Aftershocks: Taser safety under fire

Every time someone dies in police custody after being zapped with a Taser, fresh questions arise about their safety.

The devices, which fire stun-producing darts to subdue suspects, have been criticized by humanitarian and civil rights groups because of 290 deaths associated with them.

Yet, police across the country increasingly are equipping themselves with Tasers, and supporters of the weapons say many more lives have been saved because officers avoided firing bullets.

The death of a Fridley man Tuesday after being shot with a Taser after a traffic accident on Interstate 694 in New Brighton has brought the issue back to Minnesota.

Three others have died here after being shot by police with Tasers since 2003, but their deaths were attributed to other causes.

Prof. Bill Lewinski, founder and director of the Force Science Research Center at Minnesota State University, Mankato, which studies police use of force, expressed doubt that Tasers are causing so many deaths.

However, he said, the safety question should have been settled long ago through independent, government-supported research.

Much of the safety research on the Tasers has been supported by the manufacturer, he and other experts said.

"For the decade or more that Tasers have been involved in this controversy, why hasn't the federal government stepped in?" he asked. If the same number of deaths were linked to a drug or medical device, federal agencies would have acted promptly, he said.

The National Institute of Justice, which is part of the Justice Department, has commissioned several studies over the past few years to gauge the safety of the devices, said agency spokesman Evan Peterson.

In October, the first such study was released. Researchers led by Dr. William Bozeman of Wake Forest University examined nearly 1,000 cases of Taser use by police, and found only a small number of injuries and two deaths attributed to other causes.

Other federal studies are expected in the coming months, Peterson said.

Dr. John Butt, a forensic pathologist in Vancouver, B.C., who has consulted for the provincial government on Taser use, said the Canadian government is only now conducting independent research of the devices.

One problem in studying Taser-related deaths is that the victims often were using drugs such as cocaine or suffering from a manic disorder, he said. Research suggests that people in those conditions, when excited to the point of delirium, release adrenaline-like substances that may trigger an increase in blood pressure and cause other effects leading to cardiac arrest, he said.

"These [kinds of] deaths were occurring before the Taser came along," he said.

Butt added that it's impossible to directly study a Taser's effects on humans because shocking people deliberately would be considered unethical. Such research has been done on pigs, he said.

Tasers shoot barbed hooks that when attached to a suspect's body or clothing send a jolt of electricity, disabling muscle control and typically causing the person to topple as if frozen.

As police have adopted Tasers, departments have revised use-of-force procedures that guide officers in using the devices. A 2005 Government Accountability Office study of seven law enforcement agencies found that policies varied. Generally, the policies called for the Taser to be used when a suspect is assaulting an officer or acting volatile. One department allowed its use if a suspect doesn't respond to the officer's orders.

At the Wisconsin State Patrol, which began using Tasers two years ago, Sgt. David Fish of the Eau Claire district said the devices can quickly quell suspects who are in an excited, delirious state. In training, troopers are advised to consider the device in the face of active resistance or threat. Alternatives include chemical spray or a baton, he said.

"That is the good thing about using a Taser," Fish said. "The Taser makes the arrest more efficient and quicker."

The most prominent critics of Tasers have been Amnesty International, which has called for a moratorium until more research is done, and the American Civil Liberties Union, whose Northern California branch issued a critical report on the devices two years ago.

"We are not calling for a ban on Tasers," said Mark Schlosberg, police practices policy director for the ACLU branch. "We are calling for more regulation of the Taser."

Staff writer Jim Adams and researcher Sandy Date contributed to this report. David Shaffer • 612-673-7090

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