Sangamon County Board member Jim Good volunteered to be tasered, once, in the back, while supported by two police officers to make sure he doesn't fall and bang his head (nor get tangled up in the taser wires and be accidentally shocked in the chest).
On 28 January 2010, Patrick Burns, 50, was tasered (reportedly 15 times) and died [LINK].
#470 - January 28, 2010: Patrick Burns, 50, Sangamon County, Illinois [LINK]
The coroner "did not determine the cause of death" [LINK].
Logically - that would point the finger directly at the potentially-lethal device that would leave no postmortem evidence...
Sheriff Neil Williamson said he stands behind the Taser stun gun. "I’m a big supporter of this device. If I felt there was any chance at all that this piece of equipment wasn’t safe, I would immediately withdraw the use of Tasers by this department. ..." [LINK]
Chief Deputy Jack Campbell said there’s not a set limit on the number of times a person can be stunned. "We don’t feel you can fire too much."
Let the lesson begin:
The American Medical Association (AMA) has concluded that tasers can cause death, directly or indirectly.
The office of the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Taser International has "significantly" understated the risks of taser use.
An analysis by Montreal biomedical engineer Pierre Savard, made available to [CBC], suggests the chances of someone dying after being hit with a police taser increase the more times they're stunned. [LINK] Previous post [LINK].
The above information is just a tiny sample.
Given all the information available, to still hold the opinion that tasers can be used repeatedly and still be safe is pure negligence.
2 comments:
If you can count, that "demonstration" shock did NOT last 5 seconds, as the officer is heard to say, in the video. I will give the councilman credit for taking the potentially lethal shock, using the actual barbed-hooks, though.
Back in 2003 or 2004, in a display of absolute corporate recklessness, several volunteer shareholders were called to the stage, where corporate officials participated in a live demonstration on their shareholders, using those bogus alligator clips, attached to the shareholder's clothing, while a second or two of electricity was discharged. In effect, they "bet the company" that no one would be injured or killed. It was perhaps one of the greatest, live displays of corporate malfeasance I have ever heard of.
CM
If ever there was a story which demonstrates the emerging truth that taser stun guns are nothing more than non-FDA Approved heart fibrillation devices, the story of the 20 year-old male being tased in the chest, going into cardiac distress and thankfully being revived by an available de-fibrillator device in Milwaukee, over the weekend, should serve as a prime example:
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/83750957.html
Police are already busy trying to demonize and blame the victim, saying that he most likely had an underlying condition which caused his medical distress. Even if he did have a less-than perfect medical history, the curious fact that he lived his life just fine until he was hit in the chest, across his heart, with a taser stun gun, should leap out to anyone with a modicum of common sense as a series of events that should raise the interest of the FDA.
Post a Comment