By Frank Main
Chicago Sun-Times
Despite a handful of deaths blamed on Tasers nationally, the Chicago Police Department will equip about 150 field training officers with the stun guns -- in addition to 200 of the devices that sergeants have been using for about five years.
Deputy Supt. Charles Williams said he can envision a day when every Chicago Police officer is equipped with a Taser.
“I think the Taser is a valuable tool,” Williams said. “This allows us to use less-than-lethal force.”
Then-Police Supt. Terry Hillard equipped the department’s sergeants with Tasers in 2002. He is now retired and is a consultant to Taser International.
In 2005, an autopsy found a Chicago Police sergeant’s Taser caused the death of Ronald Hasse. The sergeant used his Taser to subdue Hasse, who was high on methamphetamine and threatening to bite and kick an officer during an arrest, police said.
After Hasse’s death, Police Supt. Phil Cline halted distribution of more of them. But a review of the research on Tasers has found them safe, Williams said.
Chicago Police sergeants used Tasers 69 times in the first five months of 2006 and 75 times over the same period of this year with no deaths, the department says.
Copyright 2007 Chicago Sun-Times