Taser Wars: The Real Dangers of Loose Triggers

[The Straight Story]

Taser Wars: The Real Dangers of Loose Triggers


Iman Morales didn’t answer the door. As his mother stood waiting outside his one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, she grew increasingly concerned. Lately Morales had been acting erratically and having trouble with his psychiatric medication. Desperation mounting, she called 911.

When the Emergency Service Unit from the New York City Police Department arrived, Morales scrambled out of his apartment onto the fire escape. The stout 35-year old was naked and shouted incoherently. An officer appeared on the fire escape, and Morales retreated to a slim metal ledge over a storefront, where he jabbed at him with a fluorescent light tube.

At that point, Lt. Michael Pigott, a 21-year NYPD veteran, ordered an officer on the ground to fire his stun gun. Morales collapsed and fell 10 feet to the sidewalk, landing on his head. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead on Sept. 24, 2008.

Morales’ death, a video of which was posted on the internet, raised a national media storm and fueled criticisms of law enforcement’s use of stun guns. During the past decade, police departments all over the United States have ramped up use of Tasers, the popular name for stun guns produced by Taser International. By June 2009, the company said it had sold Tasers to more than 14,200 law enforcement agencies in over 40 countries, and that 29 of the 33 largest U.S. cities now deploy the weapon.

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“Using the Taser weapon feels benign,” said Dalia Hashad, director of Amnesty International USA’s Domestic Human Rights Program. “Taser International is very fond of saying that getting shocked with a Taser is similar to receiving a static electricity shock from rubbing your feet on the carpet and then touching the doorknob. It’s that mentality that allows police officers to use the Taser weapon where they would never dream of using a billy club.”

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/taser-danger/