Taser safety issues
[2] A 2012 study published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation found that Tasers can cause "ventricular arrhythmias, sudden cardiac arrest and even death."
[6] In some cases however, death occurred after Taser use coupled with the use of force alone, such as positional asphyxiation, with no evidence of underlying medical condition and no use of drugs.
As a consequence, Amnesty International Canada and other civil liberties organizations have argued that a moratorium should be placed on Taser use until research can determine a way for them to be safely used.
[12] A 2012 study published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation found that Tasers can cause "ventricular arrhythmias, sudden cardiac arrest and even death.
[4][5] Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. said in 2020 that “under Georgia law, a taser is considered as a deadly weapon.”[16][17][18] In 2008 San Francisco cardiologist and electrophysiologist Zian Tseng told the Braidwood Inquiry that a healthy individual could die from a Taser discharge, depending on electrode placement on the chest and pulse timing.
For this reason Tasers come with express instructions not to use them where flammable liquids or fumes may be present, such as filling stations and methamphetamine labs.
[36] Taser "recommended officers avoid tasing suspects in the chest area, citing the potential for cardiac arrests, lawsuits and effectiveness of the device".
By 2019 that figure had increased to over 1,000[38][39] It is unclear in each case whether the Taser was the cause of death, but several legislators in the U.S. have filed bills clamping down on them and requesting more studies on their effects.
Bozeman's study found that "...paired anterior probe impacts potentially capable of producing a transcardiac discharge vector."
[42][43] The head of the U.S. southern regional office of Amnesty International, Jared Feuer, said that 277 people in the United States have died after being shocked by a Taser between June 2001 and October 2007, which has already been documented.
[51][52][53][54][55] Police officers in at least five US states have filed lawsuits against Taser International claiming they suffered serious injuries after being shocked with the device during training classes.
[57] The use of stun belts has been condemned by Amnesty International as torture, not only for the physical pain the devices cause, but also for their heightened abuse potential.
The American Civil Liberties Union has also raised concerns about their use, as has the British human rights organization Resist Cardiac Arrest.
Critics claim that risk-averse police officers resort to using Taser in situations in which they otherwise would have used more conventional, less violent alternatives, such as trying to reason with a cornered suspect.
[60] Supporters claim that electroshock weapons such as Tasers are more effective than other means including pepper-spray (an eye/breathing inflammatory agent), batons or other conventional ways of inflicting pain, even handguns, at bringing a subject down to the ground with minimum physical exertion.
The highest-profile of these cases was that of Robert Dziekański, a non-English speaking man from Poland who died in less than two minutes after being tasered by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at the Vancouver International Airport, October 14, 2007.
[73] This was followed by three further death-after-tasering incidents in Montreal, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Chilliwack, British Columbia, leading Amnesty International to demand Taser use end in Canada, as it had records of 16 other such deaths in the country.
"[76] The commission released its report on 18 June 2008; recommendations include restricting use to experienced officers (5 years or more), providing medical attention to those who have been shocked, and improving previous documentation of specific deployment of the weapon, among other things.
[134] A study by the Potomac Institute concluded: "Based on the available evidence, and on accepted criteria for defining product risk vs. efficacy, we believe that when stun technology is appropriately applied, it is relatively safe and clearly effective.
The only known field data that are available suggest that the odds are, at worst, one in one thousand that a stun device would contribute to (and this does not imply "cause") death.
"[135] After hearing many witnesses and briefs the report[136] by the Canadian House of Commons, Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security makes 17 recommendations as a result the death due to the repetitive tasering of a Polish immigrant at the Vancouver International airport.
[138] However, a study conducted by the Cleveland Clinic in 2007 on a single animal determined that a standard five-second Taser X26 application "does not affect the short-term functional integrity of implantable pacemakers and defibrillators....
The study concluded that the discharge is sufficient to trigger ventricular fibrillation, a 50 percent risk according to the IEC 479-1 series of electric safety standards.
[139] Ruggieri showed that when the skin resistance drops lower than the device's region of linear operation, the current dramatically increases.
"[144][145] According to the Star Tribune, by April 2021 there had been 16 known cases, including the killing of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, when a police officer in the United States fired a pistol at someone but claimed to have intended to use a Taser instead.
[154] Police officers in at least five US states have filed lawsuits against Taser International claiming they suffered serious injuries after being shocked with the device during training classes.
[26] Summit County, Ohio Medical Examiner Lisa J. Kohler cited Taser use as a cause of death in three cases, Mark D. McCullaugh, Dennis S. Hyde, and Richard Holcomb.
[156] The Commissioner for Public Complaints made several recommendations regarding the use of Tasers by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) including:[157][158][159] Compliance Strategy Group (John Kiedrowski, Principal Consultant, Michael Petrunik and Ronald-Frans Melchers, Associate Consultants) conducted An Independent Review of the Adoption and Use of Conducted Energy Weapons by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police[160] that was completed in June 2008, but only released under access to information and privacy around September 12, 2008.
The Report reviews how the RCMP made the decisions to introduce the conducted energy weapons, training, policies and procedures, and accountability.
