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.



Thursday, December 31, 2009

Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinnes. spouts nonsense

Sheriff John McGinnes expouses his faith and belief in the Church of Taser, reads Chapter and Verse... [LINK]

"I absolutely believe [the taser] is a very effective tool."

Within the past few days there have been numerous reports of ineffective tasers. Putting too much FAITH in tasers and the assurances of the stun gun salesmen is inadvisable. They've been wrong too many times.

"...temporarily incapacitates a subject and affords officers an opportunity to handcuff and restrain them."

Five seconds affords an opportunity to stand around watching. After five seconds, having failed to do anything, and the subject having failed to handcuff themselves, the only obvious option is to wash, rinse, and repeat in an endless loop. Effectively, it's used as a torture device. Rarely does it actually get used to allow handcuffing while the "immobilized" (sic) subject is rolling around on the ground screaming in agony.

"I never heard of a case where someone has died just from being shot with a Taser. You can't kill them with it. The voltage is akin to a hospital defibrillator. It's just not a deadly weapon."

Wrong on so many levels. Pure ignorance. A survey of about 150 autopsy reports found that the taser was listed as a cause or contributor to death in about one-third. I don't see any reason why this ratio wouldn't apply to all 450+ taser associated deaths. Do the extrapolation in your head. And this is in spite of the extraordinary efforts by Taser International to promote alternate explanations. It can only be a low ball estimate. The Maryland AG concluded that Taser International has SIGNIFICANTLY understated the risks of taser use.

Many have died of "cardiac arrest" just after being tasered. There's a 'Curious Temporal Asymmetry' that allows only one rational conclusion.

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