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When Money Talks, the Truth Walks

By Steve Lombardi

This morning we talked about a 15-year-old boy who died after being Tasered. And what about the Detroit teenager who also died in April after being Tasered?

Since 2001, more than 330 people in the United States have died after being shocked by Tasers, according to the human rights group "Amnesty International. AI acknowledges the importance of developing nonlethal or 'less lethal' force options" by police, the group said in a December report on Tasers and Taser-related deaths. "However, Amnesty International has serious concerns about the use of electro-shock devices in law enforcement, both as regards their safety and potential for misuse."

According to Amnesty International as of December 2008 more than 351 individuals have died after being shocked with what is categorized as a non-lethal Taser. See Taser Abuse in the United States. A report on the list of deaths following use of stun weapons in US Law Enforcement from June 2001 to August 31, 2008 tracks the decedents name, age, date of shock, race, police agency by city and state, county, cause of death, contributing factors and underlying health conditions, number of Taser strikes or shocks, other restraints used, whether the arrestee was armed, if armed with what type of weapon and the length of time between the Taser use and death or cardiac arrest/loss of consciousness.

If a weapon contributes to precipitating death how can it be considered non-lethal?

Which states are the most deadly when law enforcement uses this non-lethal weapon?

Amnesty International states that 90% of the people arrested are unarmed when shocked by police Tasers. California and Florida have the highest death count per state. Phoenix and Las Vegas the highest per city body count.

'Amnesty International's report -- which includes a study of 98 autopsies that were independently reviewed by a forensic pathologist -- found that 90 percent of those who died after being struck with Tasers were unarmed and many did not appear to present a serious threat. Police officers used Tasers on schoolchildren, pregnant women and even an elderly person with dementia. More than 30 individuals died after being shocked in jails, where Tasers are also widely used, or in the booking area of police stations after they were already under police control.'

An 11-year-old girl who punched an officer was Tasered; she suffers from a learning disability. The child was at school in Orange County, Florida pushing desks and chairs and spitting at teachers. Now I know what many of you are thinking, 'Good she had it coming.' But that's punishment not law enforcement. That's for the courts not the police officers.

Research being done to evaluate the safety of Tasers is being funded by the industry. The same thing happened with the Tobacco Institute fought whether cigarettes cause cancer. In the past when an industry funded the safety research the results were manipulated to favor the industry. Watch the videos available from the Multimedia Collection of the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library from the University of California, San Francisco.

The script for Taser-related-risks has similarities to Pro-cigarette propaganda. Watch 'Open Questions' a video produced by the tobacco industry about The Causes And Effects Of Smoking. This movie attempts to create doubt about the 'Main Line Of Public Attack' creating a link between lung cancer and smoking cigarettes.

'No one knows what causes lung cancer.'

Many factors are involved making it unknown what the causes of lung cancer can be.

'Can we separate fact from fancy?'

'… a very complex subject.'

'… we need more information.'

'Do these relationships between sets of numbers prove a causal connection or establish a cause and effect?'

http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu:8080/featured_videos/observe.mov

The Tobacco Institute touted its role as the public relations arm of the tobacco industry with selections from media appearances by Institute staff and celebrities, including a Tonight Show skit parodying the segregation of smokers and non-smokers on airplanes.

http://www.archive.org/about/javascript-required.htm

Are the arguments for using Tasers similar to those we heard with cigarettes and tobacco? Yes they are. Do you remember the times when we could smoke inflight? The same time they told non-smokers that they were not at risk of getting lung cancer. Like then, now they are telling us you can't trust statistics. There is a place for using Tasers but there is no place for using Tasers if our Constitutional rights have to be ignored.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on July 31, 2009 (boomark / email).