Last Friday in Elizabethtown, NC, police responded to a scene where a man had driven a vehicle through the front doors of a bank, and when confronted the man began waving a knife and yelling for police to shoot him. The ordeal quickly turned into a suicide attempt as the man began stabbing himself in the chest. Officers quickly subdued the man with a Taser and he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The action on the part of the police officers propels the effectiveness of Tasers and stun guns into the spotlight. Let’s consider for a moment how the scenario would have been different if those officers weren’t equipped with Tasers. What would their alternatives have been? The most obvious weapon would be a firearm, but surely they would not have used deadly force in a situation where death is precisely what they were trying to prevent. Another option would have been pepper spray. This could have been effective for startling the man, but it’s possible he would have continued stabbing himself even if he momentarily lost his vision. Or worse, in his high state of stress he might have used the knife against one of the officers who would have had to get close to the man in order to effectively use the pepper spray. So, pepper spray obviously wouldn’t be the best option. Next, police carry steel batons, but would inflicting injury on the man be the best solution for intervening in his suicide attempt? Not at all. The last option these officers would have had was to use standard self defense techniques; perhaps putting him in some kind of hold, but again, that requires the officers to be within close distance to the man and this puts the officers in danger.

Therefore, it stands to reason that a non-lethal weapon such as the Taser was the most logical choice in this situation. Law enforcement Tasers allow officers to be up to 30 feet away from the target, a considerably safe distance, and it rendered the man immobile long enough for the officers to restrain him and gain control of the situation. This story is an excellent example of the positive impact Tasers can have not only in law enforcement, but in promoting the safe handling of precarious situations.