By Connie Paige
Boston Globe
BOSTON — Police in Massachusetts cities and towns have sharply expanded their use of Tasers to control criminal suspects over the last three years, despite a call for suspension of the stun gun’s use so experts can study its risks.
The police in Massachusetts communities reported using Tasers in 229 incidents between September 2007 and September 2008, a fourfold increase from three years earlier, according to state figures. Police used Tasers on the mentally ill and substance abusers, and in some instances shocked a person multiple times.
The Fall River police department reported 45 Taser incidents in the last year, the most in the state, including a case in March when police fired the weapon 11 times to subdue a man described by his family as mentally disturbed. Tewksbury police used 11 shocks last February to bring an intoxicated man into custody.
Tasers fire two barbed darts with attached insulated wires that deliver a five-second, 50,000-volt shock. Police who favor Tasers say they are highly effective, nonlethal weapons against violent suspects that inflict no long-term harm.
“I would credit the Taser with preventing injuries to officers, suspects, and innocent civilian bystanders,” said Fall River police spokesman Sergeant Paul Gauvin. “I would also credit the Taser with bringing quick resolution to events as they escalate.”
“In each and every one of these cases, the Taser was used appropriately,” he said of his department’s use.
But some Massachusetts police have chosen not to use Tasers.
Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan said while he is keeping an open mind about obtaining Tasers for his department, he needs more information. “I know there have been some deaths attributed to Tasers,” he said. “At this point, there just isn’t enough known about them. I’m not ready to jump in with both feet.”
Late last year, Amnesty International, the human rights group, produced an exhaustive assessment of Taser risks. The group reported that at least 334 people across the United States died after police used Tasers on them since 2001. The report said that while it is difficult to determine whether Tasers caused the fatalities, more study should be undertaken.
The report said some of the deaths appear to be associated with heart problems. It also criticized the use of Tasers on the mentally ill, the elderly, or children, and it pointed out that a shock from a Taser, which causes a sudden loss of muscle control, can lead to injuries if subjects fall on hard surfaces.
The National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the US Department of Justice, says on its website that exposure to Tasers “is safe in the vast majority of cases,” particularly with “normal healthy adults.” However, the agency said, its safety assurances “may not be applicable in small children, those with diseased hearts, the elderly, those who are pregnant, and other at-risk individuals.”
The Justice report says its preliminary review of deaths following exposure to Tasers indicates many are associated “with continuous or repeated discharge.”
A spokesman for TASER International said the company stands by the “safety and quality” of its products.
“Taser devices have saved thousands of lives worldwide and dramatically reduce injuries of officers and suspects in every community they are deployed,” said Steve Tuttle, vice president of communications.
No deaths associated with Tasers have been reported in Massachusetts, but there have been injuries.
Last July in Mansfield, for example, after police used a Taser to subdue Michael R. Pelick, the allegedly intoxicated 42-year-old collapsed backwards, struck his head on the pavement, and was rushed, bleeding, to the hospital, according to a police report. Mansfield police do not carry the weapons, but had called for backup from Foxborough police, whose officers used a Taser to control Pelick.
As part of the training for Tasers, many departments require officers to submit to shocks by Tasers. Numerous videos on the Web show police, when zapped, screaming in apparent agony and collapsing to the ground, but they appear to recover quickly.
“It’s a very excruciating five seconds,” said Methuen Police Lieutenant Frank Korn, who said he has had the experience. “Five seconds feels like 30 seconds. It’s extremely painful, but once the current stopped, I felt fine. I was very satisfied with it, and it gave me a lot of confidence in the use of Tasers.”
Police in Massachusetts began using Tasers in 2004. Forty-four communities are certified to use the weapons, compared to 37 a little more than a year ago. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security certifies local police departments to carry Tasers, requires training of officers before deployment, and requires a running tally of use.
FBI agents do not carry Tasers, according to spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz, spokeswoman for the FBI’s Boston office, nor do the Massachusetts State Police.
The executive office of public safety does not review local police use to evaluate the weapon’s possible risk or misuse, according to spokesman Terrel Harris.
In Fall River, police used the stun guns in 45 incidents in the latest 12-month reporting period, compared to eight in the previous 24 months. During the more recent 12 months, the Tasers were fired 117 times - indicating multiple shocks on several suspects. Police in Attleboro, Barnstable, Framingham, North Adams, Wareham, and Worcester reported 10 or more incidents in the latest 12-month period.
Gauvin said he had not been aware that his department used Tasers more than others until an interview with the Globe.
But some departments rarely use the Tasers. During the year ending in September, the weapon was never fired in the line of duty in 13 Massachusetts communities and only once in six others.
Police say frequency of use and multiple use could be associated with the population density in a community, its high crime rate, and violence associated with its criminals.
Still, police in some high-crime cities, such as Boston, do not carry Tasers.
A Globe survey of police reports in Massachusetts involving Taser use in Framingham, Fall River, and Tewksbury indicates subjects and officers received minor wounds from Tasers. In several instances, however, police used Tasers in ways that contradict the warnings by Amnesty International.
In Framingham, during the arrest of James A. Mushinsky, 45, allegedly high on cocaine, police efforts to subdue him backfired. Officers used pepper spray and a Taser on Mushinsky five times while he allegedly kicked and flailed his arms to avoid arrest. In the melee, officers inadvertently pepper-sprayed three of their colleagues and stunned two of them with a Taser, the report said.
And in Fall River a man who was “in need of mental health evaluation” and “wasn’t making sense in his speech” was stunned 11 times last March after he tried to break free from a gurney in an ambulance, according to Gauvin. The man’s name was not revealed, since he was not charged with a crime.
Gauvin defended the police officer as having exhibited “great judgment” for eventually calming a possibly threatening situation.
He said eight of the shocks were “drive stuns,” a method of placing the Taser directly on the body. Drive stuns cause pain but not incapacitation. “The officer used discretion in employing the Taser,” Gauvin said.
Fall River, Framingham, and Tewksbury police spokesmen said in interviews that they always arrange for subjects and officers to receive medical care after being shocked. Police spokesmen in Attleboro, Fall River, Foxborough, Framingham, Methuen, North Adams, Norton, Tewksbury, and Wareham said they do not know of an instance where Taser use by their departments was unjustified.
Copyright 2009 Boston Globe