A taser used for good

[Liberal_in_LA]

Elk freed after deputy uses Taser

Posted: Friday, September 11, 2009

A creative Linn County Sheriff's deputy saved an elk's life Thursday by using a Taser to subdue it while another officer freed it from barbed wire fencing.

The alternative was putting it down.

At about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, dispatch received a call from a man saying a bull elk was tangled in the fencing on his property on Priceboro Drive near Harrisburg.

The man told dispatchers the elk was in distress and needed attention immediately.

An Oregon State Police fish and game trooper traveled to the scene, as did a sheriff's deputy.

The elk's antlers were wrapped in the wire and its head was pinned in place but it was otherwise uninjured.

The officers were advised by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife that a tranquilizer could be sent out, but it would be several hours and ODFW would have to cut the animal's antlers after it was drugged.

Thinking quickly, Deputy Mike Rossiter turned his Taser sideways so that the prongs would land on opposite ends of the elk's body and deployed it for 25 seconds as Trooper Kirk Burkholder freed the animal.

"With a Taser, as soon as it's over, it's over - unlike a tranquilizer that takes time to wear off and has some side effects," said Undersheriff Bruce Riley.

Riley said he was told the elk just "stood back up and left."


http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_24312c96-9f22-11de-a514-001cc4c002e0.html

[ShortnFiery]

1. Good Story: an exception that proves the rule. eom

[piratefish08]

2. I think the moral to the story is:

The same device sometimes used on school kids is powerful enough to put down a fucking pissed off elk.

Super.

[madeline_con]

3. Right!

:rofl:

[Quasimodem]

4. Yes!!!

:applause:

[uppityperson]

5. +++++++++++++

[Raineyb]

6. Unfortunately, I doubt law enforcement will actually put two and two together

and figure MAYBE if it can put down a grown elk it shouldn't be used on humans especially small ones.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. good point. pics: Elk, kid

[paulsby]

8. tasers are used for good hundreds of times a week

to take suspects into custody .

agencies that adopt tasers see a drop in officer deaths, injuries, and suspect injuries/deaths.

also, FAR more often than people are tased, people submit to arrest WITHOUT being tased because an officer draws a taser on them. it's an effective deterrent to resisting, escape and assault.

i've carried one for 3 years. never fired it. used it half a dozen times in arrest situations and gained voluntary compliance.

this is exceedinly common. i see it all the time.

never makes the papers.