The parents of Darryl Turner were awarded $10 million by a jury yesterday as a result of their lawsuit against Taser International. Turner was a 17-year-old Charlottean who died of cardiac arrest three years ago after being shocked with a Taser by a Charlotte police officer. The $10 million judgment is the biggest jury award ever rendered against the company and, although the amount may be trimmed later on appeal, it’s still a major victory for critics of the company and its product. Tasers, or stun guns, are routinely touted by the company and law enforcement officials nationwide as an effective “non-lethal alternative” — although, as we wrote in 2008 after Turner’s death, for a non-lethal alternative, Tasers sure seem to be killing a lot of people.
As if to prove the point, another person in Charlotte died yesterday after being Tasered by a police officer on Woodlawn Road. For Charlotte police, the latest Taser-related death couldn’t come at a worse time, i.e., the very day that Darryl Turner’s parents’ lawsuit ended, reminding the public of CMPD’s role in Turner’s death. What struck me as particularly galling, not to say darkly ironic, is that the daily paper’s report on the Turner family’s court victory goes to unusual lengths to explain how CMPD supposedly learned from Turner’s death and has tightened restrictions on Taser use. Documented evidence makes it pretty clear that too many police officers in the U.S. are relying on Tasers as a way to subdue uncooperative suspects, including the more than 140 deaths detailed by the Arizona Republic in 2006. Remember the 75-year-old grandmother who was Tasered by a Rock Hill officer in 2005? Or the Lancaster, S.C., inmate who died after being hit with six consecutive shocks from a Taser? But have you heard about the 9-year-old girl in handcuffs in Tucson? How about the pregnant Illinois woman who was Tasered in her abdomen? Or the guy in Utah who was Tasered for refusing to sign his traffic ticket? Or the 14-year-old girl in New Mexico who was Tasered in the head? Or any of the other hundreds of examples of police using a Taser to save themselves the trouble of subduing someone normally, i.e., in a way that won’t potentially kill him? To say the very least, Tasers are controversial weapons and are becoming more controversial all the time as injuries, deaths, misuse and lawsuits pile up.
Considering all that, as well as the inconclusive nature of available research, this seems like a good time to renew the call for City Council to direct CMPD to quit using Tasers until more definitive research has been conducted on whether Taser use is ever safe. Here’s a video of the man who didn’t want to sign his traffic ticket being Tasered; it happens at around the 8-minute mark.
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2011.
I’m sorry but I don’t think yesterday’s incident helps your case. In general, I find the inappropriate and frequent use of tasers appalling, and yeah, we have a ton of tragic and horrifying stories to make a case for their ban.
However, what happened yesterday was one of the incidents where a taser WAS used appropriately. It’s not like I think the suspect’s death was a good thing at all (even if he was actively beating a woman), but if the cop hadn’t had a taser, he would have used his gun, and the suspect AND victim would have been in greater danger.
Good point STU. This is like try to ban a vaccine because 1 in a million people die from it. The benefits out weigh the cost. OF course people like Groomy will focus on the negative side of the taser but ignore it greater good. The alternative to the taser is a baton upside the head or a gun shot. Libs try their best to ignore the big picture.
Groomy?
Just to be clear, the law should come down HARD on cops who use tasers frivolously or unnecessarily, which does happen quite a lot. But the cop in yesterday’s incident was totally justified.
Actually, Billy Bob Frank, in most of the cases the alternative is merely tackling someone and cuffing them. God forbid that a cop should have to use traditional practices, not to mention getting his or her uniform dirty. It’s better to risk killing someone, I guess.
If the TASER is used instead of a justified use of a firearm and the person dies it is just unfortunate. However if the TASER is used in place of a physical confrontation and the person dies it should be a homicide.
The TASER is applying a high voltage electric charge to a human body. It doesn’t take a giant mentality to realize that it might sometimes cause death.
A TASER should never be used:
1- To avoid having to forcibly arrest someone.
2- To punish a person who has made the officer angry.
3- To force a person to comply with a police officer’s orders.
4- To catch a person who is running away.
A TASER should only be used to avoid having to use deadly physical force.
Grooms, you friggin bleedin’-heart liberal…TACKLE the thugs?..how about if the guys 6’5 300lb….how about if the cops a woman?…how about the guy stop beating this woman, obey the cops commands and he’s still alive?…cops sometimes abuse tasers in this country, the same way bankers abuse the SEC, athletes abuse steroids, politicians abuse public trust and journalists slant stories and bury facts…in this case the use was COMPLETELY justified…how about not be a career criminal and you’re still alive?…maybe if you were on the receiving end of a thug doing something like this to you or a family member, and the cop if on the guys back trying to wrap his arms up, or pull him off of you while he’s rifling you in the head repeatedly, instead of stopping it immediately by tasering him…then maybe you’d actually have some real life situation to write and base a story on something real instead of bulletpoint ideology….