By Eric Ferkenhoff, Boston Globe
CHICAGO, Ill. - The Police Department has suspended the distribution of 100 additional stun guns to officers pending an investigation into the use of the devices following the death of a 54-year-old man and the serious wounding of a 14-year-old youth in separate altercations this week.
The incidents, which drew quick criticism, added to the national debate over the safety and effectiveness of Taser stun guns.
Police have about 200 of the stun guns and were planning to add 100 in the near future under a pilot program in two districts.
The death Thursday of Ronald Hasse of Cedar Lake, Ind. - which occurred three days after the teenage boy was stunned and suffered cardiac arrest - worried department officials enough that Police Superintendent Philip J. Cline halted the expansion on Thursday. Cline’s order, however, will not prohibit police sergeants, the only rank assigned the devices, from using the stun guns currently deployed while the review is being conducted.
Cline, speaking to reporters Thursday, said he was “convinced that we initially began using Tasers for all the right reasons,” adding that, “our confidence in Taser’s ability to save lives, prevent injuries and make our city safer remains.”
A few Tasers were first deployed in Chicago in late 2003. The full 200 have been in use since April. Chicago police have used Tasers on 156 occasions prior to this week’s incidents. Police reported no deaths before Thursday, but there have been at least 20, mostly minor injuries related to Tasers, which shoot up to 50,000 volts of electricity through barbs fired from 20 feet or more.
Cook County Public Guardian Robert Harris said police overreacted and he accused the department of using excessive force in Monday’s incident involving the 14-year-old, who is a ward of the state.
The state Department of Children and Family Services has sued the city and the officer, arguing that the officer used the device without knowing if it was safe to do so on a minor and without knowing what medications the boy may have been taking.
Police say the youth, living in a residential facility, became unruly, broke several windows in the home, assaulted three workers, and jumped from a couch to attack the sergeant who used the Taser to subdue him. The youth, described as about 6 feet tall and more than 200 pounds, went into cardiac arrest and was transported to a hospital, where he is reportedly recovering.
Harris’s office said there was no need for the use of the stun gun; he said the boy had calmed down and was seated on a couch by the time police arrived.
In the second incident, on Thursday , paramedics were called to a North Side apartment building where where the visiting Hasse reportedly began acting oddly. Hasse, according to police, told the paramedics that he had HIV and began threatening that he would kill with his blood. He allegedly repeated the threat and became combative when police arrived and tried to handcuff him.
An autopsy done yesterday failed to pinpoint a cause of death. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said an official determination was pending further study and police investigation. In both cases, police said, the sergeants repeatedly warned the victims that the Tasers would be used.
“Until all the facts surrounding this tragic incident in Chicago are known, it is inappropriate to jump to conclusions on the cause of Ronald Hasse’s death,” said Steve Tuttle, spokesman for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser International.
Some 7,000 police agencies in the United States and Canada, including more than 300 in Illinois, use Tasers. While company officials say that use of the weapons has cut down on police-related fatal incidents, the human rights group Amnesty International recently released a report tying Tasers to 74 deaths since 2001.
Amnesty International acknowledged that other factors, including preexisting health conditions and drug use, could have contributed to these deaths. Still, the volume of deaths raises concerns and the group is calling for a suspension of Taser use by all law enforcement agencies, said Christopher Watson, field organizer for Amnesty International’s Midwest regional office.
“Our problem is not enough testing has been done to say that they are safe to be used,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union also voiced concern.
“It’s really important that police agencies put in place proper oversight of these sorts of tools so we don’t have a continuing series of events like this,” said ACLU Chicago spokesman Ed Yohnka. “When you suggest something is nonlethal . . . it sends a subtle message that it’s OK to use them more often than is necessary.”