Can someone send me a link to a story where a person died from a taser?

Question

I see the message boards are lighting up over the pregnant woman tased in Ohio, and several responses mention how deadly the taser is, so I thought I'd post some facts.

Voltage does not kill, amperage kills. The taser works on .0021 amps, 30 times less than the minimum lethal amount of .07 amps.

Electricity is not stored in the body, so if the taser was the cause of death, they would die while they were being tased, not hours later. All the deaths I have read about were from pre-existing medical conditions, most commonly a drug overdose that was lethal in itself.

Tasers effects muscle control only. Not the brain, not the heart, not organs. Muscle control is not life threatening.

Now I am not going to get into justification, that is another issue that needs to be considered on a case by case basis and can not be addressed by itself. I just want to know about deaths.

If you have a link to a news article that says otherwise, please post it here.

Not bad lizzie.. so far you are the closest.. unfortunately, the autopsy is being questioned, and there was also methamphetamines listed as a contributing factor.

And please refrain from posting cases where the autopsy has not been completed yet.

Good job, Eric... you made my point... the media likes controversy, so they leave out the fact he was strung out on drugs, and on his death bed already.

Yes, the heart is a muscle. But the taser delivers less amperage to the heart than a strong static electricity shock. Touching a doorknob would be deadlier than a taser.

Answer 1

Your information is totally correct. Not everyone understands the difference between amperage, and voltage. Unfortunately, no matter what a Police Officer does, they will be considered wrong by a lot of people. Thanks for trying.

Answer 2

"While in most cases deaths have continued to be attributed to factors other than the taser, such as "excited delirium" associated with drug intoxication or violent struggle, in 23 cases coroners have listed the use of the taser as a cause or a contributory factor in death.

In three cases in 2005, the taser was listed as a primary cause of death."
ive taken this from amnesty internationals website. Heres the link if u wish to review the full article:
http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGAMR510392006

Basically, its still undecided whether or not they cause death, but if a food was linked to so many dying do u think they would still have it on the shelf pending an investigation...or would they thoroughly investigate first and then decide if its safe. That what they should do with tasers. Too many police are on a control trip with this thing.

Answer 3

Tasers can be lethal. But it happens in so few cases, that it is not considered a lethal weapon. The idea is that the shock can trigger other things that would not normally be triggered, and cause death. The most common would be heart problems. But it is extremely rare that tasing someone would result in death. And there is probably just as high as risk of death if you were to wrestle with someone rather then use a taser.

And the heart is a muscle.

Answer 4

I understand their are situations that the taser could save a life, but whatever happened to being a man and stepping up to each situation individually with patience and understanding. The taser is used quite frivolously and it is ridiculous in many situations. Just know you are taking a risk of killing someone with it, so be wise in your actions please. You say it only affects muscles, but the heart is a muscle vital to survival. You can't possibly know all the pre-existing conditions of everyone when you first meet them, so the taser should be the absolute second to last resort. You are trained in hand to hand combat and some psychological training as well, so use your training before you decide it is just easier to tase someone. That's lazy police work in my opinion and can cost lives.

Answer 5

Many people have died after being tasered; feel free to do your own research (my favorite is the video footage of "The Reverend"; 23 shots with a taser killed him dead). Of course Taser Int'l and taser supporters always point to "other factors" when defending the use thereof, however that fails to address the "but for" argument: if they had not been tasered, would they still have died?

Bullets don't kill either: it's the loss of blood or organ failure that kills a gunshot victim.

Answer 6

Yeah people hear the number 50,000-500,000 think automatically that it can kill, which in reality it cannot. If it had any sort of significant chance of death, they would not taze officers during training. (We don't get shot when we have firearms training.)

The key to it's less than lethal use is the THIN wires. They do allow many volts at a time, but very very very few amps. (as stated above less than .0021) This is why they can use the high voltage. This is also why the wires are so small. As to not allow too many amps. This is also why Defibrillators have such a large area to place on the body, to allow more amps across the heart.

Answer 7

Excellent question.
And for those of you who complain about the person dying because they had some pre-existing condition; if the officer can't get them to comply with certain basic requests like,
"Get out of the car: "put your hands up where I can see them" "put down your weapon" etc.,
Do you really think that the Officer will be in a position to say:
"Since you aren't complying, I will have to tase you. By the way, do you have a heart condition or any other pre-existing medical problems?"
Additionally, Taser International has NEVER been successfully sued for wrongful death. It isn't the weapon, it is the person being tased.
It isn't the Officer, it is the arrestee refusing to comply with a lawful order given by the Officer.
Take responsibility for yourselves and your actions.

Answer 8

Very Good question, Trooper! No one is going to be able too meet your challenge.

The taser, in many municipalities is considered a less than lethal weapon. A change from non-lethal.

The device, however, hasn't been proven to be the cause of death, but the stress from the device can exacerbate a pre-existing condition. The pre-existing condition can be from a medical condition such as a heart ailment.

More often than not, the medical condition is a result from drug abuse.

Answer 9

Try this link:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/10/15/taser-death.html
Good Luck.

Answer 10

She did not die. She was forced down on her stomach. The officer did not know she was pregnant. She came to the police station wanting to give up custody of her 1 year old son. She became aggitated when the officer started asking questions about her son. She tried to leave with the child. The officer got a hold of the child, gave him to another officer then she got irrate and aggressive so he took her to the ground and he put the taser to her neck at tased her.
*****EDIT****
Trooper, You made it sound like you heard the woman from Ohio was killed when tased. I just didn't read further. I never do....

Answer 11

Yeah you are right about that dieing instantly after being tazed stuff.
I thought recently a man got tazed up in this canadian airport and died, but that was 5 days later after being tazed. And then another, an inmate at this jail, tried to escape, he was tazed and 30 hours later he died.

People have a real problem listening anymore. The cop says to get down, you get down and say "yes sir".

The woman in ohio, didn't listen. She didn't disclose she was pregnant and she resisted police efforts. I say taze away and slap her a few times as well :)

"Don't taze me bro!!!"

Then listen up and obey!