The Coalition for Justice and Accountability held a press conference on a rainy Monday, May 9th, in front of San Jose City Hall calling for a ban on the use of tasers, which are the electric shock devices now carried by all San Jose patrol officers. After the killing of Bich Cau Thi Tran in 2003, the Coalition itself for a short time welcomed tasers as an alternative to deadly force. But the tasers turned out to be deadly themselves, and now over 100 have died across America after being shocked by the devices.

The Coalition, anxious to prevent a taser killing in San Jose, issued a report Monday that says that tasers are being used with alarming frequency, and since they were put into use in San Jose, the number of police shootings has increased, not decreased as was predicted. "They are being used primarily on the vulnerable members of our population," said Aram James, a Coalition spokesperson. "They've been tested in the streets, and we've had more than 100 deaths now, and if that's not enough to say 'look, it's time to ban them,' I don't know what is." Photos