Mission Statement - De-Spinning the Pro-Taser Propaganda

Yeah right, 'Excited Delirium' my ass...

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The primary purpose of this blog is to provide an outlet for my observations and analysis about tasers, taser "associated" deaths, and the behaviour exhibited by the management, employees and minions of Taser International. In general, everything is linked back to external sources, often via previous posts on the same topic, so that readers can fact-check to their heart's content. This blog was started in late-2007 when Canadians were enraged by the taser death of Robert Dziekanski and four others in a short three month period. The cocky attitude exhibited by the Taser International spokespuppet, and his preposterous proposal that Mr. Dziekanski coincidentally died of "excited delirium" at the time of his taser-death, led me to choose the blog name I did and provides my motivation. I have zero financial ties to this issue.



Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Let's all say it together: "Unreliable piece of ..."

Man arrrested after stun gun fails - West Columbia patrol officer Rene Silva was checking out a dilapidated travel trailer reported as an abandoned vehicle about 1 p.m. Saturday in the 600 block of West Brazos. A 64-year-old man who pulled into the parking lot told Silva he owned the travel trailer... “He became very irate,” Silva said. ...“Once he got his hand on the screwdriver, I deployed the taser,” Silva said. When the stun gun didn’t work, Silva said he pulled out his baton and the man finally complied. The officer did not use the baton. ... [LINK]

Note that the baton worked just fine, even though it was not actually used to hit anyone.

With so many repors of tasers failing to work, or failing to be effective, the display of a taser is going to become a bit of a joke. The belligerent suspects are going stare back at the taser-wielding officer and ask, "Are you feeling lucky...?"

I wonder if this police department has been made aware of the findings of the CBC investigation that found that about ten percent of all tasers did not meet their specification?

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