
Originally Posted by
thegodfather
The Taser was DESIGNED as a LESS THAN LETHAL WEAPON. The fact remains that it is still a WEAPON. It is certainly capable of causing cardiac arrest and can cause difficulty breathing as well. The only time a Taser was to be used was IN LIEU OF DEADLY FORCE. That means that an officer should only resort to using the Taser when the officer would otherwise be ready to use a firearm to subdue the threat from the suspect. It was never meant as a "convienient" means to subdue unruley suspects. Physical force, pepper spray, and a PR-24 are still sufficient devices for handling such matters. Unfortunately, the police are either lazy and use it because they dont want to break a sweat, or because they actually get off on using such force on people.
In either case, the weapon was used improperly in this situation, because the situation did not dictate such force. It completely violated the force continium, and in addition the weapon is really not suitable for someone that age. Whatever.........just another day in the American nightmar...i mean Dream...