As police across the United States increasingly turn to Taser guns as a non-lethal weapon, the device's safety has come under scrutiny following several recent deaths involving Tasers; last week the Fayetteville police department in North Carolina recalled all of its Taser M26 units following the death of a fifty-six year old political activist who died after being stunned by police.
Police say he was behaving oddly and jumping on vehicles, and his cause of death is currently under investigation. The latest incident makes for the third Taser-related death in Cumberland County, North Carolina. In 2008 a thirty-six year old man died after Fayetteville police used a Taser to subdue him. An autopsy later revealed that a lethal amount of cocaine was in his system.
Meanwhile in 2005, a fifty-two year old man died after crashing his car while trying to escape from police. He was soaked in gasoline and when police hit him with a Taser, he burst into flames. More recently a twenty-four year old schizophrenic inmate at Harnett County Jail, died after being stunned multiple times earlier this year. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner concluded that his death was caused by “complications of conducted energy device application.”
NOTE: The story of being chased with a butcher knife and using bullets or taser isn't a valid argument for all of the UNARMED, INNOCENT PEOPLE.
Taser International has recently lost a couple of multi million dollar lawsuits, and it appears that this is the beginning.
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