There are 50,000 volts of electricity packed inside a police issued Taser. It’s supposed to be a nonlethal weapon of force, but it is enough to literally stop some people dead in their tracks.
Amnesty International says at least 540 Americans have died after being tasered since 2001.
And some say it has to stop.
“I had seen it on the news in the morning, and I called his parents immediately and I asked them. I said, ‘Is Seth OK?’ And his father said, ‘No, he’s not. He passed away.’ And I just broke down,” said Mike Wheaton, whose friend Seth Victor, 40, died after being tasered by New Britain police in September. “I’ve been wracking my brain. What happened in one hour that started all this? Can’t figure it out.”
Investigators say Victor was throwing items out of his third floor apartment and threatened to hurt himself.
“He didn’t have a weapon. He didn’t have a hostage. You know, and they just kicked his door down and bum rushed him and beat him and tased him to death, for nothing. Because he was upset?” said Wheaton.
Seth Victor and 12 other men have died after being tasered in Connecticut, and Connecticut’s branch of the American Civil Liberties Union says that number can only go up.
“It’s a situation of just wondering how many people need to be seriously injured or die after being tased before the legislature acts,” said ACLU attorney David McGuire.
The question is, why do Tasers sometimes kill?
Tasers incapacitate victims by conducting electricity between two barbs shot out from the gun.
Once the barbs have been shot, the gun can be used to drive stun — a straight shot of electricity to the body.
Cardiologist Douglas Zipes says specifically shooting the barbs into the chest can cause a heart to beat several times its normal speed.
“Because the heart at that rate is like a bag of squiggly worms, with no effective contraction, no blood flow is going to the brain or kidneys or anyplace else,” Dr. Zipes said.
The normal heart may survive, if only tasered for a short period, but the abnormal heart?
“Would be more susceptible to effects of the electrical stimulation of the Taser,” Dr. Zipes said.
And Dr. Zipes is not alone in his analysis.
In May, the American Heart Association published a report examining the autopsies of eight people who died after being tasered.
Their conclusion: Tasers can cause cardiac arrest and death.
That’s why at Connecticut’s State Police training facility every cadet is given eight hours or more of Taser training, learning where to stand, when to shoot, how long to shoot for and, most importantly, where to aim.
And every cadet must also experience being tasered.
To date, Connecticut State Police have had no Taser related deaths or lawsuits, something they attribute to careful training.
But many local departments have not been so lucky.
Several lawsuits have been filed alleging the misuse of Tasers in Connecticut. Middletown Police face a lawsuit for tasering a middle school student. West Hartford police are being sued for tasering a deaf 12-year-old. And some towns have seen more Taser-related deaths than others.”
In September, Connecticut’s Department of Public Safety released a series of recommendations that local departments can adopt when it comes to Taser safety.
Some examples: Stun the subject the least number of times necessary, don’t stun a handcuffed suspect unless they “cannot be dealt with in any other less intrusive fashion.”
But the ACLU says that doesn’t go far enough, saying that regulation is necessary.
“Essentially, to seek records, so that a record is generated every time a Taser is fired so the public, legislators and police can understand how Tasers are being used. And that there be training required before an officer gets a Taser,” said ACLU attorney David McGuire.
South Windsor Police Chief Matthew Reed testified before the legislature against adopting similar regulations in 2012.
“We simply say, you can only use the amount of force that’s objectively reasonable to accomplish a lawful goal. That covers everything,” Chief Reed said.
And what about tasering children or the elderly? Reed says it’s not out of the question.
“I’ll tell you something, a 12-year-old can be incredibly violent.”
The chief acknowledges that Tasers have been misused in the past, but not enough to confine police officers.
“Unfortunately, communities pay dearly when those types of things happen. And that’s unfortunate because I truly believe that conducted electrical weapons, specifically the Taser, which we use here in South Windsor, has saved lives.”
To be clear, Taser is a brand of conducted electrical weapon most commonly used by law enforcement, but it is not the only brand available.