Amnesty International Reports on Stun Gun-Related Deaths

Amnesty International claims that coroner’s reports in over 30 deaths have implicated Tasers.

The devices shoot a pair of probes toward a target at speeds in the range of 100 miles an hour. The barbed probes are connected to the battery-operated device by 15-35 feet of wire. The resulting shock can penetrate thin clothing and deliver a debilitating shock which leaves the target unable to control voluntary skeletal muscles. Some targets are injured merely by the fall.

The organization holds that police departments all over the country should suspend the use of stun guns until the possible risks of their use can be studied. However, few agencies have done so. According to Amnesty International’s figures, over 7,000 law enforcement agencies of the United States’ 18,000+ agencies use stun guns of some sort.

In a recent statement the organization states that more than 150 people have died following being shocked by stun guns in the period since June 2001.

In a video of a Vancouver, Canada airport incident in which a Polish man died, the victim who was shot with a Taser, continued to struggle after being shocked. On its website, Taser International states that cardiac arrest which was due to an electrical shock would have caused immediate death, which did not happen. In this case, a bystander shot a video of the incident. The victim was damaging an area of the airport. The video “clearly shows symptoms of excited delirium, a potentially fatal condition marked by symptoms of exhaustion and mania such as heavy breathing, profuse sweating, confusion, disorientation and violence toward inanimate objects,” according to a company spokesman.