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Lansing State Journal
May 21, 2003 Wednesday
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B
LENGTH: 689 words
HEADLINE: Laingsburg cops test TASERs on high schoolers
BYLINE: McCurtis James Jr
BODY:
Students asked to participate in training drill
By James McCurtis Jr.
Lansing State Journal
LAINGSBURG - The police department will no longer let citizens participate in training procedures, a change that comes after officers used TASERs on five high school volunteers in an exercise last month.
The department made the change after parents and high school officials complained that officers used TASERs, which work similar to stun guns, on members of the Laingsburg High School track team. None of the students was injured.
"I thought it showed poor judgment," said Dr. Monica Johnson , an emergency room physician at Clinton Memorial Hospital in St. Johns.
Her daughter Julie , 18, volunteered in the exercise.
"They didn't ask if they had any heart problem. It's got the potential to be dangerous for people who have electrical conduction problems with their heart."
A TASER is a device shaped like a gun that shoots out probes that send a small electrical current throughout the body and makes a person immobile for five seconds, said Steve Tuttle , director of government affairs for TASER International Inc. based in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Tuttle said the device is safe and that it just buys time for officers to arrest an aggressive person or it helps someone escape an attacker.
Last month, seven officers, including Police Chief Lon Cripps , used a high school classroom to train officers on how to use TASERs.
High school classes were not in session because it was Good Friday, but the track team had practice at school that morning, track coach Chris Lantis said.
The students saw the officers using the Advanced TASER M26 on one another and asked if they could participate, Cripps said.
Officers asked the students if they were 18 or older and they all said yes, Cripps said.
"We were hoping that would avoid any major problems," he said.
Officers, using a special training feature for the TASER, attached cables to the students' clothing with alligator clamps. Officers shocked two students at a time.
Lantis was down the hall preparing for practice during the training but later walked into the classroom just as one of the officers pulled the trigger.
"When I saw a student go down, the second that happened, I said, 'All kids out of here. Let's go to practice,' " Lantis said.
Days after the incident, Principal Mike Foster met with Cripps and other city officials to discuss the matter, Laingsburg Community Schools Superintendent Hal Beatty said .
"We wouldn't have this happen without parent approval," Beatty said. "I think if they (the police) had thought that through, they wouldn't do it again this way."
No one from the police department was punished, but Cripps said he and his department learned a valuable lesson.
In the past, the department used adult citizens to conduct CPR and defibrillator training. Now they only will use department staffers.
"The only people who will be involved in any kind of training from now on will be department members only, and that's just to make sure there's no more misunderstanding," Cripps said.
Contact James McCurtis Jr. at 377-1046 or [email protected].
Box:
Advanced TASER M26
* The TASER M26 hit the market in 1999. A TASER, Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle, shoots an electrical current through a person's body and makes the subject immobile for five seconds.
* TASERs shoot out two probes that send out an electric pulse, stimulating the nervous system and overriding the central nervous system.
* The TASER sends an electrical shock of 1.76 joules per pulse through the body. To compare, a defibrillator sends a current of 200 joules per pulse through the body to jump start a person's heart.
* In Michigan, 29 law enforcement agencies, including Lansing and Laingsburg police, are either using or testing the TASER. More than 2,400 law enforcement U.S. agencies use the Advanced TASER M26.
* All states except New Jersey and Massachusetts can use TASERs.
May 21, 2003 Wednesday
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B
LENGTH: 689 words
HEADLINE: Laingsburg cops test TASERs on high schoolers
BYLINE: McCurtis James Jr
BODY:
Students asked to participate in training drill
By James McCurtis Jr.
Lansing State Journal
LAINGSBURG - The police department will no longer let citizens participate in training procedures, a change that comes after officers used TASERs on five high school volunteers in an exercise last month.
The department made the change after parents and high school officials complained that officers used TASERs, which work similar to stun guns, on members of the Laingsburg High School track team. None of the students was injured.
"I thought it showed poor judgment," said Dr. Monica Johnson , an emergency room physician at Clinton Memorial Hospital in St. Johns.
Her daughter Julie , 18, volunteered in the exercise.
"They didn't ask if they had any heart problem. It's got the potential to be dangerous for people who have electrical conduction problems with their heart."
A TASER is a device shaped like a gun that shoots out probes that send a small electrical current throughout the body and makes a person immobile for five seconds, said Steve Tuttle , director of government affairs for TASER International Inc. based in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Tuttle said the device is safe and that it just buys time for officers to arrest an aggressive person or it helps someone escape an attacker.
Last month, seven officers, including Police Chief Lon Cripps , used a high school classroom to train officers on how to use TASERs.
High school classes were not in session because it was Good Friday, but the track team had practice at school that morning, track coach Chris Lantis said.
The students saw the officers using the Advanced TASER M26 on one another and asked if they could participate, Cripps said.
Officers asked the students if they were 18 or older and they all said yes, Cripps said.
"We were hoping that would avoid any major problems," he said.
Officers, using a special training feature for the TASER, attached cables to the students' clothing with alligator clamps. Officers shocked two students at a time.
Lantis was down the hall preparing for practice during the training but later walked into the classroom just as one of the officers pulled the trigger.
"When I saw a student go down, the second that happened, I said, 'All kids out of here. Let's go to practice,' " Lantis said.
Days after the incident, Principal Mike Foster met with Cripps and other city officials to discuss the matter, Laingsburg Community Schools Superintendent Hal Beatty said .
"We wouldn't have this happen without parent approval," Beatty said. "I think if they (the police) had thought that through, they wouldn't do it again this way."
No one from the police department was punished, but Cripps said he and his department learned a valuable lesson.
In the past, the department used adult citizens to conduct CPR and defibrillator training. Now they only will use department staffers.
"The only people who will be involved in any kind of training from now on will be department members only, and that's just to make sure there's no more misunderstanding," Cripps said.
Contact James McCurtis Jr. at 377-1046 or [email protected].
Box:
Advanced TASER M26
* The TASER M26 hit the market in 1999. A TASER, Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle, shoots an electrical current through a person's body and makes the subject immobile for five seconds.
* TASERs shoot out two probes that send out an electric pulse, stimulating the nervous system and overriding the central nervous system.
* The TASER sends an electrical shock of 1.76 joules per pulse through the body. To compare, a defibrillator sends a current of 200 joules per pulse through the body to jump start a person's heart.
* In Michigan, 29 law enforcement agencies, including Lansing and Laingsburg police, are either using or testing the TASER. More than 2,400 law enforcement U.S. agencies use the Advanced TASER M26.
* All states except New Jersey and Massachusetts can use TASERs.
