Are tazers a lethal threat?

[mcooper]

I am just wondering what the consensus on tazers are as a threat to one's safety or life. I have read where recently people have died after being tazered. So if I criminal threatens you with one, is lethal force Justifiable?


I was just wondering about this, if there is a thread on this subject could someone point me in that direction?

 

[migoi]

I would consider any..

attempt to incapacitate me as a lethal threat. It's not so much the possible lethality of the actual tazer shock, but I would have to presume that anyone wanting me incapacitated would be doing so in order to inflict death, serious bodily harm, rape, kidnapping, or forceable sodomy on me or those under my care. This being the case I would be perfectly justified in responding with force, up to and including lethal force, IAW the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

migoi

 

[Jay Kominek]

Considering that people have died from tasers, yes, it seems reasonable to treat them as a lethal threat. Whether or not a jury will agree with you is a different thing entirely.

At least some states allow the use of lethal force to stop various felonies when they're accompanied by force or weapons. I'd think a taser would definitely count as force or a generic weapon for those purposes.

You need to check your state's statutes, and perhaps ask a lawyer.

 

[fjolnirsson]

attempt to incapacitate me as a lethal threat. It's not so much the possible lethality of the actual tazer shock, but I would have to presume that anyone wanting me incapacitated would be doing so in order in inflict death, serious bodily harm, rape, kidnapping, or forceable sodomy on me or those under my care. This being the case I would be perfectly justified in responding with force, up to and including lethal force,

What he said....

 

[Cesiumsponge]

I would label it "less lethal" in that case, just as "non-lethal" ammo had to be renamed "less lethal" because it isn't designed to kill, but "might". I feel though, that the largest risk from getting injured during a tasing situation is from secondary damage from involuntary muscle contraction that results in falling or something similar. If I recall correctly, policemen are tased so they know "what it feels like" and that experience is supposed to play a role on their discretion in justifying the use of the device in a given situation (correct me if I am wrong).

I have seen where there were individuals on either side restraining the to-be-tased cop so he wouldn't fall over, or he was on a matted gym-type flooring. In other words, a controlled environment. When you tase someone on the streets, you cannot control all the parameters of what happens afterwards. Where one falls down in a padded flooring in the training room when tased, someone might fall down and split their head open on a retaining wall outside their home if they are tased.

 

[FireBreather01]

Tasers are rarely, if ever, the cause of death. Most of the cases involving the death of someone that has been tased are in fact due to cocaine overdoses and 'excited delirium'. As usual, the media reports of deaths have largely been unsubstantiated and border on hysteria. Why should a reporter check the facts when he/she can blame a cop for a death in custody? - That makes for a much better story!

The amperage from a taser is so low that it won't even interefere with an implantable cardiac defibrillator and if it can't do that then it can't initiate a toxic heart rhythm. See http://www.taser.com/documents/PACE_Dr_McDaniel_Rpt.pdf]

In custody deaths have been attributed to mace, pepper spray, and other 'less lethal' means of restraint and submission. In virtually all of these cases the deaths are due to 'excited delirium' - http://www.laaw.com/sed_art.htm, the BG is already coked up, his adrenaline has peaked, he has physically exhausted himself from resisting, and his heart just can't take it anymore - he dies. In the course of the struggle he may have been tased, sprayed or whatever and then the cop gets blamed for 'innapropriate' actions when he probably would have been justified, and maybe better off, in just having shot the bg and getting it over with.

Anyway, sorry for the diatribe, there is just a lot of misinformation being spread by the media and bleeding hearts on this topic and I just hate sitting by while it propagates!

All that being said, if a BG is pointing a taser at me or mine, I'm not hesitating to draw and shoot because I'll damn well know his intentions aren't exactly good!

 

[bigun15]

Tasers were designed to be non-lethal, and they almost always match up to that. A taser gun could likely kill a person who had been doing drugs, because stress on the heart from the drugs combined with the stress to the heart from the taser combined can stop it. However, the taser alone would not kill the person.

 

[KriegHund]

Absolutely a lethal threat. Less lethal is still lethal.

 

[Jeff White]

If you are armed, anything that could incapacitate you and cause you to lose control of your firearm could be considered a use of lethal force against you.

If the BG tazes you or hits you in the face with OC, then disarms you, he can take your firearm and use it against you or another.

Jeff