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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Minnesota stores will soon be able to sell stun guns as powerful as those used by police, despite growing concerns about the weapon’s safety and occasional fatalities.
No permit or training is required in Minnesota for the $999 consumer model of the Taser, which is already available on the Internet.
The Taser, an acronym for Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle, delivers 50,000 incapacitating volts to its victims by way of two barbed darts attached to 15 feet of wire.
The Star Tribune has documented 105 cases nationwide since 1983 in which a person died after being shocked by police with an electric stun weapon, though most of the cases cannot be definitively attributed to the taser. Three people have died in Minnesota in the past 14 months, officials said.
News accounts of 14 of the deaths nationwide quote coroners, medical examiners or forensic pathologists as saying the Taser may have been a contributing factor.
In the Minnesota cases, public records do not cite a Taser as a factor in two deaths, and the information wasn’t available on the third.
A spokesman for Taser International Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz., told the newspaper the weapons don’t kill, but actually save lives.
“We know that Tasers are used every day, and we will be involved in tragic incidents involving in-custody deaths that are very similar to in-custody deaths that have occurred when Tasers have not been used,” Steve Tuttle said. “We have never been listed as a direct or primary cause of death in our company’s existence.”
When the Taser is used to prevent a dangerous situation from becoming worse, the company contends, the weapon should get credit for saving lives. Using that standard, they contend that 4,000 lives have been saved in the past five years.
Police praise the Taser for its ability to bring a quick end to standoffs with violent suspects. Some law enforcement agencies say they have seen a drop in shooting deaths by police because officers have an alternative to firing their guns.
For example, St. Paul officer Eric Stevens was called to a domestic dispute a few months ago. A man was perched on his rooftop and threatening suicide. Stevens climbed out of a window and onto the roof, then shocked the man with his Taser to subdue him and defuse what had been a long standoff with negotiators.
But critics say the Taser might be more dangerous than death records indicate because its role can be masked by other health problems, such as heart disease or drug use, that could make a person more vulnerable to electric shock. In just more than half of the fatal cases involving Tasers, medical examiners have cited drug use or cardiovascular disease as the cause of death.
Taser International says about 5,400 law-enforcement agencies use the weapon, including 219 in Minnesota.
It’s prohibited in at least seven states, including Wisconsin, and some cities, including Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C. While it’s legal to carry one in Minnesota, it’s a felony to possess one in Wisconsin.
Relatives of Raymond Siegler believe a Taser killed him, even though the coroner’s report makes no mention of the weapon or electric shock.
Police were called to the Minneapolis group home for the mentally ill where he lived on Feb. 6. Authorities said Siegler was threatening people there, though the family doesn’t think that’s true.
Siegler, 40, was schizophrenic, slightly overweight and a smoker, and had stopped taking his medication.
An officer shot a Taser at Siegler and, according to the family, the barbs hit him in the neck and chest. He collapsed shortly afterward, went into cardiac arrest and never regained consciousness. He died seven days later.
The Hennepin County medical examiner listed a number of causes of death, including preexisting high blood pressure and heart disease.
“Our brother went right into cardiac arrest after being Tasered,” said Siegler’s sister, Kelly Dietrich, of Inver Grove Heights. “Do I think a Taser is safer than a gun? Yes. Do I think a Taser is perfectly safe? No. My concern is that Taser International is portraying this as a perfectly safe weapon.”
Despite his son’s death, David Siegler doesn’t want to see the Taser put out of service, but rather used as a last resort.
“As far as I’m concerned, if you mess with a uniform, then whatever happens to you, you asked for it,” he said. “Having said that, I think they’re being sold a bill of goods. They’re being told that Tasers are nonlethal, so they blast away until people can’t move. They’re killing people by accident.”
| Attention Law Enforcement |  |
The new TASER X26c Citizen Defense System and accessories are available to law enforcement officers at a special 10% discount price. To receive this discount you must be a law enforcement officer registered through Police1.
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