Tasers: Not As Safe As Law-Enforcement Thinks

Stun guns like this Taser X26 shown in a 2005 photograph are intended as a nonlethal alternative to guns for law enforcement. Photo: Herb Swanson/AP.
UCSF study raises doubts about stun gun safety
By Elizabeth Fernandez / January 24, 2009

The number of in-custody sudden deaths rose dramatically during the first year California law enforcement agencies began using stun guns, raising questions about the safety of the devices, according to a new study at UCSF.

The electronic weapons are intended to be a nonlethal alternative to the gun.

"Tasers are not as safe as thought," said Dr. Byron Lee, one of the cardiologists involved in studying the death rate related to Tasers, the most widely used stun gun. "And if they are used, they should be used with caution."

The researchers analyzed sudden death data from 50 law enforcement agencies in the state that use Tasers. They compared the death rate pre- and post-Taser deployment - analyzing data for five years before each agency began using Tasers and five years afterward.

They found a sixfold increase in sudden deaths during the first year of Taser use - amounting to nearly 6 deaths per 100,000 arrests.

"I didn't expect what we found," said Lee. "I thought we would find no difference in the rate of sudden death. But there was a rather dramatic rise."

After the first year, the rate of sudden deaths dropped down to nearly pre-Taser levels, suggesting that police and others in law enforcement altered the way they were using the devices to make them less lethal.

"Sudden deaths are extremely rare events, but it is important to look into why these events happen and whether law enforcement agencies are fully informed of the real-world risks," Lee said.

California does not have a statewide training standard for stun guns, which have been used in the state for decades.

"The manufacturer provides introductory training, then law enforcement agencies do supplemental training," said Robert Stresak, a spokesman for the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which sets minimum training standards. "It's on an agency by agency basis. The content of the course could vary widely as to what is taught."

Tasers, known as "conducted energy" devices, send out high-frequency pulses which can cause a very rapid, dangerous heart rhythm, said senior author Dr. Zian H. Tseng, an assistant clinical professor in cardiology.

"Maybe a simple change of technique is what is necessary," he said. "The longer you hold the trigger, the higher the danger to the heart. ... The fewer pulses the better."

San Francisco, which does not use the devices, was not part of the study. Tseng declined to give specifics about local jurisdictions involved in the research but said that "Oakland did not give us data. San Jose did give us data."

Two years ago, Amnesty International reported 156 stun gun-related deaths of people in the United States during the previous five years.

The weapons have generated controversy, but a report last year which suggested a sweeping slate of reforms to the San Francisco Police Department said that allowing the use of Tasers may reduce injuries to officers and suspects.

Tasers are used by more than 12,000 law enforcement, military and correctional agencies in the U.S. and abroad, said UCSF's Lee.

More intensive research is needed, particularly within law enforcement agencies that show a high sudden death rate, said Samuel Walker, one of the nation's top police practices experts.

"We need good studies on the physiological impacts," said Walker, an emeritus professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. "I'd want to know more about the deaths, interview the officers to find out if they self-corrected."

The study's findings were published online this week by the American Journal of Cardiology.

Source / San Francisco Chronicle

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Houston : Few Cops Disciplined for Taser Abuse

Houston cop with Taser drawn. Photo by Dylan / Houston Independent Media.
No wrongdoing found in 1,700 incidents where HPD officers intentionally fired a Taser
By Roma Khanna / August 17, 2008

The Houston Police Department has found no wrongdoing in some 1,700 incidents in which its officers intentionally fired a Taser, despite investigating about 70 complaints — including one officer who shocked his own stepson and another who discharged his stun gun on a 59-year-old woman during a dispute over laundry.

Over the last four years, only five officers have been disciplined for misusing their Tasers, although not one of the five actually shocked a suspect, according to records obtained by the Houston Chronicle. Instead, HPD reprimanded officers for threatening people with their stun guns, repeatedly discharging them while off duty and brandishing the weapon in a dispute in an elementary school carpool line.

"If that is how they deal with family problems, how are they dealing with the public?" asked Shirley Baker, whose grandson was shocked by his officer stepfather.

Use of Tasers, sold as an alternative to the deadly force of firearms, has been controversial since HPD first purchased hundreds of them late in 2004. The weapon quickly triggered public criticism with findings that officers often used them on unarmed people who committed no crime and that the vast majority were black.

Houston Mayor Bill White in November 2006 called for an independent analysis, overseen by Controller Annise Parker's office, which is expected to be made public Sept. 8. Parker has been publicly critical, saying last year that HPD's system for tracking Taser use is insufficient and despite claims that each deployment is reviewed, it "can't (be proven) with a paper trail."

Police officials maintain the Taser is a useful tool that has reduced injuries to both officers and suspects. Each incident, they say, is closely scrutinized.

"To have (69) complaints and only a few sustained — that is reflective of successful use," said Assistant Chief Brian Lumpkin, who oversees the HPD internal affairs division. "The numbers show that we have used Tasers responsibly."

HPD officers deployed their Tasers 1,724 times between December 2004 and May 2008, triggering 69 internal affairs investigations. More than half began after citizens filed complaints. Five probes remain open, but investigators found no wrongdoing in 56 others.

Among the people who filed complaints were Thoang Do, 59, a woman shocked during an altercation at her laundromat.

Do and her husband, Van Chau, 72, crossed paths with officer Troy Triplett on April 19, 2007, after a customer, attempting to pick up clothes without a ticket, summoned police. An effort to sort out the confusion escalated into a struggle between Triplett and the 5-foot-4-inch Chau, according to witness statements obtained by the family's attorney, Michael Nguyen.

No criminal charges

The store's glass door shattered. Chau lay on his stomach in jagged glass and blood. He would later require 28 stitches. Triplett, with a knee on Chau's back, attempted to restrain him.

"His wife ran outside screaming 'Nooo, Nooooo,' seeing her husband bleeding and rolling in the glass as the officer continued to manhandle him," a customer, Aaron Greenlee, said in a statement.

Triplett told Do to back away and, when she continued to reach out, he used his Taser.

Prosecutors charged Chau with felony assault of a public servant and Do with misdemeanor resisting arrest. A grand jury declined to indict Chau; Do's case was dismissed.

The couple filed a formal complaint with HPD's internal affairs division but no discipline has followed. Triplett directed questions to HPD's media relations officials, who did not comment.

"It makes me wonder whether they really looked at what happened," said the couple's daughter Linh Chau, 29. "If they had, how could they do nothing?"

It is not uncommon for people shocked with Tasers to face no criminal charges.

A Houston Chronicle analysis of the first 900 incidents in which officers deployed their Tasers, published in January 2007, found that more than one-third of the people whom officers shocked faced no charges. In about 50 other cases, charges were filed but dropped by prosecutors or dismissed by judges and juries.

The Chronicle found that the majority of Taser incidents escalated from common police calls including traffic stops, nuisance calls and reports of suspicious people.

HPD officials have said they do not track those criminal cases and that their outcomes do not affect whether officers' actions are ruled justified. None of the five Taser incidents in which Chief Harold Hurtt called for disciplinary action involve an officer shocking a suspect.

Hurtt suspended officer Douglas Randall Boyer for discharging five-second "spark tests" of his Taser 30 times while off-duty at home or while working an extra job. Internal affairs investigators found Boyer violated HPD protocols, which require officers to test their Tasers in front of a supervisor before each shift.

For that, Boyer received a one-day suspension. But, investigators found no problem with Boyer's actions in a December 2005 domestic dispute in which Boyer shocked his stepson.

Boyer, who has a long disciplinary history including a 10-day suspension after a domestic violence incident with his then-wife, was at home and off-duty when he got into an argument with his 17-year-old stepson. Tensions escalated and the 27-year veteran officer turned to his Taser and shocked the teen.

Officers from the Harris County Sheriff's Department and HPD came to his home, reported Boyer's action to internal affairs and took the boy to his grandmother's home, according to HPD documents.

"I can't believe that this is how they want officers to use their Taser," the grandmother, Shirley Baker said. "At home, on their kids?"

Boyer, who retired from HPD, declined to comment.

Hurtt also authorized discipline against officer Nichole P. Medrano, accused of threatening to use her Taser during a dispute in front of her children's elementary school.

Medrano was off-duty but wearing her uniform Jan. 26, 2006, waiting in her children's carpool line, when she confronted a woman who the officer said drove recklessly as she pulled up to the school.

According to police records, Medrano confronted the woman, who got angry.

"Officer Medrano took the woman's keys and returned to her (Medrano's) car," said Lumpkin, the assistant chief over internal affairs.

Medrano used her cell phone to call for police and, while waiting, the officer threatened the woman with her Taser and her firearm, Lumpkin said.

Several suspensions

Dispatch tapes captured Medrano warning the woman that "I will shoot your ass."

The officer received a written reprimand.

"At the time of the incident, (the woman) was unarmed, and you used unsound judgment by threatening to use deadly force without sufficient cause to believe you were in danger of serious bodily injury or death," reads the disciplinary letter.

Medrano did not respond to queries for a comment.

Three other officers have been suspended over Taser use.

Officer John B. Woods received a one-day suspension for mistakenly using his Taser while handcuffing a theft suspect in June 2007. Officer Song Kim received a five-day suspension for taunting a shoplifter with his Taser while working an off-duty job. A third officer, Dong Hoang, received a three-day suspension in 2005 for test-firing his Taser but not documenting the incidents.

Officer Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, defended HPD's investigations of Taser use.

"Short of deadly force, Tasers are the most scrutinized tool in the department," he said.

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Source / Houston Chronicle

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