Executive Summary – Tasers have been abused by police for several years in the USA. They have been using the tasers on people who were confused, refused obeying verbal commands like get out of the car, stand her, do not move etc., as well as being used maliciously on people in wheelchairs, shooting children in the head and so on. Now a USA Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals court has ruled that the tasers can only be used by police in instances where the person in question is presenting an immediate threat to the police officer or a member of the public. This is consistent with the original intent of the taser, which was as an alternative to shooting a suspect. When the suspect was say posing a threat to the officer or another person yet did not have a weapon of deadly force capability the taser was used as a humane way to overcome the suspect without causing serious or life threatening damage which would be the case with firearm use on the part of the police.

The court ruled 3-0 in favor of the decision. There were so many videos of police abusing asters on Youtube and other similar sites that the court finally felt something had to be done. Amnesty International says from 2001 to 2008 there were 334 deaths from taser usage. That is a lot. Police claims that a person would not obey a command like stand here, sit there, get out of the car; stay in the car will no longer justify taser use. People may not hear the officer’s commands or understand them clearly. Also if a person acts deranged or weird taser use is not justified. The police or a citizen must be in immediate jeopardy from the suspect to justify taser use. If a person was choking someone or hitting them it would be allowed. If a person was in possession of a deadly weapon and was approaching a person or the police in a menacing fashion taser use would be justified.

If the police use a taser in a manner inconsistent with the court ruling then a civil suit can be brought against the officer and the department by the victim or their family if the victim dies or is incapacitated. To mitigate civil damages the police departments would probably sanction the officer accused and possibly fire him. Many of these incidents are recorded on the dashboard video camera of the police cruiser or are recorded on the video camera in the station or detention facility. Using tasers in correctional facilities on prisoners to get them to come out of cells was not addresses. In prisons they often have the suspect wear a vest that has a taser incorporated into it as a means of control and compliance. I expect a court case on taser use in prisons will be coming along very shortly.

There are new tasers getting ready for the market that shoot a large shotgun shell type projectile at the suspect. There are no wires and the taser apparatus is contained entirely inside the shell. This is a more dangerous type of taser since the shell itself while non-lethal can cause injuries especially if it hits the eye, throat or head. I am thinking these new tasers are not going to be bought or used. The company will probably take a big hit on this one. The taser use got so bad that there was actually a guy who designed a system for the airlines with the concept being everyone was buckled into their seats and each seat has a taser type device, which could be deployed any time by the airline staff or air marshals. What the people should learn from this is how drunk with power the taser made the police. Once again taser use as originally intended was not such a bad thing but then it got corrupted and now hopefully it will be used as originally intended as a more humane alternative to deadly force.

http://www.panamalaw.org