# Fucking Tasers! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 27, 2007, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971 "2007-11-27T22:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/1 "2007-11-27T22:47:04Z")
Jesus Christ! Six people in one fucking week die of tasers…What the hell is going on here? When did this shit even begin? I have always been a fan of law enforcement officers, but this shit is ludicrous. [http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/index.php?p=134](http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/index.php?p=134) I say bring back the big sticks. Cops don’t need to fucking shock people. If a cop can’t defend himself against an unarmed man with the use of a stick, then he shouldn’t be a cop. They don’t need these tasers, which are ridiculous. Police brutality is a tricky subject, surely, but this shit has gotten out of hand. It’s fucking sadistic if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/2 "2007-11-27T22:56:46Z")
Fascinating video. Thanks, **Merkwurdigliebe**. Especially memorable: “The penalty for resisting arrest ought not to be death.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/3 "2007-11-27T22:57:40Z")
People have died from getting their ass beat with big sticks, too. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/4 "2007-11-27T23:01:34Z")
But isn’t the real problem assholes who abuse authority? I think Tasers as a police weapon are valid in certain circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/5 "2007-11-27T23:02:50Z")
Well, the bad heart thing rings particularly true to me. America is chock full of obese people with clogged arteries and weak hearts. Even athletes can have bad tickers. I’m no doctor, but my understanding is that electrical shock can be traumatic to the heart. And there’s no way for cops to know whether someone can withstand the tase. ETA: On posting, I see the comment about people abusing authority. I don’t advocate abuse of authority, but resistance to authority is often both reasonable and morally compelling. It is much easier for the authorities to abuse people than the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/6 "2007-11-27T23:10:21Z")
Morally compelling maybe, but still against the law. I don’t think having a bad ticker gives you a pass on behaving badly or physically assaulting police officers. If a cop threatens me with tasing, I think I’ll comply and fight the charges in court. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/7 "2007-11-27T23:18:31Z")
It’s a statistical anomoly that 6 people died recently. Police aren’t averaging 6 people dead per week…according to [AI](http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0328-02.htm) , there have been 150 taser related deaths since 2001. My guess is more people died using tooth picks in that same period. I think this is another instance of people being very bad at risk assessment and statistic, to be honest. People die of all manner of weird shit. Kids hit in the chest by a baseball die occasionally from their heart stopping. That doesn’t mean we should stop little league or change to nerf baseballs. If the officers in question are using the things incorrectly, or inappropriately, then that is something that can be fixed. But to take a tool away because some very small percentage of people are at risk? -XT ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/8 "2007-11-27T23:26:02Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] My guess is more people died using tooth picks in that same period. [/QUOTE] It would appear you’re [correct](http://www.videojug.com/expertanswer/unlikely-ways-to-die/how-many-people-have-died-from-toothpicks) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/9 "2007-11-27T23:39:43Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] Morally compelling maybe, but still against the law. I don’t think having a bad ticker gives you a pass on behaving badly or physically assaulting police officers. If a cop threatens me with tasing, I think I’ll comply and fight the charges in court. [/QUOTE] If I understand your reasoning correctly, so long as you do things the way you believe is right, it is okay if others are executed for doing things differently. Just curious … what do you recommend for \*armed \* resisters? Dousing their wives and children with gasoline and setting them on fire? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/10 "2007-11-27T23:42:16Z")
Simple fact is that the people should have complied with the officers instructions, and not resisted to the point where tasing became necessary. That’s why we have courts. The judges get paid to hear arguments, not the cops. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/11 "2007-11-27T23:43:22Z")
Those who do not submit themselves to the will of the state will be punished. If a police officer is pointing a taser at your chest you probably shouldn’t (as depicted in the linked video) walk away while mouthing off. I would comply with his orders and/or lay on the ground in a prone position. As for the woman who was handcuffed and being tasered repeatedly, well, I’m sure she deserved it. Perhaps she insulted the officer’s manhood. I can not wait until they deploy the device which emits an area of effect radiation curtain which makes the target’s skin feels like it’s on fire. Goodbye, demonstrations! Go back to France where you came from. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/12 "2007-11-28T00:06:07Z")
My first thought was ‘poor quality control’, either in the production or calibration. ---
**Author:** ![RedRosesForMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RedRosesForMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedRosesForMe)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/13 "2007-11-28T00:19:01Z")
I think it’s probably true that police officers are more likely to use tasers than guns or sticks because they’re not seen to be dangerous, so that many people are being tased when the situation doesn’t call for it. Take my friend. He’s a beast of a guy, about 6’4, 275 pounds. He looks very intimidating, but he’s really a teddy bear. He had the misfortune to turn down an alley where cops were breaking up a brawl. He didn’t do anything threatening, but the cops immediately ordered him on the ground. He said, “What the hell, I’m not doing anything,” and started backing up with his hands in the air. He got tased. Now, the next part makes him seem kinda crazy. He pulled the little taser thing out of his chest and threw it on the ground. He immediately got jumped by no less than 6 officers, who tased him again when he was on the ground and in handcuffs, because he was yelling that he didn’t do anything. A bystander got it all on film, and he’s suing. I understand the other posters who say that you should follow the cop’s instructions and let the courts figure it out, but in some situations I know _I_ wouldn’t have the presence of mind to keep my mouth shut. Like if I walked down the wrong alley at the wrong time. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/14 "2007-11-28T00:19:54Z")
[QUOTE=j666] My first thought was ‘poor quality control’, either in the production or calibration. [/QUOTE] That’s a decent possibility, but we could also just accept the cost-benefit trade-off. _Not_ letting police have tasers could lead to an even larger number of dead suspects from beatings and choke holds, and possibly dead police officers as well. The stats to compare might be those of a particular police department in the two years before and two years after adding tasers to their arsenal. Demanding _zero_ dead suspects just makes the cops useless, unable to physically engage any suspect, anytime. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/15 "2007-11-28T00:45:16Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] … what do you recommend for \*armed \* resisters? Dousing their wives and children with gasoline and setting them on fire? [/QUOTE] Yea, cuz that’s what I read into it :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/16 "2007-11-28T00:53:00Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] If I understand your reasoning correctly, so long as you do things the way you believe is right, it is okay if others are executed for doing things differently. Just curious … what do you recommend for \*armed \* resisters? Dousing their wives and children with gasoline and setting them on fire? [/QUOTE] I thought my position was clear - there are officers who are misusing Tasers. IMHO, _that_ is the problem. There are many things in our society that are ‘approved’ as good for us as a whole but cause accidental deaths such as inoculations, for example. My point was that compliance, as legally required, will go a long way solving the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/17 "2007-11-28T01:19:02Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] My point was that compliance, as legally required, will go a long way solving the problem. [/QUOTE] Be that as it may, power can drive people to cruelty and corruption. If you watched the video, you saw that in at least one case, the “resistance” consisted of walking back to his car during a traffic stop. Like I said, it is easier for those in authority to abuse those who aren’t than the other way around. A guy with a gun thinks he’s powerful, and he puts up a powerful resistance. But that’s not what happened in any of the five cases. No one was armed. No one offered any significant resistance. One didn’t even speak English. They did not deserve summary execution. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/18 "2007-11-28T02:28:59Z")
There’s nothing tricky about police brutality. There’s a simple answer: any use of force beyond _the absolute minimum necessary_ to apprehend a suspect and/or keep him from killing or seriously injuring other people, is wrong. The cops who do it would be punished with bloody lashings and humiliating community service work if I ran the world. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/19 "2007-11-28T02:32:07Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Demanding _zero_ dead suspects just makes the cops useless, unable to physically engage any suspect, anytime. [/QUOTE] There’s always harsh language. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971/20 "2007-11-28T02:36:17Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] There’s nothing tricky about police brutality. There’s a simple answer: any use of force beyond the absolute minimum necessary to apprehend a suspect and/or keep him from killing or seriously injuring other people, is wrong. The cops who do it would be punished with bloody lashings and humiliating community service work if I ran the world. [/QUOTE] What would you do with the murderers and rapist types, out of curiosity? What about the thieves and robbers? -XT [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-tasers/427971.md?page=2)