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."

Cops use taser on man who wouldn't leave library

Evanston police say a man who refused to leave the Evanston Public Library Monday evening became combative when confronted by officers, charged toward the library employee who'd asked him to leave and ended up being tasered by officers trying to subdue him.
Police Cmdr. Jay Parrott says the incident happened on the third floor of the downtown library about 7:55 p.m.
Parrott says the library patron, Michael R. Boyer, 41, of the 2000 block of W. Jarvis in Rogers Park, has now been charged with criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, resisting police and aggravated assault.

Indiana Cop Repeatedly Tasered Naked, Elderly, Nursing Home Patient

The officer attacked a 64-year-old Alzheimer's patient multiple times with a taser, even after he was handcuffed.

In Indiana, a police officer tasered a naked, nursing home patient who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, Courthouse News reported.
The officer, Doug Martin had been called to Miller’s Merry Manor nursing home after a 911 call was received requesting help in transporting a patient who had hit his roommate, a nurse and nurse assistant.

Martin and his partner, Officer Jeremy Brindle entered the Alzheimer's ward to find 64-year-old James Howard sitting in a chair, stark naked and wearing only socks. The officers commanded that Howard lie on a gurney. When Howard refused and advanced towards the officer, Martin yelled, “taser” and zapped Howard five times for 31 seconds on his naked torso.

Following complaints by Howard’s wife, Martin was fired for excessive force and conduct unbecoming of an officer. Martin then took the case further to the Miami Superior Court who overturned the decision. Subsequently, the city of Peru, Indiana, and its police department appealed.

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Police Use Tasers Against Foreclosure Activists Outside Dept. of Justice

Video from Monday's protest outside the Department of Justice by struggling homeowners and anti-foreclosure activists shows DC Capitol Police officers using tasers against peaceful protesters.
In the video, protesters can be seen trying to move away from police and as at least one officer presses what appears to be his taser weapon into the stomach of a man you can hear him scream in pain, "Stop! Fucking stop!"

Watch:

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"The whole intent was not to kill him. I was just trying to get this kid under control"

We need more monetary awards like this. It's the only thing that will change this torture culture:

The University of Cincinnati will pay $2 million and suspend the use of Tasers by university police as part of a settlement with the family of a student who died after being shocked with a Taser.

The settlement, obtained Wednesday by the Enquirer, also requires UC to create a memorial for the student, to provide free tuition to his siblings and to send a letter to the family expressing regret over the incident.

The student, Everette Howard Jr., died Aug. 6, 2011, after a confrontation with a UC police officer. A coroner’s investigation could not determine the cause of death, but Howard’s family and expert witnesses blamed the shock from the Taser.

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Diabetic Cleburne Teen Hit With Taser After Crash

A Cleburne teenager was hit with a Taser by police while he was having a medical emergency, and the incident was caught on tape.

It now means police in the city of Cleburne will be required to watch another video – a diabetes training video.

When Ricky Jones collided with a car in Cleburne April 9th, he was disoriented and confused. A Cleburne police officer questioned him. His audio was recorded. He asked Jones, “Do you understand that I’m talking to you? Answer my question. What’s the matter with you?”

The 19-year-old driver was in a hypoglycemic state. He’s diabetic. His blood sugar was dangerously low.

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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.


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B.C. police Taser use down 87% since Dziekanski death

Taser use by police in B.C. is down 87 per cent since Robert Dziekanski died at Vancouver's airport five years ago, prompting questions Tuesday from politicians wondering what police are doing now to control out-of-control people.

B.C. police officers used their Tasers 640 times in 2007, compared to 85 deployments last year, assistant deputy justice minister Clayton Pecknold told an all-party committee assessing the status of recommendations to tighten provincial Taser policy since Dziekanski's October 2007 death.

The figures had Liberal MLA John Slater wondering what police have been doing instead to subdue people who are potentially dangerous.

"How many of them have been shot by police?" said Slater. "What has happened in the last five years?"

Gabi Hoffmann, program manager for the police services division in the justice ministry, said police shootings have not increased since Dziekanski's death and the 2009 public inquiry and recommendations of former judge Thomas Braidwood, but she did not provide data.

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Who would Jesus taser?

I'm sure there was absolutely no other way to deal with this:

The religious ruckus happened at Victory Church at 1515 N. Kelly Ave in Edmond.

A woman was apparently playing a tambourine too loudly during Wednesday night services.

When she refused to stop, the woman was escorted out by an off duty Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Deputy.

Myers said, “He had to physically escort her outside the church. Once outside, she broke free from the deputy and tried to go back inside, there became a physical confrontation.”

According to the arrest report, the deputy was forced to pepper spray and tase the unruly woman.

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New Research Suggests Tasers Can Be Lethal

Questions about the safety of taser stun guns used by police forces across the globe have been raging ever since the supposedly non-lethal weapons first came into use over a decade ago.

Amnesty International, the company’s most vocal critic, has compiled figures indicating that at least 500 people in the USA have died since 2001 after being shocked with Tasers, and according to more conservative, but no less shocking, figures published by the US Justice Department, 184 people have died since 1986 after being stunned by a taser.

Taser International, the company that manufactures the 50,000 volt devices, has vehemently contested that the weapons are unsafe and has fought back in court when people say otherwise. Often the blame will fall back upon the victim’s drug abuse, weak heart or propensity to die suddenly from the debatable medical term known as ‘excited delirium’ – which Amnesty cites as a cause of death in 111 of 334 cases it has documented.

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Three Pennsylvania Cops Suspended For Tasing Handcuffed Teenager

This may not be the first case in the country, but it's the first time that I know of that a police officer is being disciplined for misusing a Taser. This is a small, gritty town on the Philadelphia border that's seen quite a few ups and downs over the past several decades, and in the past, has had a lot of problems with their police force:
The acting head of the Colwyn Borough Police Department was suspended today while borough and county officials investigate an incident involving a juvenile who was Tasered while handcuffed in a holding cell at the department.
Deputy Chief Wendell Reed is the second person to be suspended for the April 24 incident, said Mayor Daniel Rutland. The officer who allegedly administered the shock, Cpl. Trevor Parham, was suspended earlier this week and a third officer who was allegedly present when it occurred is expected to be suspended as well, according to sources and Rutland.

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Pennsylvania police officer filmed firing taser at teenage girl

Amnesty International Urges Stricter Limits on Police Taser Use as U.S. Death Toll Reaches 500

February 15 - Two days after the death of a Georgia man who was shocked with a police Taser -- raising the known death toll from tasers to 500 in the United States -- Amnesty International today repeated its call for tighter limits on police use of the weapons.

According to data collected by Amnesty International, at least 500 people in the United States have died since 2001 after being shocked with Tasers either during their arrest or while in jail. Amnesty International recorded the largest number of deaths following the use of Tasers in California (92), followed by Florida (65), and Texas (37). The Oklahoma City Police Department led all law enforcement agencies in deaths (7) following by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Harris County Sheriff’s (Tx), Phoenix, Az and San Jose, Ca., all with six deaths.

On Monday, Johnnie Kamahi Warren was the latest to die after a police officer in Dothan, Al. deployed a Taser on him at least twice. The 43-year-old, who was unarmed and allegedly intoxicated, reportedly stopped breathing shortly after being shocked and was pronounced dead in a hospital less than two hours later.

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Let cops carry tasers, deputy chief urges

Front-line officers in Toronto should be allowed to carry tasers but provincial regulations prohibit them from doing so, said Deputy Chief Michael Federico in response to questions about how police respond to mentally ill people in crisis.

On Thursday, the Toronto police held a rare demonstration of how they are trained to deal with such situations. The news conference at the police college came less than a week after a man carrying two pairs of scissors and wearing a hospital gown was fatally shot on a street during an altercation with police. The event was organized before the death and police say they aren’t permitted to discuss that incident while it is being investigated by the Special Investigations Unit.

Tasers are an option all trained officers should have, Deputy Chief Federico said in an interview, but Ontario regulations set out that only supervisors and specialized units can carry them.

There’s a supervisor on the road during every shift, the Deputy Chief said. “Police officers are not completely without access to a [taser]. But again, situations may unfold too quickly for a supervisor to arrive.”

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Tasers a ‘new urban terrorism’ against ‘downtrodden’: Canadian study

The use of Tasers by Canada’s police forces represents a “teething new urban terrorism” that targets society’s “downtrodden,” says a study published this month that looked at more than two dozen deaths involving the stun guns.

Those most likely to get “tased” include the poor, mentally ill and chronic drug users, according to the study, led by Temitope Oriola, who received a Governor General’s Gold Medal for academic excellence upon the completion of his doctoral studies at the University of Alberta last year.

“It is beneath the integrity of the RCMP — a well-respected organization by international standards — and other police establishments in Canada to continue to use the Taser without conclusive independent scientific evidence succinctly demonstrating its effects or consequences on the human body,” the study, published in the journal Social Identities, concludes.

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USA – Doubts surface as Chicago police sharply increase Taser use: Electroshock weapons fired more frequently by city, suburban cops (2012-01-01)

[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : Chicago police were deploying tasers at a rate of more than twice a day in 2011; taser use has jumped fivefold in the city since 2008. The author of an official National Justice Dept. report says: “"It's a wonderful tool, when used properly. But they've just got to be used judiciously, and in many departments, they aren't." One problem is reporting difference between Chicago precincts, but the trend toward more frequent use was clear. Amnesty International says there have been 490 taser-related deaths in the USA.]]

Chicago Tribune, by Dan Hinkel

The traffic stop began peacefully three hours into New Year’s Day 2010, with the woman driving the SUV telling the officer that she hadn’t been drinking and her husband merrily exclaiming he was the source of the alcohol smell.

But the situation soured when Steven Kotlinski, 55, stepped out to watch his wife’s sobriety test, provoking the Mundelein officers to order him into the SUV. He reluctantly obeyed, but one officer said Kotlinski had obstructed his efforts. He ordered him back out, then tried to pull him out.

Next came the electric crackle of a Taser, a sound heard far more often in Chicago and many suburbs than it was just a few years ago.

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The war at home

Shock Bullet TASER XREP

Another day another taser death:

The mother of Jonathan White, 29, called police yesterday, because she needed help calming her son down. Although she had always been able to manage his schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, yesterday she called police because she could not stop her son from yelling, throwing things and ripping his clothes off, according to KTLA.

When police arrived, they too had trouble subduing him. White didn't attack officers but he was resisting them. They pepper-sprayed him and twice tased him, police said.

"It's possible that (the Taser) didn't complete a circuit," said San Bernardino police Lt. Gwen Waters.

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Charges not advised in police tasering of 11-year-old

A Prince George Mountie who tasered an 11-year-old first nations boy should not face criminal charges for his conduct, says an external review by West Vancouver Police Department that left a native organization “dumbfounded” for its brevity.

Chief Constable Peter Lepine of the West Vancouver police announced the finding in a short open letter, concluding after a six-month investigation that there was no violation of the Criminal Code.

“We are not recommending charges,” he wrote of the April incident in which RCMP responding to the stabbing of a 37-year-old man in a group home pursued and tasered an 11-year-old suspect who had barricaded himself in a neighbouring property.

He said his team spent much of the spring and summer interviewing witnesses, collecting and analyzing evidence and consulting legal and use-of-force experts as part of a “thorough, fair and transparent” investigation into the matter, which he acknowledged roused concern in Prince George and across Canada.

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Maybe public school teachers should be equipped with Tasers. Tom

B.C. boy youngest Taser recipient: professor

The West Vancouver Police Department is investigating the circumstances that led to an 11-year-old boy being stunned with a Taser by a Mountie in Prince George, B.C.

RCMP in Prince George said Friday that the device was used on the boy after a 37-year-old man was allegedly stabbed by the boy on Thursday evening.

Police found the boy inside a group home next door and, when the boy came out, he was shocked with a stun gun.

The RCMP wouldn't release any new information on the boy's case on Saturday, and said the incident is under investigation by the West Vancouver Police Department, whose officers will be flying to Prince George on Monday.

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86 year old bed-ridden grannies are fair game and now 11 year old kids. Who isn't fair game? Tom

Update: Retired justice Thomas Braidwood, who investigated the taser-related death of Robert Dziekanski comments on this case. Tom

Toronto Police detail Taser use

Toronto Police used their Tasers 236 times last year, during which the device was fired 130 times by officers against suspects in life-threatening situations, says Chief Bill Blair.

The chief said his officers relied on Tasers as a threat 106 times — 45% of the total number times they were used.

Blair’s report — to be presented to the police services board on Thursday — said 545 Taser X-26s were issued in 2010 to supervisors of the Emergency Task Force and other high-risk units, such as the hold-up and drug squads.

“The device is used strictly to gain control of a subject who is at risk of causing harm,” Blair said in a submission that was released on Monday. “The

weapon is used in full deployment or drive stun mode when the subject is assaultive.”

The report notes an incident where a cop threatened to Taser two suspects’ testicles to obtain information. Const. Christopher Hominuk has pleaded guilty to threatening bodily harm and will be sentenced in June.

The report said Tasers were used in 210 incidents involving 226 subjects. It said officers at 31 Division were the highest users of the devices having relied on them 26 times last year. Officers from 41 Division were next with 24 times and 23 Division used them 11 times.

The report said 56 suspects in incidents where police used Tasers were believed to be emotionally disturbed.

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