A lot of citizens think cops only taser people when the police officer is being threatened with bodily attack. Wrong! Lots of guidelines allow for tasers to be used for “pain compliance” . That means if you don’t do what do what they say, even if you aren’t being a threat to the cops or anyone else, they can zap you. REPEATEDLY.
Never mind that many people can’t physically comply after they’ve been zapped. Well heck, then they just zap you again… and again… and again…
IF THEY HAD TASERS BACK IN THE DAY, THEY WOULD HAVE TASERED ROSA PARKS.
]]>I appreciate those sites you have posted and thank you for the opportunity for people to post comments on this web page. I do not deny that the officers used some questionable discretion. My only point was the Taser itself as an incapiciating tool was not the responsible item used to kill. Yes it will bring stress levels in people unaware of what the tool will do up to a degree, but that person was in the video was all ready in an emotional state of aggression (Emotionally disturbed person)as he was throwing items around, pacing, furtive movements etc- he was stressed and or agitated no doubt. We do not know the exact background (emotional or physical history) of the person in the video and neither did the officers that arrived – how would they. Could other tactful ways of handling the incident been a better way? We will never know. People can play what if questions all day, but they were not in the officer’s shoes. We cannot see exactly in the video of what the male was doing when he was on the ground. Was he making furtive moves to reach for a weapon (being in the airport I doubt it but…)- they were not going to wait and find out. What if they didn’t have the Taser would the officer’s have beat him senselessly? Its unknown.
The Taser is in the news just as OC and Pepper Spray made the papers when they first came out and articles say they killed people. Officer’s on the road that work on the holidays, late night outs, are away from the family constantly, and our out dealing with a new generation of disrespectful people and want to go home safe every night. Most Companies use rigid testing for their tools and beofre they are placed on the street to assist officers and security so they can go home-safely.
People die in planes, cars, motorcycles, from pharmaceutical products, you name it every day. The Taser is relatively new to peoples eyes because more agencies are starting to carry them. Because they are new to people and the lack of education its too easy to blame the item they know least about (just like the day they blamed Pepper spray or OC. Because of Tasers cities are seeing that Officer shootings are down, officer complaints of mis-use of force are down, and more people have been saved by using the Taser instead of deadly force.
With that said I do not believe the Taser (itself) killed that man – I believe the persons chemical imbalance of being in an Emotional disturbed state was the factor. There has been forensic testing done on this subject, that no matter what one would do whether taser the person or just take them into custody these people die – that is quoted from the first article you linked. One of the forensic testing companies was done by CRT-Less Lethal, INC.
Sorry once again to ramble on….I will leave the subject alone at this time and thanks for the open Forum Rad Geek I appreciated it!!!!
Monkeyman, I agree with your comment!!
]]>As I understand it, there is still considerable debate as to Taser Inc.’s claims that Tasers cannot kill. The fact that there has so far been only one study of the effects of taser shocks which was not funded by Taser Inc. doesn’t help matters. Neither does the fact that Taser representatives have apparently made calls leaning on local coroners to exclude the electric shocks from the cause of death in cases where victims died of cardiac arrest after being shocked. Cf., for example, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (2004-12-01): Is non-lethal
Taser deadly? for a discussion of several different cases, and the paucity of controlled research in general, and independent controlled research in particular. Cf. also New York Times (2004-11-26):
Claims Over Tasers’ Safety Are Challenged, concerning Taser Inc.’s misrepresentation of the findings of a federal study on taser safety. The first independent controlled study found that taser shocks won’t significantly affect heart operation or blood chemistry in healthy adults, but the study by design did not consider the effects on people with heart conditions, under the influence of drugs that affect the blood chemistry or operation of the heart, etc. You also need to consider that the level of electric shock is not the only factor that you need to consider in determining cause of death. Extreme pain and paralysis from the repeated shocks can cause its own physiological reactions independently of the effects of the electricity.
All that said, I would only add that, whether or not the repeated taser shocks killed Robert Dziekanski, there was absolutely no excuse whatsoever for shocking him, and it is especially inexcusable that the cops shocked him 3-4 times, while he posed no significant threat to them, and continued to shock him while he was helpless on the ground. If the tasering did not kill him, I will retract my claim that the cops should be held responsible for murder; but they would nonetheless be guilty of assault and torture.
]]>Sorry to ramble that is my thought on that matter.
]]>I agree that the airport security creeps treated him terribly, and also that the problems here have much more to do with institutions and practices than they do with equipment.
However, it is pretty clear that the Mounties, in particular, bear quite a bit of the blame for killing him; they were the ones who decided to confront, escalate the level of violence, and repeatedly shocked an innocent man, even after he was lying on the ground helpless. The rest of airport security deserves to be condemned for being callous, stupid, and unhelpful. The cops deserve to be indicted on a charge of murder.
]]>His death is more the result of our crazed anti-terrorist paranoia and security precuations than it is about tazers.
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