electroshock weapons to police departments, filed a court document on June 13th asking the United States Supreme Court to give the circuit court’s instructions a second look. Taser’s move made sense: if the instructions go unchallenged, some police departments could change use-of-force policies to place Tasers more in line with firearms than with less-lethal devices. Taser International would thus risk competing directly with gun manufacturers to provide police departments with weapons, threatening the company’s business model."

Death by taser, caught on tape

by digby

Even if you believe in Taser International's pet medical diagnosis that only afflicts people in custody ("Excited Delirium")you would think this would be considered to be wrong.

Unfortunately, police commonly taser people in the US who are already in handcuffs and in custody and it doesn't raise a hue and cry. They usually say, as the officer in that video does, that they had to do it for their own safety but it's quite clear it's because they are trying to force "compliance." They lie because it's impossible to explain how someone who is mentally ill, high on drugs or in the midst of having an epileptic fit can be expected to understand the commands to "comply." And frankly, when you listen to the agitated police screaming at the person to stop struggling, it's quite clear that if "excited delirium" exists it is a disease that afflicts the authorities as well.


Read on...

AZ Cops & Tasers. Maricopa Cty: Most Taser Deaths

Over the past decade I and many others have blogged about individual cases where tasers have been abused by law enforcement agencies and individual law enforcement officials. From the Baron Pikes case where a young black man in custody was tased to death by a white police officer in a small town in Louisiana until he died to the increase in taser use in Chicago to the tasing of a a bedridden 86 year old grandmother in El Reno, Oklahoma, to the man tazed while having a diabetic seizure -- well you get the point. There's a vast number of such stories where tasers were used in situations for which they were not intended, but few comprehensive studies to support the claims by activists that taser abuse by law enforcement in America is widespread.

Fort that reason, I'm gratified to learn that the ACLU in Arizona took it upon themselves to fund a study to determine whether tasers are being systematically abused by Arizona law enforcement agencies. The results of that study should not surprise anyone. From the Executive Summary:

Many U.S. law enforcement and correctional agencies in the United States are using Tasers today. In Arizona, where TASER International has its corporate headquarters, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona asked large police departments and sheriff’s offices about the number and percentage of officers armed with a Taser; virtually every sworn officer is provided with one.

... However, all too often, Tasers are used “preemptively” against citizens that do not present an imminent safety threat, and even offensively as a pain compliance tool. What’s more, both TASER International training materials and agency policies anticipate that officers will use the weapon as a pain compliance tool.

Read on...

Death, graphic video sparks taser debate in Australia

Graphic video of police repeatedly stunning an unarmed man with a taser has helped restart a debate about whether stun guns are being overused by authorities in Australia.

Western Australia state police said the incident was totally unacceptable, and not typical of taser use by the force. State Premier Colin Barnett has dubbed it a major breach of procedure and demanded a review of taser guidelines.

The video's release also comes amid questions in eastern Australia over the death of a Sydney man Monday after police stunned him in the chest with a taser.

Closed-circuit video footage of the Western Australia incident was released publicly on Monday, when the state's crime commission introduced a report to state parliament that cited the August 2008 case as an example of police officers wrongfully using a stun gun.

Read on...

Here's another recent story on tasers. God and Tasers At Yale Tom

Taser International loses bid to quash Braidwood conclusions

Ian Bailey

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has rejected a Taser International challenge of the report of an inquiry into the Robert Dziekanski case, including the finding that tasers can kill.

Tuesday’s written ruling is a blow for the Arizona-based weapons company, which has frequently gone to the courts to stand up for its products. In this case, it was seeking to block some findings of the Braidwood inquiry.

The inquiry, established by the B.C. government in 2008, looked into the police use of tasers and the October, 2007, death of Mr. Dziekanski during a confrontation at Vancouver International Airport with four Mounties.

Mr. Justice Robert Sewell of the B.C. Supreme Court wrote in a ruling released Tuesday that he could find no merit in Taser’s argument on the key point about tasers causing death.

Read on...

The Taserification of America

The whole justification for police to get tasers in the first place was to subdue potentially violent suspects -- but it's gone way, way, past that.

Unless you've been living in a Waziristan cave for the last 24 years, you've heard about the unfortunate misdemeanor-breaking dude who got Tasered at a Philadelphia Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park Monday night. My computer screen here at the Philadelphia Daily News went all a-Twitter about it even before all the electrons had even stopped flowing through 17-year-old suburban high school senior Steve Consalvi.

My gut instinct when I first learned of it was the same as I feel about it a day later: That while it wasn't exactly a Rodney King affair, clearly the officer had used excessive force. I've been watching baseball games for more than 40 years, and the drills is always the same. The fan isn't trying to do harm, just get attention; it used to be that the TV cameras never even showed a field-jumper for exactly that reason, back before ESPN needed an endless stream of fodder for its "Top 10 Plays."

People forget that the whole justification for police to get Tasers in the first place was to subdue potentially violent suspects in cases in the past in which they might have been tempted to use lethal force. But the notion that the cops would have pulled a gun and shot 17-year-old field jumper Steve Consalvi is absurd, which means the rationale for tasing him is...what? There's something oddly funny about zapping a fellow human for some reason, but Tasers are no joke to the loved ones of the estimated 50 people who died because of their use.

Read on...

Wonder how many citizen's exercising their right to protest will get tasered during the G20 meetings in Toronto. Anyone want to hazard a guess? Tom

They May Cause Harm

by digby

Here's a great article on the use of tasers and what's becoming an important part of the debate --- the fact that they are killing people with them:

On a balmy fall night, two police officers in a squad car in east Bradenton spotted a man on a bicycle without a headlight.

Derrick Humbert, 38, rode a bike around town because seizures from a head injury prevented him from driving. He worked odd jobs as a short-order cook and gardener. He took care of his three kids, 2, 8 and 11, while their mother worked the evening shift at a 7-Eleven.

On this Monday in late September, he was riding home from a convenience store just after midnight when police told him to stop.

Instead, he pedaled around a corner past three houses, jumped off the bike and ran into a yard, the two officers chasing him on foot.

Read on...

Ontario to tighten use of stun guns

Ontario is introducing new guidelines and training standards for police officers using tasers.

Two years ago the ministry of community safety and correctional services undertook a review of tasers or conducted energy weapons. The review was launched after the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in a B.C. airport in 2007.

Recommendations from the review include tighter circumstances and restrictions for use, post-deployment reporting procedures and beefed up training.

Read on...

This doesn't jive with something I read last week. I'll see if I can find it. Tom

Revealed: The Shocking Truth About Tasers

A commuter in a diabetic coma, an 89-year-old man and children as young as 12 - just some of the targets of British police armed with skin-piercing 50,000-volt Taser guns. As the Home Office investigates bringing an even more powerful rifle version to Britain, Jason Benetto reports on the slow creep of arms onto our streets.

Amnesty International says 334 people in the US died between 2001 and 2008 after the stun guns were used on them. Taser International, the Arizona-based manufacturer, dismisses these findings. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The smartly dressed sales executive travelling on the number 96 bus across Leeds didn't notice his body descending into a state of severe hypoglycaemia.

He didn't have time to ask his fellow passengers for help, or press the bell. Instead he slumped back in his seat in a diabetic coma, his head lolling from side to side.

This was why he wore a special tag and chain around his neck: it advertised his diabetes. His mother and father, both retired GPs, had encouraged their son to wear it ever since he had started having to take insulin 20 years earlier.

Nicholas Gaubert had been looking forward to a drink with friends in the suburb of Headingley after work. Instead he was critically ill, unconscious on the top deck of a bus continuing its route north through the early evening rush-hour traffic.

Read on...

Did a Court Just Deal a Fatal Blow to Tasers for Police?

By Raj Jayadev and Aram James, New America Media.

The ruling may signal the end of Tasers for law enforcement agencies who are now more vulnerable to civil and criminal action then ever before.

In what is being heralded as a landmark decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently declared that police officers could be held liable for using a Taser without proper cause. And in making their determination, the court also set new legal parameters on how law enforcement is to use Tasers, stating, "The objective facts must indicate that the suspect poses an immediate threat to the officer or a member of the public." The federal finding substantially changes the landscape of Taser usage, and may signal the end of Tasers for law enforcement agencies who are now more vulnerable to civil and criminal action then ever before.

The decision, which has already caused law enforcement agencies to re-evaluate their Taser policies, stems from a case involving a Coronado police officer, Brian McPherson, who tased unarmed 21-year-old Carl Bryan during a traffic stop for a seatbelt infraction in Southern California. After being pulled over, Bryan was standing outside of his vehicle, wearing only boxer shorts and tennis shoes. He was 20 to 25 feet from the officer, and when tased, fell face first to the ground, fractured four teeth, and had to get the Taser prongs removed with a scalpel. Bryan went on to sue the Coronado Police Department, and the federal appellate court was making a determination if McPherson had immunity to the lawsuit as an officer. The court ruled in favor of Bryan.

Read on...

Teaching The Kids A Lesson

by digby



Following up on my post earlier today about the new "warning label" on the tasers, here's some rather disturbing news on the same subject:

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Board of Juvenile Affairs on Friday moved ahead with plans for legislation and rules to allow the use of pepper spray and Taser devices in secure facilities.

[...]

Rep. Wade Rousselot, D-Okay, said he intends to sponsor legislation that would allow OJA staff to use chemical spray and or Tasers to protect themselves and obtain control of juveniles in a facility.

Read on...

Critics, including civil-rights lawyers and human-rights advocates, called the training bulletin an admission by Taser that its guns could cause cardiac arrest. They called it a stunning reversal for the company, which for years has maintained that the gun was incapable of inducing a cardiac arrest. (Image: Metro.co.uk)

And don't forget this story from Taser Inernational. Tom

New Taser rules for Toronto police

Officers instructed to aim lower and avoid firing at suspects' chests

Published On Tue Oct 13 2009

Toronto Police have changed their Taser-use policy, instructing officers to avoid hitting the upper chest of a suspect when using the weapon.

The change was made over two weeks ago after Taser International, Inc., the weapon's U.S. manufacturer, issued a bulletin instructing users not to aim the weapon at the chest of a suspect to avoid impact to the heart.

"What (the bulletin) says is to aim slightly lower and stay away from the upper chest area," said police spokesman Mark Pugash.

Read on...

This story will not be a surprise to Crimbrary readers. There have been far too many fatalities in Taser incidents. And now after denying any problem Taser finally says to not aim for the chest of a suspect. Crimbrary says this weapon should be banned for domestic police forces. Tom