by Cathy Steiber

Created on: June 16, 2009

I was so glad to see articles on this subject. I recently read an article in a magazine about tasers and had no idea how many people have died by police officers tasing them. To date, there have been 350 deaths since 2001 by the use of tasers. Just recently a 16 year old boy in Michigan was killed from a taser. I also had no idea that the police are not held responsible when someone dies by taser.

Tasers were designed to reduce the use of deadly force by police officers. Unfortunately, now they are used more and more frequently. And even worse, instead of one or two zaps, some officers are zapping people more than 20 times. There is NEVER a need for that and that should be considered DEADLY FORCE. plain and simple.

The problem is, police officers are just people. They are no different than any one else and therefore they have different personalities. Some aren't as intelligent as others. Some are more aggressive than others. But any officer who repeatedly tasers someone who is on the ground and defenseless should be held accountable and disciplined. That is EXCESSIVE force . And any officer who uses such force that is kills someone, should be held accountable. And THAT is the problem. They are NOT being held accountable.

Taser International claims their product is safe. Of coarse they would say that, otherwise no one would buy their product. They have also sued medical examiners who have cited the taser as a contributor in a victims death. This company just wants to shift responsibility to the victims to protect their product. In-fact, there is a term they use when someone dies by taser, it's called Excited Delirium Syndrome. This is the term used by this company and police departments when someone dies from being tasered. It's a JOKE and it has to stop. These officers HAVE to be held accountable for the death they caused and medical examiners should not be in fear of being sued by Taser International when they decide the taser contributed to a victim's death.

I think every officer should be tasered before being allowed to carry one of these weapons, and yes they are weapons. Maybe that way they will realize the effects a taser has and maybe they won't be so trigger happy. I don't care what Taser International says - a taser is a weapon. When an officer shoots someone to death, they would be held accountable and there would be an investigation. Why isn't it the same thing when an officer kills a person with a taser? It makes no sense and the blame has to stop being placed upon the victims. That is the biggest injustice I have heard about in a long, long time.

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