Amnesty International has recored over 150+ deaths from tasers.
In Canada, there have been 3 taser related deaths in the last 45 days.
In the United Kingdom, a man was tasered for being unresponsive when approached by armed police units. This was because he was in a hypoglycemic coma at the time.
On the internet, there are numerous videos of people being tasered. One involving a driver refusing to sign a traffic ticket –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMaMYL_shxc
And one involving a university student posing an errant question –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE
These items show a dangerous trend on how the line between lethal and non-lethal force are being blurred. But the problem isn’t trigger happy officers (though that -is- something of a concern), rather, it’s how these devices are perceived.
The state holds a legitimate right to use lethal force because there is a system of checks and balances. A taser throws off this system because, to many, a taser is ‘non-lethal’. It’s an alternative to stopping someone with a .45mm and falls outside of the checks we have in place. (A cop has to write several pages every-time they upholster their firearm). A taser is also ‘clean’. It has the same stopping power as a billy club to the temple, but, it’s less visceral.
What we need to do is start talking about how visceral a high voltage weapon can be.
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