I'm glad to see towns around Charlotte debating the use of Tasers.
The stun guns are powerful weapons that can help police stop a bad guy without resorting to gunshots. But they also deliver an extremely painful, paralyzing shock – and should be used only in the most critical circumstances.
I know this first-hand, because I got Tased.
It was 2006. I hadn't committed a crime or otherwise provoked a police officer. I actually volunteered to "ride the lightning," as some officers call the Taser shock.
I was 24 and a new reporter covering Gaston County Police. The department's policy required that any officer selected to carry a Taser had to get zapped - so the officer would fully appreciate the pain and paralysis caused by the shock. So I figured a good reporter who planned to write about Tasers ought to know the pain too.
The video from that day gets great laughs in the newsroom: There I am, 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, standing between two beefy Gaston County police officers. Electrodes are attached to my foot and shoulder. An officer pulls the Taser trigger, and instantly, I stiffen and go down.
It lasted five seconds, they told me. I lost count after three. It's still the worst pain I've ever felt. Electricity hummed in my ears and my muscles contracted as my body conducted 50,000 volts.
I got up off the padded floor with an embarrassed smile - and a scorch mark on my right shoulder. It's a scar now, and I'm pretty sure will never go away.
I have since written dozens of stories about Tasers. They're widely used in Charlotte and the region, although the town of Stallings recently abandoned its use of Tasers to avoid possible liability issues.
A 2008 study by the advocacy group N.C. Taser Safety Project found improper Taser use contributed to 11 deaths in North Carolina in the prior four years. The biggest complaint I've heard at crime scenes is that officers are too quick to use the devices instead of employing other methods to de-escalate a situation.
CMPD shocked suspects 120 times in 2008, including a teen who died from cardiac arrest after he was shot with a Taser during a dispute in a grocery store. The officer was disciplined for shocking the suspect for too long (37 seconds) and the city paid the teen's family a $625,000 settlement. CMPD officers were given additional training in proper Taser use.
The next year, Taser use fell significantly. CMPD used the device 80 times in 2009. Some departments have reclassified Tasers as less lethal, instead of nonlethal. Others have clarified their policies after the U.S. Department of Justice urged agencies not to use Tasers, if possible, on small children, the elderly, people with heart disease or pregnant women.
It's good to see Taser policies evolve as we learn more about this effective - and very painful - weapon. --Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I feel your pain, Cleve.
ReplyDeleteI also took a brave step forward - for my fellow man - and in the interests of scientific knowledge that had already been proven many countless times beyond a shadow of a doubt ...
I offered to consume alcohol while in college - really, this is the truth! - as part of an experiment to help my fellow students understand the evils of driving after drinking off-campus.
Since I had a PT job as a bartender in an off-campus gin-mill, who better to also understand the dangers of over-serving patrons and realizing the need to check ID's better?
This was in 1969 and every single fact we attempted to re-inforce had already been proven - scientifically and experimentally - oh, what - how many thousands of times?????
Cleve, I can only say to you what I learned most from my ordeal - perhaps not as painfully as the experiment YOU performed.
That sage warning to myself was ... YOU'RE A @#$%^&*@#$%^& IDIOT!!! NOTHING NEW WAS GAINED OR DISCOVERED BY WHAT YOU JUST DID!!!!!! NOT SQUAT!!!!!! EVERYTHING THAT RESULTED WAS ALREADY KNOWN FOR DECADES BEFORE YOUR IGNORANCE ON THE SAME SUBJECT FINALLY CAME TO LIGHT!!!!!
STOP BEATING A DEAD HORSE!!!!!
Or .... WANNA ELIMINATE THAT NAGGING HEADACHE THAT BEEN BOTHERING YOU, THEN STOP BEATING YOUR HEAD AGAINST A WALL!!!!!!!
Almost everyone who has ever died from a taser was already in a cocaine overdose situation. If you're going to cover it, learn some facts. And would you rather have a suspect beaten down with a club or tased? There's hardly ever any permanent injury from a taser. Clubs, however, break bones.
ReplyDeleteOnce again an incomplete report as the above stated. It so amazing tome when a reports as written as, "Facts", when they are so incomplete and lacking in data. I challenge those who believe that Taser are so unnecessary to walk the streets that officers do. Tasers have saved more lives and injuries than any other tool law enforcement has ever used.
ReplyDeleteYou're a braver man than I am, Cleve. Did they use the actual electrodes that get shot into your skin, or was this a test setup? I also like that the officers have to know what the shock is like before they are issued a taser. I wonder if the CMPD does this too.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta be kidding me Charlotte Observer! What kind of story is this? Some simpleton fluff piece on the painful effect of Tasers?
ReplyDeleteA more important and informative article would be to go back and examine our police Chief, Rodney Monroe's completion of his degree and whether any favoritism was exhibited by VCU.
It's this kind of garbage that makes me continue to not pay for the Observer and at best, occupies my attention for only 2-3 minutes/day.
Want to not get tased? Listen to police officers and don't put yourself in those situations. Those who get tased are done so because of their illegal or disruptive behavior.
ReplyDeleteI saw a guy get tased in the movie The Hangover.
ReplyDeleteCops should forego the taser and use guns more often.
ReplyDeleteAgain, this reminds me why I don't read comments on news sites or Youtube. Anonymous idiots who hide behind their computer screen and are afraid to make it known who they are.
ReplyDeleteSo do the cops get to shoot each other with live ammo before they get to use their pistols?
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that this is a big vote of confidence in tasers.
Personally, I'd want a grenade to deal with some of the scum I see out there.
I would NEVER consider a taser for home protection. A shotgun is much better.
i think that the taser should never be used. it is just too dangerous. i see on tv officers using the taser on people that are not resisting or anything. i believe there is far too many trigger happy cops that get a thrill out of hurting people they just come up with some cranked up reason to justify using it. just like a year or so ago a N.C.Tropper killed 2 people while running 120 mph just seconds before the. crash and 95 mph at time of impact. he claimed he was chasing a speeder. a eye witness came forward saying there was no other car. this tropper is a murderer but the State is not doing anything towards charging him . in fact he went back to work shortly after the wreak.where would you be now if this had been you driving 120mph and killed 2 innocent people? they call this justice for all.i hate to say it in a way but The Bible says a tooth for a tooth and a eye for a eye
ReplyDeleteAny officer who is issued a Taser has to go through training and yes they must be Tased as part of being certified to us it.
ReplyDeleteThem all obtaining Diablo 3 Gold very helpful throughout totally different ways, you're tempted to create by using them all (that is without doubt a bad idea primarily because Heartseeker provides you with a better break open compared to hemorrhaging, in addition to an individual rebound Diablo3bay at your pay attention to developing the impact redundant, there are other further cost-effective signifies associated with locating turn invisible).
ReplyDelete