Chicago Tribune [LINK]
Summary:
Chicago Police ...responded to a domestic disturbance ...found a man (Alvin Nash, 44) holding a knife to his own throat... Officers ordered him to drop the knife, and a taser was deployed when he did not comply. He was not affected by the taser. He simply pulled the wires out. Because the taser was ineffective, the subject was then able to move and subsequently held the knife against the neck of a woman, reportedly his wife. Strike one against taser.
Officers again ordered him to drop the knife. When he failed to comply again an officer discharged a taser for a second time. Again, the taser did not affect the subject. He again pulled the wires out with his hands. Strike two.
The man then lunged at officers with the knife, prompting an officer to fire his weapon, fatally wounding him. Strike three.
Just like the immediately-previous post [LINK], the taser as a weapon is proving to be ineffective and unreliable. And this lack of effectivity is endangering the lives of everyone involved: the police, bystanders and victims, and even the subject.
The outcome in this incident is the worst imaginable, with a taser-induced detour towards an outcome that might have been even worse.
What's going on with all the ineffective tasers?
I have read that certain tasers (such as the X26) can be loaded with new software via their overpriced battery packs.
Pure speculation: I wonder if Taser International has released new software to turn down the power output in order to improve the inherent cardiac safety; and now we're discovering that there's no overlap between "safe" and "effective".
I've got no evidence on this possibility, but it's something that the Federal Regulators can add to their list of things to check when they finally take an interest in the ECW Industry of essentially one.
No comments:
Post a Comment