November 21, 2007

the tasar/taser phenomena - MORE
Here's a video from CES where Taser is debuting their latest C2 model self defense device.



Police Suspects in Fla., Md., and N.M. Die After Being Shocked by Taser Devices


http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3886107&page=1

By DAVID SCHOETZ

Three men died this weekend after being zapped by Tasers during confrontations with police.

The three deaths came one week after a video surfaced of a Polish immigrant writhing in pain at Vancouver International Airport moments after being Tasered by Canadian police. The 40-year-old man died a short time later.

Sheriff's officers in Jacksonville, Fla., discharged a Taser on Christian Allen, 21, after he and a passenger in his sport utility vehicle tried to flee on foot after a traffic stop, Melissa Bujeda, spokeswoman for the Jacksonville, Fla., sheriff's office, told ABC News.

An officer pursued Allen in his car and then caught up to him on foot before discharging his Taser multiple times on the suspect. "They were in a struggle at the time," Bujeda said.

Allen, who had a previous arrest record, was carrying bags containing what police believe is crack cocaine and had a loaded handgun in his jacket pocket when an officer finally subdued him. Allen did not raise the gun at the officer, Bujeda said.

After he was Tasered, Allen was checked by EMT at the scene. EMT then cleared police to put him into the back of a cruiser. At that point, according to the sheriff's office, he became unconscious. He was driven to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Maryland police said today they will investigate the death of 20-year-old Jarrell Gray, who was involved in a fight in Frederick County, Md., early Sunday when police used the Taser to subdue him.

An autopsy will be conducted, Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said. Jenkins said that so far this year his officers have used Tasers to safely detain suspects 27 times.

In New Mexico, 20-year-old Jesse Saenz was Tasered after struggling with police as they tried to take him into custody Sunday. Saenz died after being rushed to a hospital.

Canadian officials said Saturday that four police officers involved in the death of a Polish immigrant have been reassigned to different posts.

The decision followed the release of video showing Robert Dziekanski writhing in pain at the Vancouver International Airport after being struck by the Taser and before he died.

Canadian federal police Commissioner William Elliott defended the use of Tasers, saying that they are safe and effective in most cases. Eighteen people have died in Canada after being hit with a Taser in the last four years.

Please email the author of this story, Sheila Pratt at spratt@thejournal.canwest.com and thank her for her honest commentary.

Public refuses to believe reports from police and manufacturer claims
The Edmonton Journal
Sheila Pratt
November 18, 2007


Watching the painful images of Robert Dziekanski's terrible death at the Vancouver airport will shake your Canadian complacency to the core. Four police officers rush in, pull out a Taser within seconds and the middle-aged Polish visitor collapses. An officer kneels on top of the writhing body which soon goes still.

Even worse is to hear Dziekanski's last terrified scream. There's no mistaking this is a man in deep agony, held down by police in his last dying moments with no recourse.

How can this disturbing scene be happening in Canada? Dziekanski's death is not the normal image we carry of our peace-loving, fair-minded country.

The chairman of the RCMP Public Complaints Commission, Paul Kennedy, has called for exactly that, as has Amnesty International.

Stockwell Day should get that underway as well.

Edmonton has seen its share of bad Taser use. Who can forget the Randy Fryingpan case? The drunken teenager was Tasered six times within 66 seconds as he slept in the back seat of a car. Tasers were never designed to wake up sleeping drunks; they're supposed to be used to subdue violent suspects that threaten the safety of officers and the public.

Yet no officer was disciplined for that incident.

About a year ago, Edmonton Chief Mike Boyd put tighter supervision on Taser use, requiring a supervisor to be informed after each incident. Taser use has dropped somewhat and that's good.

The RCMP is downplaying the revealing Vancouver airport video as just one side of the story. Yes, we need to hear what police have to say. But Day should be aware Canadians have heard plenty of rationalization from their national police force of ugly incidents and have no patience for more. Canadians understand police work is dangerous and that officers need to use force.

That's not in dispute. There's no greater reminder than the terrible loss of young constables like 20-year-old Douglas Scott in Iqaluit.

In the same way, the unnecessary death of an innocent civilian, Robert Dziekanski, is not in keeping with the traditions of the RCMP the community used to respect.

http://reddit.com/info/60w0r/comments/

blog.wired.com
Aaron Rowe
November 16, 2007


Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9PPVe4aIjw

Scientists: In Theory, Tasers Can't Kill People. Others: How do you Explain These Dead Guys?

To show just how murky the waters surrounding Taser safety are, I have compiled a list of several recent scientific reports about the controversial less lethal weapon.

Most of the links below will bring you to free summaries of the research papers, but some require a subscription to read the full stories.

The video to the right shows a demonstration of the new civilian Taser at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The cameraman asks some excellent questions.

Intracranial penetration of a TASER dart

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the face with a Taser while resisting arrest. One of the darts went through his skull and poked into his brain just a little bit. Link

Taser-induced rapid ventricular myocardial capture demonstrated by pacemaker intracardiac electrograms.

The first case of a man with a pacemaker getting tasered. A data logger on the pacemaker recorded the effects of the shock on his heart. Link

Taser use in restraint-related deaths

A review of Taser-related deaths. Autopsies were performed less than half of the time. Most of the dead were on drugs or had heart disease. Tasers were identified as contributing to one quarter of the deaths. Link

Can the direct cardiac effects of the electric pulses generated by the TASER X26 cause immediate or delayed sudden cardiac arrest in normal adults?

In this paper, the authors used the fundamental law of electrostimulation to theorize that an X26 Taser can't cause a dangerous ectopic heartbeat in most healthy adults. Link

Taser dart-to-heart distance that causes ventricular fibrillation in pigs

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin tasered anesthetized pigs and found that the risk of ventricular fibrillation is very low. The darts must land extremely close to the heart to cause the dangerous condition. Link

If you have any thoughts on the safety of Tasers, or links to news, videos, and papers about their safety, please weigh in by submitting your comments below.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/scientists-tase.html

also see;
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/19/
bc-taserinquiry.html?ref=rss

it never ends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZQZKHB7bUQ&NR=1

For those who live in Minneapolis be sure to watch this video to help bring police brutality to a halt in your community: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkawiGZ1X3c

Amnesty International report
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


Head of state and government: George W Bush
Death penalty: retentionist
International Criminal Court: signed but declared intention not to ratify

Thousands of detainees continued to be held in US custody without charge or trial in Iraq, Afghanistan and the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In June, the US Supreme Court struck down the military commissions established by President Bush and reversed the presidential decision not to apply Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions to detainees suspected of links with the Taleban or al-Qa'ida. Congress passed the Military Commissions Act stripping the US federal courts of the jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus appeals from such detainees, providing for trials by military commission, and amending the US War Crimes Act. In September, President Bush confirmed the existence of a programme of secret detentions run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). There were reports of possible extrajudicial executions by US soldiers in Iraq, with a number of soldiers facing prosecution. There was a continued failure to hold senior government officials accountable for torture and other ill-treatment of "war on terror" detainees despite evidence that abuses had been systematic. There were reports of police brutality and ill-treatment in detention facilities in the USA. More than 70 people died after being struck by police tasers [bringing to more than 230 the number of such deaths since 2001 - see report linked below]. Fifty-three people were executed in 14 states.

----

Amnesty International report covers these US human rights violations:

Military Commissions Act
Renditions and secret detention
Guantánamo
Detentions in Afghanistan and Iraq
Unlawful killings by US forces outside the USA
Detention of 'enemy combatants' in the USA
Torture and other ill-treatment
Ill-treatment in jails and police custody
'Supermax' prisons
Women in prison
Prisoners of conscience
Death penalty

http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Regions/Americas/United-States-of-America

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