Taser cause of 17 year old death/

do you have some sort of statistic on how many people have been tasered and have lived, vs. how many people have been tasered and died?

seems to me that it would be quite disproportionate, and a much safer alternative than say....running someone down with a cruiser

 

The RCMP in Canada has refused to release such information. They have documented all of the cases where tasers were used, however they are withholding that type of statistic and the details surrounding each case because of privacy laws and such.

There have been censored cases that have been leaked to the media, but our access to that kind of information right now is essentially what they give us. Which pisses me off to no end.

They can release that kind of statistic like "7 out of 50" cases of taser use end in death, but they cannot release the full details of the circumstances relating to the case, like how many times the person was tasered, for what reason, if they fell and injured themselves or if they had a known medical condition. I assume that the reason why the RCMP has not released that type of info was because they simply have not examined it and collected it that way. They really have to gather cases first in order to calculate the stats.

But there are internal investigations on-going and they have agreed to re-examine the dangerous effects and taser-related cases.

I know the Police forces across the country are going back to city hall to look at these kinds of cases, while some police forces are pushing city hall to get their guys the newest toy.

It's all kind of hodge-podge law enforcement right now and quite frankly, that's not how you should introduce a lethal weapon that is going to be used on civilians.

 

I'm not sure what the policy is in Canada, but I think here every cop that wears a taser has to undergo being tasered at least once. I'm not sure if that is a nation wide procedure though. I guess it's supposed to serve as a deterrant for taser abuse, since they are forced to realize how bad it hurts. But at the same time, if all of those cops are being tasered, then the death rate can't be THAThigh, can it?

 

Um... I have never heard of any police tasering themselves, ever.

Instead of answering a hypothetical question in that regard, perhaps you should investigate whether that statement holds any truth at all.

 

My brother in law is a cop, and when they got their tasers, every officer that decided to wear one had to be tasered. It's sort of like the same thing with pepper spray. So yes, I know that is a fact here, but that's why I said I'm not sure if the policy holds true nation-wide.

 

Yes people get tazed.

Sucks for those people.

It's rarely unprovoked, and in the few cases where it is unprovoked... it's still better than getting shot.

A stupid, power hungry, racist policeman will shoot the poor black kid instead of taze him if he didn't have a tazer.

Speculating on whether the kid really refused to drop the knife or not is silly and pointless.

Claiming that tasers are a type of "social control tool" is idiot at best.

Get off your high horse. Tasers aren't killing people, guns aren't killing people, knives aren't killing people.

People are killing people.

 

I also heard the cops having to be tased in order to use one.

I thought that every cop has to go through that.

 

Sure. But the people behind a taser are killing people without any intention. In fact they are not wanting to make a kill at all.

And it's that distinction that makes the weapon itself questionable for use.

There's a big difference if the police intentionally kill a person with a knife than if they killed somebody with a taser. Sure, arguably the results are the same you say. But a taser was NOT designed to kill unlike the knife or the gun. One has every right to question why the results are a kill when a few police officers are using this device on themselves and supposedly only once.

Is it safe to taser a person multiple times? If so, why aren't the police tasering themselves multiple times?

And furthermore that kind of logic doesn't make any sense. Are they supposed to shoot themselves in order to justify pulling their gun on someone else? What kind of training is that anyway?

I doubt that is any kind of proper direction or deterrent lesson for the police force to practice discretion and appropriate use of a lethal weapon.

 

I dont think I have to point out why this isn't reasonable.

 

When I was arrested once with a few friends, the police who were searching our car found my friends taser and started tasing each other with it for fun. Then they held my friends head and said "Anyone who lies it getting this thing shoved down their throat"
Ah, Philadelphia police

 

John... you should have told those cops to watch out... tasers are DEADLY WEAPONS!!!!!111!!!1

Furthermore, tasers do not kill, other than on freak occasions.

You're not really making a point here, but only going off on a tangent.

Lets say that they do ban tasers... do you honestly think that they'll replace them with something safer?

All in all... don't be an idiot, and don't get tased.

 

I almost got tased once for playing airsoft at 9 PM in a park. He said he "could have killed all of us and been justified" lol.

I agree with Brave, If I couldn't trust a cop with a taser I sure as hell wouldn't trust one with a gun.

 

I honestly do think they will replace them with something safer, but not if we take a narrow-minded approach to them like you do, Pavel.

I can easily not be an idiot and still get tased. Were your ears full of dust when I mentioned Robert Dziekanski's case? Are you not familiar with that incident?

He just arrived in Vancouver from Poland not being able to speak a word of English and had lost some of his baggage. He was lost, tired and having a hard time communicating with security until they decided to call the RCMP, taser him repeatedly even though he begged them to stop, and died.

Yep. There was no idiocy involved there except for the people enforcing the use of a taser - which has proven to be time and again a deadly weapon.

Why should we take a laissez-faire approach like yours and apply it to our law enforcement, hm? I don't see how that can ameliorate the fact that people are unjustifiably dying at the hands of a law enforcement weapon.

Wake up and see the injustice going on right in front of you.

 

And you know what? Blaming the victim is pretty stupid.

I'd like to see you tell this young kid's mother to her face that her son was "being an idiot" and that it's nobody's problem but his own "stupidity". What if he dropped the knife just as he was being tasered and they kept tasering him, hm? I bet you would still blame the victim for his own death because as long as he isn't "an idiot" he should be alive and just fine.

Poppycock. A 17 year old kid didn't deserve to die and we all know it.

 

They won't replace them with shit. Tasers are safe enough and effective.

Poor ol' Robert was tasered by a dumb racist cop. He could have just as easily been shot by one.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Law enforcement should be responsible for everything they do, and should answer to the deaths they've caused by tasing people. You're just all over this because it's on the news.

So on and so forth, blah blah blah, you don't even have any statistics or research to support your argument... only a couple of emotionally appealing isolated incidents.

 

A 17 year old who was going to stab somebody for the 50$ in their wallet deserves to die.

 

Yeah, well your "don't be an idiot" solution doesn't include any stats either.

 

Then why wasn't he shot?

 

how was he the "victim"?

he was a criminal that was robbing people, and then refused to put down a dangerous weapon when confronted by police.

 

Excuse me?

We have a something called the law in this country in case you haven't heard. Yeah, you know, that's when the police don't execute justice cowboy style and kill a person who may very well have been innocent in this case.

Yeah, if anything, I think this poor kid deserved to be alive to defend himself against allegations or charges against him.

Death does not a guilty sentence make.