DENVER, Colo. — The death of a well-liked real estate agent who was zapped with a police Taser on Monday promises to renew a growing debate about the use of the less-lethal weapon.
Albert Augustine Romero died after he was shot with a stun gun. Officers were responding to a report from one of Romero’s neighbors who said the 47-year-old Denver man was walking in the 6100 block of West Yale Avenue at 3 a.m., smashing lights and behaving erratically.
When officers arrived, police say, Romero charged them, prompting a patrolman to fire his Taser. The shot sent a surge of electricity into Romero’s body, sending him to the ground, according to Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
Romero was handcuffed and taken to Swedish Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 4:15 a.m.
The episode — met with dismay by members of Romero’s family — highlights increasing concerns about the use of Tasers.
The weapon, billed as a safer alternative to traditional guns, has been gaining popularity. The company has sold the stun guns to more than 11,000 law enforcement agencies in 44 countries, according to the manufacturer, Taser International.
Tasers have been used by the Denver Police Department since April 2003 and give “officers another option opposed to hand-to- hand or having to use his firearm,” Jackson said.
But critics say the number of deaths is alarming.
Since Tasers began being used in Colorado, seven residents have died after being subdued with the devices, Mark Silverstein, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said Tuesday.
In the United States and Canada combined, 300 people have died after being stunned with Tasers, he said.
In 2004, the local ACLU urged Denver police to restrict the use of Tasers to situations where suspects pose a serious risk of death or bodily injury.
“One of the key issues is that the claims for safety are overstated and unproven,” Silverstein said. “Another issue is that Tasers are promoted to the public as devices that would save lives instead of the use of firearms.”
Both police and the makers of the device urged the public Monday to wait for all the facts.
In an e-mail promoting his company’s Taser C2 Personal Protector, Taser International spokesman Steve Tuttle stated: “Until all the facts surrounding this tragic incident are known, it is inappropriate to jump to any conclusions on the cause of this death. We are prepared to help the investigation of this unfortunate incident.”
The Denver Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy Monday afternoon. The report should be available in about eight weeks, after toxicology tests are completed, said chief deputy coroner Michelle Weiss-Samaras.
“We’re not going to make any assumptions one way or another,” she said.
In most cases across the country, coroners have attributed deaths after the use of a Taser to other primary causes, including drug-induced delirium and heart ailments.
But last year, the Boulder County coroner ruled that a 22-year- old Louisville man died because of a combination of the weapon’s electronic pulse, “extreme physical exertion” and complications from an abnormal heart and narrow artery.
Ryan Michael Wilson was shot by a Lafayette police officer after he ran from a field planted with marijuana.
At the time, a Taser International spokesman said the company was “disappointed” with the coroner’s determination.
“No other nonlethal law enforcement tool has undergone as extensive international scientific testing and scrutiny as Taser technology,” Tuttle said then.
Denver police require officers to undergo eight hours of training.
The department’s use-of-force regulations state that Tasers can be used when someone is actively aggressive, when a life is at risk or when someone is suicidal. Even then, the policy states the head, neck and other critical body parts are to be avoided. It was unclear Monday where Romero was shot.
Copyright 2007 Denver Publishing Company