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.



Saturday, August 13, 2011

Fort Worth Weekly: "Taser Gets Zapped"

Quote of the Week:

That was a fully fabricated lie,” said Burton.

Referring to a statement issued by Taser International's long-nosed spokespuppet Steve Tuttle in relation to the taser-caused death of Darryl Turner. [LINK]

CSM - 'Tasers in the crosshairs'

The Christian Science Monitor

Three deaths in one weekend puts Taser use by cops in crosshairs
Tasers were involved in three deaths over the weekend, renewing the debate over when and how the police-issued stun guns should be used. [LINK]

...recent studies have shown that the weapons can have an outsized impact on people with health problems or who are very high on drugs and in a state of "excited delirium." ... Tasers contributed to some 351 US deaths between 2001 and 2008, says Amnesty International, which adds that 90 percent of those tasered were unarmed at the time they were electrocuted. The website Truth Not Tasers claims that 39 people have died in relation to "conducted energy devices (CEDs)" this year in the United States, an average of five per month. ...

More background on KARBON Arms

From an on-line discussion:

I am not sure about your credentials on these products but I find your comments uninformed and very biased. I have been a Taser instructor for the last 6 years and have trained over 500 in the use of the Taser. I am also a Karbon Arms instructor and was a stinger 200AT instructor for the past 3 years before it was bought out. I work for a large Sheriff's office and we have had great success with both products. We just received our Karbons that you claimed "fishy". 100 this year and we are buying 100 more in 2011. I am alarmed buy the amount of TASERs that we have that are broken. TASER just released a training bulletin stating that 5 years is the expected life of their product. The Karbon works as good or better than the TASER. The $950 TASER vs the $500 Karbon is not much to think about. The lawsuit you refer to was against the Stinger 200 that was 1st generation technology. Karbon arms is now on 3rd generation technology and has their own patent that was awarded shortly after TASER won the lawsuit over the 1st generation technology that Stinger was no longer using. TASER International wants $450 each to fix the 27 broke TASERS we currently have in inventory. Close to half of those have the infamous defective on/off lever. [Somewhere online]

KARBON ARMS - An alternative to Taser International ?

Interesting...

KARBON MPID [LINK] - Highlights of the Karbon MPID include:
"Off The Shelf" batteries – Save your department time and money
Internal Cartridge Retention – Protect the cartridge when things heat up
Unbreakable Push Button On/Off Safety – Extremely durable and simple to use, ensures the Karbon MPID turns on when it’s most needed
Single Finger Cartridge Eject System – Eject the cartridge quickly and effectively, no fumbling equals no accidents.
Uni-Body Solid Frame Construction – Durability to last through daily abuse
Integrated Front Sight and Integrated Flashlight – Makes sure everyone knows where the darts are heading
Wireless Data Conveyance – No open ports on the unit, simple to place on data dock, has virtually no clock drift

Their features list is neatly aligned with the many practical failings of the products designed by the idiots at Taser International.

They also specifically mention that their waveform is constant current and computer controlled. If true, then perhaps it offers a slightly higher margin of safety (?).

The major question is so far unanswered: What are their claims of safety, and how are these issues communicated during marketing and training?

In other words, how are their basic ethics?

Toronto G20 thugs positively identified

Justice Melvyn Green's judgment caused a stir because of its harsh criticism of police tactics. He said police officers acted as the aggressors that evening. "The only organized or collective physical aggression at that location that evening was perpetrated by police each time they advanced on demonstrators," Green wrote. ... [LINK]

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

REMINDER: August 2010 - Taser International settles with Butler for $3M

News from about one year ago [LINK].

This was yet-another HUGE legal setback (loss) that they pretend to ignore.