Amnesty International Report Examines TASER Use by Law Enforcement

Amnesty International Report Examines TASER Use by Law Enforcement, Finds Rising Death Toll, Human Rights Abuses, Ill-Treatment, Torture

11/30/2004 11:02:00 AM

To: National Desk

Contact: Edward Jackson of Amnesty International, 202-544-0200 ext. 302 or 202-251-3894 (cell)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Amnesty International today released a report finding that the rampant proliferation of TASER electro-shock weapons among United States law enforcement agencies is contributing to widespread human rights abuses. The report details 74 TASER-related deaths that have occurred in the United States and Canada since June 2001, providing additional support for Amnesty International's long-standing call for a suspension of the use of the electro-shock weapons until it can be determined if they are killing people. Amnesty International USA will also release information documenting more than 80 TASER- related deaths since 1999. The fact that more than 60 percent of these deaths have occurred in the last year (Nov. 2003 to Nov. 2004) significantly increases the urgency of this call.

The 93-page report, Excessive and Lethal Force?: Deaths and Ill-treatment Involving Police Use of TASERs, concludes that, "far from being used to avoid lethal force, many US police agencies are deploying TASERs as a routine force option to subdue non-compliant or disturbed individuals who do not pose a serious danger to themselves or others. In some departments, TASERs have become the most prevalent force tool. They have been used against unruly schoolchildren; mentally disturbed or intoxicated individuals; unarmed suspects fleeing minor crime scenes and people who fail to comply immediately with a command."

"Amnesty International is not unilaterally opposed to TASER use. There may well be situations in which this weapon could justifiably be used as an alternative to lethal force," said Dr. William F. Schulz, executive director, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "But TASERs' potential to save lives is being overshadowed by their potential to kill, their frequent use in situations where lethal force would never be an option, and the conspicuous lack of independent evidence proving that they don't kill people. The rush to get the newest technology on the streets is outpacing the ability of public officials to put in place the safeguards necessary to protect the public."

According to the Amnesty International report, the widespread use of TASERs has dangerously expanded the boundaries of "acceptable" levels of force. The report provides a comprehensive analysis detailing the possible links between this increased tolerance in the use of force, the abuse of TASERs by law enforcement, and the resulting lack of accountability for those abuses. Moreover, there may be a causal link between these factors and the dramatic spike in TASER-related deaths. In many of those deaths the individual was shocked multiple times and subjected to other forms of force like pepper spray, batons, or hogtying.

In fact, the data shows that TASERs are used on unarmed suspects in 80 percent of the cases, for verbal non-compliance in 36 percent, and for cases involving "deadly assault" only 3 percent of the time. Amnesty International calls on Taser International to demonstrate corporate responsibility by making recommendations that will help police departments use its device as it was designed-as an alternative to lethal force. Taser International markets the gun as a "defensive weapon" designed to be used on the "most hardened of targets," but in a brochure targeted to law enforcement, the company says its electro-shock weapons can be used by police for "everyday circumstances."

The report provides further documentation of a pattern in which medical examiners predictably attribute the official cause of death in a majority of TASER-related shootings to heart problems, drug overdose (usually involving cocaine, PCP, or Crystal Methamphetamine), or positional asphyxiation. Amnesty International believes all of these issues require immediate attention from independent medical experts.

Amnesty International enlisted an independent forensic pathologist, Sidsel Rogde, M.D., Ph.D., professor of forensic medicine, University of Oslo, to review autopsy reports from 16 TASER-related deaths and two that involved stun guns. (TASERs and stun guns are both electro-shock weapons, but TASERs are shaped like handguns that can administer a 50,000-volt shock by either shooting a suspect with metal darts from a distance of up to 21 feet or by applying the device directly to the skin. Stun guns are not as powerful as TASERs and only deliver a shock when directly applied to a person). Dr. Rogde concludes that TASERs may have played a contributory role in seven of the deaths; in four of the cases, this is the first time such analysis has been made public. In the other cases the autopsy reports did not contain sufficient evidence for Dr. Rogde to dismiss TASERs as a contributing factor. In the two cases that involved traditional stun guns, the doctor concurred with the findings of the original medical examiners who reported that the electro-shock weapons played a role in the deaths.

Benjamin Jealous, director of AIUSA's Domestic Human Rights Program, said, "The rhetoric used to sell TASERs does not match the reality of how the weapons are being used in the field. The public is being told that TASERs will be used as a safe, non- lethal alternative to guns. But in reality, they are being used in situations where police would never use lethal force, such as on a handcuffed nine-year-old girl in Arizona, a six-year-old mentally disturbed boy in Florida, and a 71-year-old woman in Oregon who is blind in one eye. Another alarming reality is that in many of these cases, the shootings are determined to be justified because they are within the scope of departmental policies-policies that gave police officers permission to shoot a six-year-old with 50,000 volts of electricity."

Furthermore, Amnesty International questions the veracity of claims that studies conducted by the US Department of Defense, as well as in the UK and Australia, provide independent evidence proving that TASERs are safe. All of these reports qualify their endorsements of the electro-shock weapon on a number of factors including the manner in which the device was used and whether the individual has a preexisting heart condition. Similarly, it is not clear whether any of these studies conducted new, independent research or, like the majority of medical "reviews," based their assessments on already existing studies and information provided by the company. Finally, many of these studies raise concerns about the effect a 50,000-volt shock from a TASER might have on people with preexisting heart conditions.

"Amnesty International has found that the use of TASERs is not limited to local law enforcement agencies. They are also being used by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan -- places where there is evidence that torture and ill-treatment occurred. There is also preliminary evidence showing that TASERs were present at Abu Ghraib," said Maureen Greenwood, advocacy director for AIUSA. "That is why, today, we are filing a Freedom of Information Act request asking for the data recorded by computer chips in the TASERs used in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Amnesty International is asking its 1.8 million activists worldwide to contact government officials and encourage them to suspend the use of TASERs until a rigorous, comprehensive medical study can be conducted proving the devices are safe to use on the general public. Where law enforcement agencies refuse to suspend the use of TASERs, Amnesty International is asking local, state and federal agencies to reduce unnecessary death and injuries by using TASERs only as an alternative to lethal force, conducting more training on justified uses of force, and basing the trainings on widely accepted international human rights standards that require officers to use the minimum level of force required by a particular situation.

---

Visit http://www.amnestyusa.org for a copy of "Excessive and Lethal Force?: Deaths and Ill-treatment Involving Police Use of TASERs." For more details on any of the information in this release, copies of documents, or to speak to an Amnesty International spokesperson, please contact Edward Jackson, media director, at 202-544-0200 ext. 302.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

-0-