Though the Taser has been around for more than 30 years, the brand-name stun gun gained new notoriety last month when Andrew Meyer, a 21-year-old student, scuffled with University of Florida police and uttered his now infamous entreaty "Don't tase me, bro!" — just moments before he, in fact, got tased. The rather dramatic incident spawned a catchy new anti-establishment anthem, picked up and repeated mostly by college students. But it has also renewed questions about whether Tasers pose any danger, and whether the police are using them too often.
Early concerns about Tasers centered on the issue of safety, but the controversy has recently taken a new twist, focusing on the conflict between civil rights and police procedure. Though the device was initially developed as an alternative to lethal force, it has become a go-to weapon in situations of noncompliance even when the use of firearms would not be considered — like the incident with Meyer, who agreed to 18 months of probation on Tuesday in order to avoid criminal charges of resisting arrest. "I think because it's electricity, and because of past use of electricity in torture across the world, there's a thought that law enforcement could use
to the same end," says Lt. Dave Kelly of the Phoenix Police Department. "In other words, not to use it to gain control over somebody but to punish somebody, to create pain for someone."
If the idea of tasing simultaneously fascinates and frightens people, it's probably because the technology is a bit of a mystery. "It's harder to understand the science behind Tasers than to understand bullets or batons," says Scott Greenwood of the Cincinnati chapter of the ACLU. Tasers are the only stun gun that can be fired from a distance, and they deliver a high-voltage electric shock that momentarily paralyzes victims but doesn't kill them. According to Greenwood, the zap from a Taser is no more harmful than a shot of pepper spray to the face. " is both an incredibly painful experience and a very temporary one," says Greenwood, who supports the use of the device by law enforcement. "As soon as it's off, you feel nothing. But if someone attacks me with a baton, I'm going to feel that for a while afterward."
Still, critics argue that Tasers have been adopted too hastily by police. Taser International, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based maker of the device, began offering the weapon to law enforcement agencies in 1998. Since then, more than 12,000 departments have adopted it. Yet critics say that more studies need to be done to determine the safety of the "less-than-lethal" device. Last month researchers at Wake Forest University released the first large, independent study of injuries associated with Tasers, finding that they are relatively harmless and pose minimal risk of injury. In a review of nearly 1,000 cases, 99.7% of those subjected to a Taser had no injuries or only mild ones, such as scrapes and bruises. Even so, Dr. William Bozeman, one of the study's lead researchers, was quick to add that the Taser isn't "a magical sort of thing that can't hurt anybody ever."
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1678641,00.html
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