Tasers have killed at least 500 Americans

Published: 16 February, 2012, 21:13

Ethan Miller / Getty Images / AFP

The Taser, the non-lethal law enforcement weapon that is meant to incapacitate criminals without causing great harm, has killed at least 500 people last decade. The real number of casualties might be even higher.

In the period between 2001 and early 2012, the stun-gun Taser devices used by law enforcement across America have claimed the lives of 500 people.

Amnesty International, the worldwide advocacy group that condemns torture and human rights violations, delivered the news this week with a report released Wednesday. In it, they reveal that the recent death of a Georgia man who died as a result of a Taser blast puts the body count brought on by the device at 500 in barely a decades’ time.

Despite being branded as a non-lethal alternative to firearms, hundreds of Americans have died from Taser blasts.

On Monday this week, law enforcement responded to a call of a drunk and disorderly person in Houston County, Georgia. When they arrived at a bar, the man in question, 43 year old Johnnie Kamahi Warren, was already on the ground. According to the local Dothan Eagle, a sheriff’s deputy still deployed blasts from a Taser gun on the man. Twice. He died moments later and now the officer who fired those shots is being investigated, all while on paid administrative leave.

Warren is number 500 on the list of Taser-related casualties, and Amnesty International says that number is too high to warrant a wake-up call this late in the game.

"Of the hundreds who have died following police use of Tasers in the United States, dozens and possibly scores of deaths can be traced to unnecessary force being used," Susan Lee, Americas program director at Amnesty International, writes in a press release. "This is unacceptable, and stricter guidelines for their use are now imperative."

Over the last decade, hundreds of others like Warren have died either directly or as a result of Taser blasts. Law enforcement continues to use the tools, however, and many feel that often that’s a decision that could be avoided.

In a 2008 report titled USA: Stun weapons in law enforcement, it was revealed that 90 percent of the Taser casualty cases studied involved a victim that was unarmed. Droves of Americans are left dead by Taser blasts every year and in many cases it is revealed that they posed little threat to the officers responsible.

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Comment by Nikki on February 17, 2012 at 1:49pm: Vernon, do the cops in Canada use tasers and, if so, do they use them as much as the cops here do here?

Comment by Nikki on February 17, 2012 at 1:23pm: Vernon, I'm surprised they didn't handcuff you. As you know, over here they make no exceptions.

Comment by Nikki on February 17, 2012 at 12:51pm: Tasers should be banned.

But hey it's a lot easier to tase someone that to put down the doughnut and go chase them.

Great video, Amy.

I know you're not exaggerating, Krypke. That's probably why so many just go limp when being arrested.

Comment by Cryptocurrency on February 17, 2012 at 2:34am: I'm not even exaggerating with my last comment. When police go to cuff you, if you instinctively pull your arm away, they can charge you with resisting. The rest is self explanatory...

Never saw firefighters spraying water at cops. To bad they didn't give it a full blast spray, knocking them over like bowling pins. If they wanted to be strategic about it, they could have deployed slip and slides like road spikes and sprayed them down the street.

Comment by suzie on February 17, 2012 at 2:08am: @amy amen sissy ..

Comment by Cryptocurrency on February 17, 2012 at 1:58am: If you so much as move you're arm when they arrest you it's resisting. If you push a cop off of you it's assaulting a police officer. If they tase you, it's not assault with a deadly weapon, it's pain compliance, despite the fact that it might kill you. In the event that they do kill you, they get paid leave, and the district attorney will likely pardon them. Yep, right back on the streets with another notch under the belt for Mr. Bully with a badge.

Welcome to America.

Comment by suzie on February 17, 2012 at 1:49am: No amy, i did not get that memo, for some crazy reason i still believe i do.. It is they who would deny me my rights who haven't gotten the memo that my rights were given to me by my Creator not them and they cannot be taken away unless i allow them to take them willingly. Kinda like the stories about the vampires who cannot enter unless you invite them in.. I know they will try and they may even take my life but they will never take my rights as long as i still breath ... In the end my reward is not of this world anyway. But thanks~~ girlfriend i have been duly warned! ps: i like your new pix

Comment by suzie on February 17, 2012 at 12:53am: The V111 amendment says: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. IMHO tazing is cruel and unusual and has been abused to the point of death in many cases.. One case is too much Tazing is unconstitutional but that hasn't stopped the thugs who use them since day one .

Two days before Brett Elder’s sixteenth birthday, Bay City Police tased the 15 year old to death.

read the full story here : http://rt.com/usa/news/boy-taser-elder-police-927-089/