Police Use of Tasers, Taser Company Loses a Case, Over 300 Deaths on Record

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:05 AM EDT

Article Source: Common Dreams

police, taser, shooting-deaths, unarmed-victims

Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have long argued that most of the deaths associated with Tasers are related to multiple uses or prolonged usage of the weapon on the same person. Since 2001, there have been over 300 deaths that Amnesty has studied where Tasers were involved — a significant number involved either multiple uses or prolonged usage of the Taser. In over 20 of those cases, coroners have listed Tasers as the contributing factor. In only 10 percent of the cases was the Tasered individual actually carrying a weapon.

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Groups: Activism, Counterterrorism, Political Analysis, TaserWatch
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2.9

{"commentId":1952632,"authorDomain":"truthlover"}

truthlover

I don't know what happened--how did Tedd miss this one? Tedd???

Anyway, the use of Tasers... plus over 50 bullets fired into the New York bridegroom before his wedding... what a world, huh?

For you who invest in Taser--yuk--the article points out that

Taser's stock dropped by 11 percent after the courts found that the company had failed to warn the police department that prolonged exposure to the device could increase the risk of cardiac failure. Taser International plans to appeal the decision.

{"commentId":1952632,"threadId":"287619","contentId":"1568733","authorDomain":"truthlover"}

2 votes

#1 - Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:07 AM EDT

{"commentId":1954330,"authorDomain":"truthlover"}

truthlover

Sort of an afterthought in the article:

The report was heavily criticised by the NYCLU for failing to gather public input and for glossing over apparent racial disparities in the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practices.

"After police officers fired 50 shots at an unarmed Sean Bell and two other black men, Commissioner [Ray] Kelly promised a careful and independent study of police shooting practices. Today's report, however, completely ignores the issue of race in police shootings, leaving New Yorkers with no answers to many questions raised by the tragic Bell shooting," said Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the NYCLU, in a statement at the time.

{"commentId":1954330,"threadId":"287619","contentId":"1568733","authorDomain":"truthlover"}

1 vote

#2 - Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:08 AM EDT

{"commentId":2033588,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}

MinnieApolis

I clipped to TaserWatch group -- that should have been done right away but none of us saw this story. A word to the wise: if you are interested in seeding stories on this topic, maybe you should join the group so you can attach it to this group right when you seed it.
I thought the notorious NYC bridegroom acquittal was a terrible decision -- but it is extremely rare if not impossible to get a conviction against cops for anything while on duty, sometimes even off duty.

{"commentId":2033588,"threadId":"287619","contentId":"1568733","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}

1 vote

#3 - Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:32 PM EDT

{"commentId":2033730,"authorDomain":"DrKnow"}

Dr Know

How did any of us miss this one?

{"commentId":2033730,"threadId":"287619","contentId":"1568733","authorDomain":"DrKnow"}

1 vote

#4 - Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:50 PM EDT

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	Taser's marketing shift: No longer a last resort	The Minnesota Independent	Thu Jun 12	0
	Multiple RCMP Taser zaps on rise despite warning: Canadian Press-CBC analysis	Google	Thu Jun 12	0

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Police Use of Tasers, Taser Company Loses a Case, Over 300 Deaths on Record

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