March 28, 2006
US Taser Deaths Up
WASHINGTON -- The number of people who have died in the U.S. after being shocked by police stun guns is growing rapidly, Amnesty International says in a report that catalogs 156 in the past five years.
Deaths after the use of Taser stun guns have risen from three in 2001 to 61 last year...
Police had used Tasers more than 70,000 times as of last year, Congress' Government Accountability Office said.
Taser has said that more than 9,000 lives have been saved because police officers have been able to use stun guns instead of bullets. Tasers deliver a 50,000-volt jolt through two barbed darts that can penetrate clothing.
Many of those who died were high on drugs*, mentally ill or otherwise agitated. Many deaths in the past year occurred after victims were hit by Tasers at least three times and, in some cases, for prolonged periods, the report said.
press release also Amnesty
>related on Spitting Image taser search results
~(*Buzz kill.) World Taser-Deaths Remain Stable?
I didn't know tasers killed anyone. According to Amnesty Intl. there's already fourteen US taser-deaths this year. While according to Taser stun-guns have saved the lives of thousands of people police have gotten close enough to taser instead of shooting.
Whatever happened to the-men-in-white-coats with their "butterfly nets"? (Reaganomics?)
By now every cop in America knows you have to taser some perps a couple of times in order to subdue them. No matter what the manufacturer says or how they were trained, one jolt just doesn't do it anymore?
No American universities are doing research on taser-related deaths?
@
[photo google: "taser death" \ not Amnesty]