Meriden police used a taser while trying to subdue Graham late Thursday night, after they'd been called to the apartment building on a complaint of threatening. The taser did not work in subduing Graham, police said. He died shortly after arriving at MidState Medical Center. [LINK]
There are some discrepancies in the various reports surrounding this recent taser-associated death. At least one headline is using the word malfunctioned. Most reports are quoting the police as saying that their taser had no effect on Graham.
- Taser malfunctions, man dies after struggle with Meriden police [LINK] (Headline for video link)
- Police say the Taser gun had no effect on Graham. [LINK]
If it is true that the taser had no [apparent] effect, and assuming that it was properly deployed, hit the target and operating as designed, then that would mean that Taser (and Kroll) might also be wrong on their claim that the taser shock is sufficiently strong that nobody can fight through it. Perhaps they're tripping over yet another Bell Curve tail.
It is perhaps worth highlighting that the reported facts that the taser "had no effect" is based on the police officer's observations (with their eyes) and this does not logically preclude some hidden internal effects. Taser's worst nightmare would be to have an incident where the taser was not only ineffective, but also a contributing cause for a taser-associated death. The available facts do not (yet) support such a conclusion in this case, but it seems to be a possibility.
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