# Taser use still justified? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 2, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269 "2005-08-02T05:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/41 "2005-08-02T19:01:03Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > How about the [man who died after being tasered?](http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/05/03/phoenix_man_dies_after_being_tasered/) > > Not enough deaths? [How about another?](http://www.sptimes.com/2005/05/08/State/Miami_man_dies_after_.shtml) > > Or what about [this man in Canada?](http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/07/23/vancouver_taser040723.html) > > : : : > > Maybe it’s time we start to evaluate whether these things really are ‘less lethal’ alternatives, and not be so quick to rely on them when other means could be used. I tend to think that the streaker at the demolition derby could’ve been handled without resorting to a Taser. Streaker without taser, yes. Although it’s not totally clear to me what harm was done. Most of your other examples – the common thread seems to be that the guys being tasered were violent and incoherent and it’s likely that drugs were involved in several cases. So maybe getting tweaked and then tasered isn’t a wise recreational choice. But I’ve also seen articles where guys got wrestled to the ground by cops and became unresponsive and died. No taser involved. Basically, resisting arrest is a high-risk occupation. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/42 "2005-08-02T19:02:18Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > Obviously I don’t like it either. And that’s why I hold the position that police can, do, and will continue to misuse tasers (as well as other types of force), and why I argue for strict rules governing their appropriateness. I don’t believe a taser should be used as a first means of force, or in place of physical restraint when a person is already in custody, or as a means of gaining compliance with a subject who is not physically combative. We’re not disagreeing here. Nevada’s set-up certainly does not help, as misuse and abuse appear to be given a pass. I don’t know if stricter rules will help if they don’t have teeth behind them. I do believe that a taser can be used as a first means of force (partly depending on how force is defined). It certainly should not be used in place of physical restraint or on a non-combative subject (and police definitions of combative subject should probably be stricter). Reviews of taser (and firearm) use should not be rubber-stamps processes. Each use should help refine the best way a good officer can respond to an unpredictable situation. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/43 "2005-08-02T19:48:03Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > Whoops, hit the wrong button. That’s what the cop said. bDOOM _kssh_ ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/44 "2005-08-02T19:51:29Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You said the arrestees “hold fast”. Do you mean they are hanging onto something and won’t let go? Or do you mean they just go limp, as protesters were advised to do in my student days? > > FWIW, in my younger days, I trained with a local police chief, who showed me his pain compliance holds using handcuffs. This were definitely unpleasant. I also learned an old-style _taiho-jutsu_ technique used by the Japanese police before WWII. This involves using the edge of the forearm under a subject’s nose to get him to come to his feet and walk along with you. It involves a risk of breaking the subject’s nose. Plus it hurts like hell. Would you say that was better. or worse, than Tasers? > > Regards, > Shodan I meant that they hold fast to their strategy of civil disobedience, i.e. go limp, etc. I don’t believe that any use of force is going to be without risk of injury, or necessarily free from pain. All are going to be unpleasant, or how would it force compliance? I’m sure that cases of people being tickled into submission are few and far between, at best. I have been on the recieving end of a number of electric shocks, of varying voltages and amperages. I have also been kicked, hit, scratched and cut with a knife during altercations. Of them, I can say that the injuries (cut lip, puffy cheek, laceration on my thigh, etc.) were bad, but the physical feeling of being shocked is absolutely the most painful, excruciating thing that I have felt. And I’ve been hurt in lots of ways, even life-threatening ones through accidents. The notion that we are giving police a device that can cause horrendous pain and leave little or no external mark bothers me, because of the lack of control I feel exists on it’s use. Recently we had a case here where an officer used a taser on a suspect and then failed to disclose that he had done so. He later claimed that he did not know it had gone off, despite the fact that it was in his hand as he sought to physically restrain the suspect. ([cite](http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Sep-17-Fri-2004/news/24769878.html)) Given the description of what a taser does: > [@TASER International](#): > > Method of Incapacitation: Electro-physical, involuntary contraction of skeletal muscle tissue. Overrides the motor nervous system, blocking command & control of the human body. Existing stun systems stimulate sensory neurons and can be over-ridden by a focused individual. The TASER EMD devices directly stimulate motor nerve and muscle tissue, causing incapacitation regardless of mental focus, training, size, or drug induced dementia. [cite](http://www.taser.com/facts/qa.htm) It seems incredible to me this officer thought that statement would hold up once anyone began to ask him questions about the incident. (Please note that this was officer was, in fact, fired for his conduct re: this incident & several other highly unethical partakings. Sheriff Bill Young seems to be a good man and a good cop, and IMO has done the right thing in a number of officer-involved cases.) I would be highly favorable of installing hardware and software in a taser to record the date and time of every discharge, sort of a black box, so that the possibility of oversight will exist beyond recieving statements from the officer and the tazee, but as I write this it is the first time I’ve ever seen the suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/45 "2005-08-02T19:53:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo > Whoops, hit the wrong button. > [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > That’s what the cop said. bDOOM _kssh_ :smack: yeah, I been waitin’ for that one! I mean, it was just sitting there, waitin’ for someone to say it 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/46 "2005-08-02T20:08:13Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Most of your other examples – the common thread seems to be that the guys being tasered were violent and incoherent and it’s likely that drugs were involved in several cases. So maybe getting tweaked and then tasered isn’t a wise recreational choice. But I’ve also seen articles where guys got wrestled to the ground by cops and became unresponsive and died. No taser involved. Basically, resisting arrest is a high-risk occupation. Don’t do anything that will get you arrested is sound advice. If you do get arrested - don’t resist - also sound advice. However, cops often have to deal with people who have already made series of bad decisions. If there is a correlation between drugs and death when tasered, then the police probably need a different approach. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/47 "2005-08-02T20:33:08Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > I would be highly favorable of installing hardware and software in a taser to record the date and time of every discharge, sort of a black box, so that the possibility of oversight will exist beyond recieving statements from the officer and the tazee, but as I write this it is the first time I’ve ever seen the suggestion. Can’t find my cite in short order, but I recall hearing or reading that some tasers do have accountability devices installed. It should be standard. Stupid cop misusing a weapon is not the weapon’s fault. > [@adam yax](#): > > If there is a correlation between drugs and death when tasered, then the police probably need a different approach. I respectfully disagree. I think the police need the method that puts the public and the police in the least danger, whatever that method is. If someone is going to correlate taser use and death to people on drugs, I think they should also correlate police injuries subduing belligerent drug users with a taser versus without. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/48 "2005-08-07T16:39:27Z")
> [@Chicago Tribune](#): > > The Cook County medical examiner’s office has ruled that a Chicago police sergeant’s Taser stun gun killed a man, the first time in the United States the supposedly non-lethal device has been determined to have caused death. [cite](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0507300246jul30,1,15824.story?coll=chi-news-hed) The fact that a taser had not yet been determined to have been the cause of death, only a contributing factor, was often used as an argument that the devices were safe to use, and not really that painful or injurious. Now, the Las Vegas Metro PD has acknowledged that the weapons are not non-lethal, and has discontinued shocking officers as a part of training. > [@Las Vegas Review Journal](#): > > Las Vegas police Deputy Chief Mike Ault said the department about six weeks ago implemented new policies aimed at reducing potential injuries from Tasers. > > And the department no longer refers to the weapons as “nonlethal,” as it had since purchasing hundreds of the devices in December 2003. **The department also no longer stuns officers as part of their training because too many officers suffered injuries**. (bold added) > > “We have found out that the original policy we provided (officers) wasn’t the best policy to give our officers direction,” Ault said. “We don’t say the Taser is nonlethal. We say **it has a low-lethality potential**.” (bold added) [cite](http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Aug-07-Sun-2005/news/26999450.html) I commend the LVMPD for implenting changes in their training and in their terminology. It is my sincere hope that this will be followed by changes in their use of force guidelines. As I said in the OP, > [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > It is my feeling that police are now, and in the future will be, less and less likely to seek any other resolution than to simply taser a subject into helplessness, unless stricter guidelines and restrictions on the use of a taser are made now, since officers in the field have already begun to set their own precedents. It is my position that a taser should be a last resort, used before a bullet but not before, or in place of, taking someone into custody through simple physical means (grabbing an arm, placing handcuffs on a subject, etc). Let’s hope that other police agencies will also review their policies and their training and make appropriate changes so that no one else loses their life needlessly. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/49 "2005-08-07T17:53:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > I have been on the recieving end of a number of electric shocks, of varying voltages and amperages. I have also been kicked, hit, scratched and cut with a knife during altercations. Of them, I can say that the injuries (cut lip, puffy cheek, laceration on my thigh, etc.) were bad, but the physical feeling of being shocked is absolutely the most painful, excruciating thing that I have felt. BDSM on the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/50 "2005-08-07T19:32:44Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > I commend the LVMPD for implenting changes in their training and in their terminology. It is my sincere hope that this will be followed by changes in their use of force guidelines. As I said in the OP, > Let’s hope that other police agencies will also review their policies and their training and make appropriate changes so that no one else loses their life needlessly. I think you are assuming that reduced use of the Taser will be associated with reduced civilian injuries overall, and that may not be a good assumption. As I mentioned, many methods of effecting an arrest carry as much or more risk than a Tasering. If the other methods are more risky than a Taser, then reducing use of a Taser will increase the risk of injury overall. Any level of force beyond a “pretty please” carries a risk of death. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/51 "2005-08-07T19:45:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo > I have been on the recieving end of a number of electric shocks, of varying voltages and amperages. I have also been kicked, hit, scratched and cut with a knife during altercations. Of them, I can say that the injuries (cut lip, puffy cheek, laceration on my thigh, etc.) were bad, but the physical feeling of being shocked is absolutely the Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo > I have been on the recieving end of a number of electric shocks, of varying voltages and amperages. I have also been kicked, hit, scratched and cut with a knife during altercations. Of them, I can say that the injuries (cut lip, puffy cheek, laceration on my thigh, etc.) were bad, but the physical feeling of being shocked is absolutely the most painful, excruciating thing that I have felt… Meh. Back in my college days we used to get wasted and shock each other with a stun gun. Yeah, not exactly high class behaviour expected of magistrates and future noblemen, but we all survived. Maybe it was the booze talking, but none of us complained and in fact we all came out unscathed. Not that I don’t admit it was stupid, drunken nonsense. The fact that I remember it is trubute to the fact that it’s not that bad! = ) Then again, I’m not sure how much voltage a tazer has vs a stun gun. My post was mostly in jest, revealing the stupidity of college students… but my point does stand… being shocked is not the “Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo I have been on the recieving end of a number of electric shocks, of varying voltages and amperages. I have also been kicked, hit, scratched and cut with a knife during altercations. Of them, I can say that the injuries (cut lip, puffy cheek, laceration on my thigh, etc.) were bad, but the physical feeling of being shocked is absolutely the most painful, excruciating thing that I have felt”, but YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/52 "2005-08-08T05:14:59Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I think you are assuming that reduced use of the Taser will be associated with reduced civilian injuries overall, and that may not be a good assumption. As I mentioned, many methods of effecting an arrest carry as much or more risk than a Tasering. If the other methods are more risky than a Taser, then reducing use of a Taser will increase the risk of injury overall. > > Any level of force beyond a “pretty please” carries a risk of death. > > Regards, > Shodan **Shodan** , just stop thinking and read the words I write. I made no mention of any of the things you think I am assuming or saying. Please stop trying to put words into my mouth (or into my posts). If you have an opinion, just state it along with the relevant cites so we know how you arrived at your conclusion. But don’t put words into my mouth, please. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/53 "2005-08-08T05:51:44Z")
> [@Squee](#): > > Meh. Back in my college days we used to get wasted and shock each other with a stun gun. Yeah, not exactly high class behaviour expected of magistrates and future noblemen, but we all survived. Maybe it was the booze talking, but none of us complained and in fact we all came out unscathed. Not that I don’t admit it was stupid, drunken nonsense. The fact that I remember it is trubute to the fact that it’s not that bad! = ) > > Then again, I’m not sure how much voltage a tazer has vs a stun gun. My post was mostly in jest, revealing the stupidity of college students… but my point does stand… being shocked is not the “Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo > I have been on the recieving end of a number of electric shocks, of varying voltages and amperages. I have also been kicked, hit, scratched and cut with a knife during altercations. Of them, I can say that the injuries (cut lip, puffy cheek, laceration on my thigh, etc.) were bad, but the physical feeling of being shocked is absolutely the most painful, excruciating thing that I have felt”, but YMMV. whoa, were you shocking yourself as you typed that? 😃 Seriously tho, it all depends on the voltage and the amperage. A 9v battery is not much. 120V AC at less than 20amps hurts but most people can shake it off after a few minutes with nothing more than mild irritation for a few hours, assuming the jolt was brief. But I would advise against trying out the ballast on a dual flourescent fixture. Or 220V 400amp power. Or a taser. Like I noted, even the police here in LV have stopped shocking each other as part of training because there were too many injuries. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/54 "2005-08-08T12:53:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > **Shodan** , just stop thinking and read the words I write. I made no mention of any of the things you think I am assuming or saying. Please stop trying to put words into my mouth (or into my posts). I didn’t put any words into your mouth. I was responding to this: > [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > \*\*It is my position that a taser should be a last resort, used before a bullet but not before, or in place of, taking someone into custody through simple physical means (grabbing an arm, placing handcuffs on a subject, etc). \*\* > > Let’s hope that other police agencies will also review their policies and their training and make appropriate changes so that no one else loses their life needlessly. I understood the bolded part to be saying that you believed that the police should use other physical means of effecting an arrest before resorting to Tasers, and that meant that “no one else loses their life needlessly”. And my response is as posted, that the other physical means also carry risks, and that reducing Taser use will not necessarily reduce the overall risks. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/55 "2005-08-08T14:47:07Z")
A “gentelman” died in custody this weekend here in Sac. He was apparently high, or at least believed to have been. The police arrived, in force, because a girlfriend had called and said she was being killed. The subject assaulted the police by throwing things, including items weighing several pounds. 5 police officers had to be treated at the hospital. They tased him to get him under control, and he apparently died in custody. What were the alternatives? I see none. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/56 "2005-08-08T17:16:29Z")
Perhaps there were no alternatives. Without a cite it’s hard for any of us to offer an opinion. But that type of situation is not analagous to a school kid who is already in custody being tased, or to a pregnant woman who simply refuses to open her car door being tased, or to a pregnant woman who has already been tased and is on the ground being tased _again_… Make no mistake about it, folks, I’m not saying cops should never use the things, only that the label of “non-lethal”, which is now being replaced by the label “low-lethality” (an admittance that the orginal term was incorrect), was leading cops to use the things inappropriately. And that without new, more stringent guidelines, cops would soon be using them almost indiscriminately, as seen in many of the examples I cited. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/57 "2005-08-08T18:20:24Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > Make no mistake about it, folks, I’m not saying cops should never use the things, only that the label of “non-lethal”, which is now being replaced by the label “low-lethality” (an admittance that the orginal term was incorrect), was leading cops to use the things inappropriately. And that without new, more stringent guidelines, cops would soon be using them almost indiscriminately, as seen in many of the examples I cited. I didn’t see a lot of examples of the kind of indiscriminate “if he hesitates even for a second, Taser him!” that you seem to see coming. The OP was an incident of Tasering a naked dolt with a fire extinguisher. As I mentioned, that is OK with me. In another of your cites, the police chief questioned the use of a Taser, not because it endangered the suspect, but > [@](#): > > The police officers who used a Taser stun gun to detain a suspected suicide bomber took an “incredible risk” because it could have set off any explosives on the man, London’s police chief says. In some of your other cites, one relies on the allegations of a woman who > [@](#): > > According to police records obtained by Eyewitness News, before the Taser incident, officers say Marshall’s eyes were bloodshot and she failed a series of field sobriety tests as well as registered .09 on a portable breathalyzer, which is above the legal limit. and who was given ten seconds (according to her own attorney) to comply with police demands but did not. In another cite, a pregnant woman was Tasered after she attacked police with a knife. > [@](#): > > “It’s not inappropriate to use the Taser on somebody who has a deadly-force intention or a deadly-force tool, whether they’re pregnant or not,” Bedwell said. “This is exactly why we want officers to have them (Tasers). She and her baby could have died … if he couldn’t have used this less-lethal tool.” Which is something I have mentioned a couple of times. And in another of your cites, > [@](#): > > A 15-member citizen’s panel unanimously ruled January 6 that Chandler, Arizona, police officer Arturo Salazar was justified when he used an electronic Taser to stun a 13-year-old girl during a library disturbance last fall. And in another, the use of a Taser seems to be included in a general complaint of excessive force, and would hardly have been addressed even if Tasers were outlawed altogether. > [@](#): > > Brandon Jones, 16, claims officers beat him excessively and used a Taser gun on him during a traffic stop in February. So I don’t really think you have established that the police is out Tasering anyone willy-nilly who looks at them cross-eyed. You don’t seem to have established that Tasers are leading to increases in the excessive use of force. And, as has been mentioned, the other “physical means” you recommend have equal likelihood of abuse. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/58 "2005-08-08T23:34:18Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > Recently we had a debate in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=320004) about whether or not police taser use was justified. > > Many people, including myself, felt that the police were too quick to use the Taser in the situation presented in the OP, and perhaps too quick in general to rely on it. > > Many felt that the Taser use was an appropriate use of force for the police to gain (some say “take”) control of a potentially dangerous situation, both in the situation described in the OP of that thread, and in general. > > We now have this, from Jackson Hole, WY: (my thanks to Phnord Prephect for posting this in [his thread in MPSIMS](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=328364)) > > [cite](http://www.planetjh.com/brady/brady_2005_08_01_streaker.html) > > I don’t feel that in this instance, the use of a taser justified. What say you all? Justified. The fire extinguisher would have made a nasty weapon if he had whacked one of the cops with it. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269/59 "2005-08-11T01:25:11Z")
Since I was quoted from the last round of taser debates I guess I’ll weigh in. After reading the cite (of the event) I would say that the Taser was used by police for convenience. They should have been able to run the guy down in a timely manner. That’s one side of the coin. The guy who decided to call it tails while it was still in the air is another story. His behavior goes beyond the classic streaker and starts to look more like some creepy clown act. Kids don’t need to be exposed to a flasher. A naked man is not going to turn children into pillars of salt but this guy seemed to enjoy the attention of his nudity. If this was Spring Break then he would fit right in but it was a family event. Even Mardi Gras has some standards of behavior. And a citizen is still liable for his or her actions. Since I was brought up at a time when “halt or I’ll shoot” meant something, I’ll vote for continued use of Tasers. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. History allows for lessons learned. Tasers are not just better than bullets in the vast majority of situations they also limit scuffles (for guns) when police draw them defensively. There is obviously a danger to people with elevated heart problems. Ccaution should be taken with the elderly, the obese, and people who exhibit drug-induced aggressive behavior. “Caution” can be as simple as keeping shock-paddles in the cruiser. It can also mean establishing better combat tactics when dealing with emotional nut-jobs. * * * taser em all and let God sort it out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taser-use-still-justified/315269.md?page=2)