Taser International Wins Lawsuit to Change Cause of Death

[Alicia Leonard]

I know how a lot of posters feel about guns from prior threads. As far as tasers go I haven't heard that much from everyone.

I find the ruling to be insane. If someone died from excited delirium, I would say that being shocked was still the root cause of death.

Where's Skunky

"Taser International recently started a legal campaign against medical examiners who claimed tasers contributed to the cause of death for several people. On Friday, an Ohio judge ruled in favor of the stun gun manufacturer (free registration may be required). While they do have a number of scientific studies on which they establish their claims, it's interesting that the alternate cause of death they champion ? excited delirium ? appears only in police reports on the deaths of difficult or drug-addled inmates, not in medical textbooks. Of course, that may change soon ? Taser is funding and promoting research on the subject. Coroner reports such as the ones in this case contributed to the UN's opinion that taser use is torture."
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/04/1234233

 

[wrobert]

Why not list the real cause of death? Failure to obey the POLICE resulting in compliance action.

 

[Alicia Leonard]

Why not list the real cause of death? Failure to obey the POLICE resulting in compliance action.

That would make more sense to me than the cause of death they have listed.

 

[ShallowsNole]

My opinion is obviously biased, but I believe tasers have a place in public safety, just as pepper spray and other methods of control do. The goal is not to torture a subject, but to bring about compliance. I am sure that some officers might be taser-happy, but in most cases, the subject should have thought about it before putting themselves in the situation for which getting tased might be a consequence.

Part of an officer's training in the use of a taser is to actually be tased. Fuzz went through it when he was with the DFSPD. The exercise was videotaped (I think they planned to show the city council) but Fuzz's reaction to having voltage applied to his back messed that up. It's not something you want to show the kids...

 

[Alicia Leonard]

My opinion is obviously biased, but I believe tasers have a place in public safety, just as pepper spray and other methods of control do. The goal is not to torture a subject, but to bring about compliance. I am sure that some officers might be taser-happy, but in most cases, the subject should have thought about it before putting themselves in the situation for which getting tased might be a consequence.

Part of an officer's training in the use of a taser is to actually be tased. Fuzz went through it when he was with the DFSPD. The exercise was videotaped (I think they planned to show the city council) but Fuzz's reaction to having voltage applied to his back messed that up. It's not something you want to show the kids...

I think all the guys and girls out there protecting the public should be able to use force. My issue was with the ruling. If you shoot someone and they die, they died from a gun shot. (Or maybe they got shot, fell down, hit their head and died from a secondary condition caused by being shot.)

If they died from being tased, they died from being tased. Not from excited delirium.

 

[ShallowsNole]

Like any other cause of death...gotta use a long word instead of the words we use and know what they mean :roll:

 

[wrobert]

Part of an officer's training in the use of a taser is to actually be tased. Fuzz went through it when he was with the DFSPD. The exercise was videotaped (I think they planned to show the city council) but Fuzz's reaction to having voltage applied to his back messed that up. It's not something you want to show the kids...

Why is it that to use pepper spray you have to be sprayed, to use a taser you have to be tazed. Yet when they qualified me to use a gun, I never remember being shot.

 

[ShallowsNole]

Why is it that to use pepper spray you have to be sprayed, to use a taser you have to be tazed. Yet when they qualified me to use a gun, I never remember being shot.

Many others have wondered the same thing...;-)

 

[jack S]

Because they need to know how it feels! Too many sparrow armed bullies with muscles in a can on the job! Learn to fight, and from your base of power you will be able to negotiate and not fight! The people unprepared to handle themselves are the first to spray and pray.

 

[greenroomsurfer]

Everyone that has been in Law enforcement is taught these 2 things. Minimum force to compel compliance and The 5 levels of deadly force. If you have been unlucky enough to get to level 5, You have already Lost and badly. Depending on what type of training you have had this is how the levels usually go. 1.Officer presence 2.Verbal commands 3.Soft empty hand 4.Intermediate weapons (expandable baton, pepper spray and tasers etc) 5. Deadly Force (Being shot is in this category)​