TV reporter is blasted by Taser on air

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1382033,00.html

~snip~

Today a reporter from Sky News agreed to be zapped with a Taser by a police marksman, to test the effects of the weapon which an Amnesty International report today linked to 70 deaths in the United States and Canada.

Struck in the behind by the probes from the stun gun, reporter Derek Tedder fell to the ground. For the first few seconds the news channel bleeped out his reactions.

When he had recovered a little, he reported: "It's like someone ramming you with a bed of very sharp nails over your entire body. I couldn't do anything but fall to the floor."

~snip~

Kate Allen, the UK director of Amnesty International, said: "Tasers have been used in the US against pregnant women, unruly schoolchildren and mentally ill people. In some cases, simply walking away from a police officer has led to people getting a 50,000 volt electric shock. Is this a glimpse into the future of UK policing?"

but it's not something that can just be done

I imagine it's quite the effective tool in the torturer's hand.

The little darts that it fires out have barbs on them. Think of a straightened fish hook. There is definite physical evidence of being tasered, in that you will have two punctures in your skin.

A stun gun on the other hand, leaves little evidence, if it is used in short bursts. It would probably leave marks if used for more than a second or two, or if used on a sensitive area of the body.

or has tested is what the long range effect on the nervous system is.
Like shock"therapy".

...is causing a HUGE controversy nationwide as police begin using them in what are in fact "less than lethal" situations...6 and 13 year olds tased in Florida and recently a 21 year old killed by a paint ball gun at a Boston sports event...It speaks volumes toward police morality that devices designed to lessen confrontations leading to fatal shootings has instead become a common tool for of suppression and more often a first choice rather than the second to last option...

I agree, the less than lethal tag does not mean potentially nonlethal, it simply means not as likely to kill the victim as, say, a 9mm bullet. There has to be more research on a new technology before it is applied whole scale to the general public. The rush to issue untried technologies does and will continue to lead to unwarranted abuse and fatalities.

1) they will keep a safe distance

2) those of a criminal element will make full use of guns

by an undercover police officer in Manhattan. I was walking home early one morning last year, and this big scary guy in a hooded sweatshirt asked to bum a cigarette. I happily gave him a smoke, and a light. Then I turned and walked away.

The next thing I knew I was sitting on a doorstep, with about a dozen guys with wires hanging out of their ears, talking to their lapels.

The guy who bummed the cigarette was asking me repeatedly, "What size shoes do you wear?" It turns out they thought I was a shoe bomber and had taken my shoes and cut them apart looking for explosives.

They gave me an old ratty pair of boots three sized to big and told me, "Take off." They also confiscated my Leatherman multi-tool, a Father's Day gift from my children.

I was so stunned I didn't know what was happening. When I awoke the next morning, I had a burn five inches long on the back of my right shoulder.

A person familiar with stun guns told me that they don't cause burns unless they are either souped-up or of a grade only available to police and military.

To make a long story short -- yeah, they'll do it to you from behind, even for no damned reason. (It turns out I was approaching the police complex in Grammercy when I was zapped.)

I think you have an open and shut case. Zapping someone without warning is certainly against regulations.

:wow:

I do hope that you can sue these bastards for everything that they have or might have for the rest of their lives. :grr:

It makes the "no good deed goes unpunished" saying sound like a fairytale

I was walking home early one morning last year, and this big scary guy in a hooded sweatshirt asked to bum a cigarette. I happily gave him a smoke, and a light. Then I turned and walked away.

Are you sure they were police or military types, and not a bunch of thugs who managed to steal the gun from authorities? For that matter, maybe they were police/military who were not acting in an official capacity, but just wanted to have some sick "fun".

Surely the abuse you received is not standard procedure, not to mention the theft of your Fathers Day gift.

free speech...TAKE THAT!!!!

On wonders, when authorities taser a pregnant woman, does the fetus feel the bed of nails as well?

Would the pregnant woman have two claims of abuse by authorities?

be terminated at will. I wouldn't touch that one with a ten foot pole.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/29/health/main658209.shtml

(AP) Medical examiners have found that Taser electric stun guns may have played a role in at least five deaths, contradicting the manufacturer's claim that the weapons never killed or injured anyone, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Medical examiners in three cases involving suspects who died in police custody cited Tasers as a cause or a contributing factor in the deaths, The Arizona Republic reported. In two other cases, Tasers could not be ruled out as a cause of death.

Taser International has defended its product, which thousands of law enforcement agencies have issued to their officers to help subdue people who refuse to obey commands.

The Scottsdale-based company created a report detailing 42 cases of people who died after being shot by a Taser. The company claims the stun guns were cleared every time.

"It is not Taser International that says Taser is not to blame," Taser chief executive Rick Smith said in an April news release. "It is the medical examiner's opinion in every single case across the country."

...more...

I meant to post it to mine in an edit and forgot. Thanks for posting!

:)

maybe it would shock them in to telling the truth

... as a likely candidate.

They aren't very electrifying, but maybe a tasering would perk up their Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dum act.

Let's hope right wing journalists will volunteer for more such experiments in Western culture.

Hear me, Fox journos?

If you stand directly under air strikes in Iraq, you'll be able to taste the smell of democracy in the morning!

What's so shocking about taser misuse? (pardon the pun). I've observed it, I've been abused.

I wish these reporters would start doing more to say how it impacts everybody instead of saying it in a way that condones or allows people to simply say "oh well". Once people realize that it's going to affect them, they will stand up against it.

can we make it compulsory for all Murdoch's reporters to be zapped on a regular basis?

but I don't know if it was a taser... :)

i felt it was pretty tasteless.