Justice Department Review of TASER-related Deaths

SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2008

Justice Department Review of TASER-related Deaths

[Excerpts by Eddie Griffin]

Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) applauds the U.S. Department of Justice for its decision to review the deaths of up to 180 people who died after law enforcement officials shot them with TASERs.

According to news reports, the Justice Department review will initially focus on 30 deaths, including one from two decades ago. The review, which could take up to two years, will enlist the help of the National Association of Medical Examiners, the American College of Pathologists, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Amnesty International (AI) has identified more than 150 TASER-related deaths in the United States since June 2001.

TASERs are powerful electro-shock weapons… designed to incapacitate by conducting 50,000 volts of electricity into an individual's body. The electrical pulses induce skeletal muscle spasms that immobilize and incapacitate the individual, causing him to fall to the ground.

Compare an electric chair execution. Notice the amount of voltage administered






From Eddie Griffin’s Taser Files

Zap! Over 270 people wiped out, electrocuted by tasers. And now introducing the more formidable laser guided taser cannon, the TASER X26.

The Taser, produced by Taser International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR)

When Valreca Redden, an expectant mother, was tased by a Trotwood police officer, the pain reverberated around the world and the debate reignited.

As the Gwinnett County sheriff deputies administer 50,000 volt shocks into his body, they repeatedly demand that he “stop resisting”. (How can a man with 50,000 volts of electricity passing through his body keep still, let alone an epileptic? The electric chair only used 20,000 volts.)