Following up: Another look at recent Taser news.

I recently told of a news story where a father whose son died after (but not because of) being stunned by a Taser. This father questioned the use of the Taser on his son, but officers were cleared of wrongdoing and it was even noted that they did everything according to protocol. This was a textbook situation which using a Taser was appropriate.

I want to mention something else the father has now said. “I still don’t understand why you would Tase an accident victim sitting in the driver’s seat.” Well, let’s go over the facts: the man, Mark Backlund, crashed into a median barrier during rush hour. When officers responded he appeared impaired, and when an officer went to his window to see if he was okay, Backlund punched the officer in the face. The trooper fired his Taser but only one of the electrodes hit Backlund. Backlund then attempted to exit the vehicle. Given that the man had already punched an officer, it’s not absurd to think that he had a violent nature, or was not of a sound mind and therefore possibly unpredictable – both scenarios in which officers are cleared to use their Taser guns. A second Taser stun did nothing to stop Backlund, who officers then had to wrestle to the ground and subdue with a “drive stun,” or direct contact with Taser to the body.

So going back to the question the father had…sure, if Backlund had stayed in the driver’s seat, cooperated with officers, and not been physically aggressive toward them, there would be no reason to use a Taser. As it stands, he failed in all three categories and as long as we’re nit-picking, it was concluded that he died of a drug abuse mixed with an existing heart condition possibly exacerbated by the stressful situation – that he put himself in by using drugs in the first place.

I daresay that if Mark Backlund’s father were a police officer and happened upon a man doing what his son did, he’d do the very same things those officers did, and count himself lucky he had such a device to protect himself.