The "Non-Lethality" Lie: Tasers Have Killed Hundreds Since 2001

H/T to Stephen Soldz, who has been following news on taser abuse for some time, including this recent report on police tasering a 10-year-old child, with the child's mother's consent no less.

In a posting last Saturday, Soldz highlighted an oped in the Tennessean by Jared Feuer, Southern regional director for Amnesty International USA.

Since 2001, about 400 people have died — 39 this year — after being Tasered by law enforcement personnel in the U.S. Amnesty International believes it is time to reconsider the use of Tasers. We believe this is even more essential as Taser International has issued new recommendations calling on law enforcement to avoid shocking people in the chest. This is the first time Taser has admitted a potentially serious health risk with the devices, and we believe it underscores our call for a full evaluation of their use....

The reasons for these deaths are an open question; what we do know is that a Taser gun exposes the victim to a 50,000-volt shock that continues until the officer releases his or her finger or the battery depletes. Such a shock overrides the body’s central nervous system, causing uncontrollable contraction of muscles and instant collapse. In a manufacturer’s study, it was found that additional shocks are required one-third of the time.

Because law enforcement officers do not know the medical history or condition of those being Tasered, they are not trained, required or able to determine the potential impact of the shock. The result appears to have been fatal for hundreds of people. It is for this reason that Amnesty International has urged that Taser use be limited to situations in which officers are faced with an immediate threat of death or serious injury that cannot be contained through less extreme options, if not suspended altogether pending an independent study to determine why people have died after being Tasered.

Tasers should be outlawed. Instead, police forces are turning in greater and greater numbers to this supposed "non-lethal" force alternative. But its non-lethality is a lie, as this story shows.

Of course, the military is interested, too, as this recent story at Wired explains:

A new electroshock weapon being developed by Taser could zap people up to 175 feet away — and keep on applying pain for as long as three minutes in a row. Which is pretty tough to take, since it only takes a second or two of shocks to make most people cry out in agony.

The new 40mm projectile resembles a super-sized version of the shotgun-fired XREP Taser projectile. And like the XREP, it will attach itself to the target and incapacitate him or her with a series of electric jolts....

“This project will likely increase the standoff range by at least a factor of five over already fielded electromuscular devices,” says Wes Burgei, a project engineer at the U.S. military’s Joint Non-lethal Weapons Directorate, which has given Taser $2.5 million to work on the weapon.

Under the auspices of the new Democratic president, Barack Obama, the worst aspects of the U.S. militarist state and expansion of police powers continues unabated from the Bush years.

What's really news is that the so-called progressive world hasn't yet awakened to this political reality. Thanks to Amnesty, ACLU, CCR, PHR and a handful of other human and legal rights agencies for spending the time and effort to fight back. Have you, dear reader, taken time out to donate money to one of these fine agencies?

Outrageous Taser Attack at Border Checkpoint

A powerful testimony to what happens to a U.S. citizen who dared to assert his right against unreasonable search and seizure against certain police and state agencies.

"So, wake up, America! Why is this happening in the United States of America?"

H/T Ripple

UN Labels Taser Use a Form of Torture

In a follow-up on an article I wrote last September on the notorious tasering of a speaker at a John Kerry forum by University of Florida police, there's this from the UK Daily Telegraph today:

TASER electronic stun guns are a form of torture that can kill, a UN committee has declared after several recent deaths in North America.

"The use of these weapons causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture,'' the UN's Committee against Torture said.

"In certain cases, they can even cause death, as has been shown by reliable studies and recent real-life events,'' the committee of 10 experts said....

The UN committee made its comments in recommendations to Portugal, which has bought the newest Taser X26 stun gun for use by police.

Portugal "should consider giving up the use of the Taser X26,'' as its use can have a grave physical and mental impact on those targeted, which violates the UN's Convention against Torture, the experts said.

Here is the relevant section from the UN Convention Against Torture press release on November 23, from one of two sessions the UNCAT holds each year:

The Committee regretted that Portugal used detention for identification purposes, that could sometime lead to collective arrests. The Committee was also worried by information it had received on the persistent violence between prisoners in places of detentions, including sexual violence, and by the high number of deaths in places of detention, due in great part to HIV/AIDS and suicide. The Committee was worried that the use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use.

I could not find the section in the UN document where experts recommend giving up tasers, but will rely for now on DT reporting (echoed in other periodicals).

Bravo to the UN experts for noticing that this grave form of electric shock to disable police targets is both dangerous and extremely painful. The bar has been lowered so far for police departments around the world, that routine use of chokeholds, tasering, firing rubber bullets, and other forms of so-called "non-lethal" forms of force has become epidemic around the world. This decision helps in the fight against the worst forms of misuse of force by state powers.

Amnesty International Exposes Widespread Taser Misuse

[Warning: videos show graphic scenes]

Following upon the widely reported tasering of University of Florida student Andrew Meyer the other day, it is important to note that this was not a random or unusual occurence. Many commentators have mentioned the taser attack by police on a student at UCLA who wouldn't show his I.D., back in November 2006.

Amnesty International has been documenting misuse of tasers for some time now, and has plenty of links to stories, videos, and audio programs documenting this problem. For instance, there's this, from an AI press release from March 2006:

Sixty-one people died in 2005 after being shocked by law enforcement agency TASERs, a 27 percent increase from 2004's tally of 48 deaths, finds an Amnesty International study released today. Including 10 TASER-related deaths through mid-February of this year, at least 152 people have died in the United States since June 2001 after being shocked with the weapons....

TASERs are powerful electro-shock weapons in use in more than 7,000 of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States. They are designed to incapacitate by conducting 50,000 volts of electricity into an individual's body. The electrical pulses induce skeletal muscle spasms that immobilize and incapacitate the individual, causing them to fall to the ground.

It's not just students who get tasered, by the way (although here's a link to another typical incident). AI has expressed its grave concern over police using tasers on vulnerable groups such as senior citizens, pregnant women and children. Here's a video of police at Los Angeles International AIrport repeatedly tasering an unarmed elderly man. Notice the fearful reaction of the girls in the background.

Just as disturbing, but with sound, is this YouTube video of a completely unprovoked tasering of a young woman at an antiwar demonstration:

A protester, who was tasered by police at a demonstration called by steelworkers against Jeb Bush in Pittsburg last year, described to Amy Goodman what it feels like to get "tasered":

AMY GOODMAN: When you say tasered, explain exactly what happened and what that means.

PROTESTER: Well, a taser is different than a stun gun. They keep saying it was a stun gun. But a taser, it's like a yellow or black gun-looking thing. It's plastic. It shoots out two wires that have barbs on the end that hook into your skin, and then it fires electrical charges into you. I didn't get hit with the full voltage [inaudible] dropped the full-voltage cartridge, but essentially when you get hit with a taser, every muscle in your body bunches up, and you can't control your movements at all. So when I got pulled back, the taser came out of my body, which allowed me to regain my balance and keep moving. But the effects of that are pretty long-lasting. You know, I was hazy and couldn't concentrate on anything for about a day and like my whole body hurts now, and things like that. It's a pretty vicious weapon. People have died because of it.

Meanwhile, even today, CNN reports on the spread of taser use to the U.S. Forestry Service:

TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices, today announced that it received an order from the United States Forest Service for 700 TASER(r) X26 electronic control devices and related accessories.

"We are excited about this new additional federal agency purchasing TASER technology to protect life," said Tom Smith, Chairman and Founder of TASER international. "Traditionally, we have focused law enforcement sales at the local and state level, but we are now seeing acceptance of TASER technology at various federal law enforcement agencies."

"We have seen a continual marked increase in TASER technology purchases at the federal level following our initial U.S. military approval of a five-year indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. We are proud that law enforcement within the Departments of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Interior, and Agriculture are now relying on TASER devices to protect life."

The Department of Agriculture now arms its police -- who knew they even had police?? -- with tasers!

What's maybe most disturbing is the support for police state tactics by many in this country. Blogs and YouTube comments are filled with invective aimed at UF student Andrew Meyer, and with words of support for the police. It's quite clear from the videos of the event with Meyer that he was NOT being disruptive -- unless you believe that speaking truth to power, or talking about uncomfortable subjects like black voter disenfranchisement when only "questions" are allowed, constitutes "disruption". Meyer spoke for about a minute and a half, his microphone was cut off, and he was arrested, pleading for help and asking for outrage from an American student audience that sat on its hands. Tellingly, John Kerry did little or nothing to stop the atrocity.

Please support Amnesty International in their campaign to have a rigorous, independent, impartial study of the taser's use and its effects. Up to now, most of the touted "independent" studies demonstrating the "safety" of this lethal device have been scandalously linked to the manufacturer.

Outrageous Taser Attack on Florida Student

A journalism student at the University of Florida was "tasered" by campus police after having the temerity to speak for almost one-and-one-half minutes about black disenfranchisement and voter fraud at a "town hall" meeting with John Kerry. Videos of the arrest and assault upon senior UF student Andrew Meyer is all over the web.

On Deadline at USA Today has a good number of links. The Independent Florida Alligator's editorial states:

"UPD's actions are inexcusable and out of line. It owes an apology not just to Andrew Meyer, but also to all of UF. We must be able to trust those who are supposed to protect us. We should not have to fear them."

Meanwhile, there are plenty of lies out there, beginning with the statement from the UF administration, about how Meyer deserved his treatment, was "out of control", was "crazy", "uncooperative", etc.

Below are a few videos you can watch that vividly portray what happened, and demonstrate a violent police intrusion upon free speech, and all under the blase eye of a major Democratic party politician/former presidential candidate.

Shockingly, Senator Kerry's spokesperson claims that the senator was unaware what was going on, the auditorium was so "huge", etc. I think the videos speak the lie to this. Also, disturbingly, there are many commenters online who feel Mr. Meyer deserved his treatment: because he didn't respect the time limits, because he talked "too long", because he wasn't asking a question, etc.

Let's be clear: he spoke for one minute and 34 seconds before he was arrested. He asked three questions. Most of his time was spent highlighting the disenfranchisement of voters in the 2004 election -- especially black voters -- and questioning why Kerry conceded the election so quickly, when ample evidence for doubt appeared even on election day.

In America, dissent must be done "properly", with the right "tone", and not step on the toes of big name politicians, or speak the truth about how democracy in this country is a sham. My suggestion is this: when someone speaks piously about the tone of a political opponent, or the breaking of rules meant to curtail free speech (like making "statements" instead of asking questions), this is almost always an excuse to deep-six the political content of the person's speech, and to delegitimize his or her rights.

For the record, a poll over at the Washington Post has over one-third of the respondents endorsing the statement that this attack on free speech is evidence we have become a police state. As the Bush administration lurches towards war with Iran, and continues its illegal and brutal occupation of Iraq, the police will be used to restrain and imprison opposition to the status quo. The arrest and electrical shock attack by police upon Andrew Meyer -- no matter what one thinks about his "personality" or whether he was perpetuating a "stunt" or not -- is a small taste of the barbarity this government serves up to those who would oppose its untrammeled rule.

If Meyer had been rambling for a minute or two about how we don't give enough resources to "our troops", he wouldn't have had his mic cut off. But he was speaking about black disenfranchisement and stolen elections: verboten!