WASHINGTON – A quick shock from a Taser may have zapped a man’s fluttering heart back into a healthy rhythm, doctors reported on Tuesday. They cited the incident as evidence that the devices, which are used by police who want to use less-than-deadly force to incapacitate people but are condemned by some civil rights groups as dangerous, may affect the heart as critics allege.
In this case, the outcome was a happy one, the doctors reported in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. Several lawsuits in the United States and Canada contend the devices, which use an electric charge to subdue an attacker, can stop the heart. The 28-year-old patient was fleeing police and jumped into a lake in April, when the water was still very cold. “I don’t know exactly what he had done but he fled capture from them and he hid in a lake,” said Dr. Kyle Richards, a cardiologist at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, who treated the man when he was taken to an emergency room.
Richards said the patient was experiencing an irregular heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation, possibly as a result of the cold and shock. After treatment, the patient was eager to leave. “He got very combative and started yelling in my face and that’s when I left the room and got security,” Richards said. Police and security used a Taser stun gun, which shoots out a lead connected to two barbs that can deliver up to 50,000 volts. They used a low-voltage charge meant to cause pain rather than a longer, higher-voltage jolt meant to incapacitate. The patient calmed down and another electrocardiogram showed his heart rhythm was normal. “This is the first report of a patient receiving a shock of this kind and having a positive outcome,” Richards said.
You see, I knew the Police really cared about us!
“Tase me, bro!”
Read Taser’s research on the subject:
http://www.taser.com/research/Pages/default.aspx
Police officers have the right by law to use deadly force to subdue a suspected criminal when deemed necessary. If there were no tasers, they would use guns which would usually result in death. At least the taser gives a chance of survival to the suspected criminal.
#3: You are exactly right, so long as the police use tasers in a situation in which they would otherwise use a traditional deadly weapon. If they use the taser more freely, assuming it is not a deadly weapon, then there is an issue.
As long as they use tasers in lieu of the warranted use of a firearm, I think tasers are a useful addition to the police arsenal.
But Cops are not Cardiologists !!! And then the Taser just becomes another TORTURE WEAPON !!!
#3 That’s all well and good but now cops feel free to use these weapons. There not only used to subdue armed suspects but to force compliance when the suspect is not actively resisting but is trying to maintain their civil rights such as questioning why they are being arrested or refusing to sign a ticket. This is effectively torcher. They also get used during questioning of subjects. They’ve gone from an alternative to deadly force to implement of torcher.
[Duplicate comment deleted. – ed.]
Welcome to the Third Reich of the United States!
I’m not kidding
#3,
Police officers have the right by law to use deadly force to subdue a suspected criminal when deemed necessary.
A very common misconception the police and wing nuts have. NO ONE is allowed deadly force unless it is to protect their or someone else’s LIFE. In order for a cop to kill someone, he must REASONABLY believe a life is in danger.
Of course, cops love to suggest their life is in danger in order to justify shooting 90 y/o great-grandmothers or a groom on his way home from a stag. It is always to protect themselves.
Tasers are a safer alternative to striking weapons and can be used when deadly force isn’t warranted. It is safer for both the police officer who doesn’t have to get as close to the suspect and safer to the suspect than getting hit over the head with a stick.
#11, GigG;
Fixed that for ya.
One of the archetypal examples of Taser abuse by authorities is the famous “Don’t tase me, bro” incident. No less than 6 security guards had fully subdued an unarmed but still uncooperative student. Although none of the guards appeared to feel that anyone’s life was in the slightest danger, they tased the student into submission for their own convenience before hauling him away. Apparently, handcuffs just seem old-fashioned when a high tech shocking device is available.
I’d hate to think what sort of trouble Barney Fife could get into if Sheriff Taylor had given him a Taser 😉
>>This will come in handy at the
>>Democratic Convention.
You mean after the FBI and right-wing-nuts foment some kind of violence and then tase the shit out of the peace-loving standers-by?
Man, that’s cold.
#14, MM, -foment-… Hey I learnded a new word!
Now wouldn’t this be something!
Go to the Democratic National Convention.
Get out the lawn chair, pop a little popcorn, give Tasers to both the Right-wing and Left-wing nutjobs, and watch the fun!
I even have a name for it:
“Taser Tag”!
11. Now where was I, before so rudely interrupted…?
Oh, yeah… Mr. Gawd Almighty you ignorant slut… :^)
“More than 18,000 officers have made the ultimate sacrifice in the United States”
http://www.odmp.org/info/mission.php
Wonder what “suggestions” their families would have given them all?
RBG