Taser Death

Following up on "Speeding Ticket Taser" (Dec. 4), this CBC News video shows the Oct. 14 death of a non-English-speaking airline passenger Tasered twice by Royal Canadian Mounted Police after he became disturbed when Vancouver International Airport security practices stymied him for hours.

Maryland Community Newspapers Online has reported that 20-year-old Jarrel Gray was pronounced dead at about 7:30 a.m., Nov. 18, at Frederick Memorial Hospital after being Tasered twice by a Frederick County, Maryland, sheriff’s deputy.

The Arizona Republic, as of July 30, 2005, said it had identified "140 cases of death in the United States and Canada following a police Taser shock since 1999." The Arizona Republic further reported on Aug. 20, 2005, that police officers in five states had by that time filed lawsuits against Scottsdale, Arizona -based Taser International, claiming they were seriously injured after being shocked with the electronic stun gun during training classes.

Police forces use Tasers legitimately to protect themselves and others from deadly attack. In a more questionable but arguably legitimate use, they seem to use Tasers to avoid injury to themselves in making arrests. And in a completely illegitimate use, Tasers are apparently being used even when there is no fear of real injury (as when the passenger in the video above is helpless on the ground from the initial shock), to avoid the routine physical work involved in subduing a suspect.

Tasering someone merely to avoid the physical exertion involved in arresting them, as we see both in this video and in "Speeding Ticket Taser," would be morally bankrupt even if the only effect of the Taser were pain. Now that police departments have for years been well aware of the Taser's potential for injury and death, the police use of Tasers should be a crime (as shooting an unarmed suspect is a crime), except where these weapons are being used to prevent an attacker from causing imminent death or serious injury to the officer or someone else.

See more on this from the Dec. 4 Christian Science Monitor at Taser death in Canada sparks heated debate around the world.