10Th Death By Police Taser.

[Gromit]

// Eye-witness Lee Wilkie, 25, who lives nearby on Mount Road, said: "Three Transit vans came storming up to the house then they bashed his door down and you could hear all sorts of shouting and banging.

"I think he's been Tasered inside and then the ambulance came outside his house. A bit later he came into the street but something happened again and they started giving him CPR in the road.

"He was a good lad, a quiet lad, and he was very well-liked. People around here are just in total shock and really angry as well, why did they have to Taser him?" //

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/jordan-begley-named-man-who-5066332

What are your views on Tasers?

Are Tasers safe?
Are they being properly used?
Are they being over used?
Are they being used as first resort instead of last resort?
Is 10 deaths acceptable?

[pixie373]

It doesn't say in the article whether he had the knife, or someone else, so it's difficult to say if it was necessary to Taser him.
also, 10 deaths out of how many "taserings?"

[chrisgel]

I seem to remember when Tasers were first being muted that we were assured that they would only be used in situations where a firearm would otherwise be the only alternative.
Since then, as far as I can see, over the years there has been a kind of "mission creep" to the extent they are now being used in cases where firearms wouldn't have ever been considered. For example restraint, DUI and failure to stop etc.

[Gromit]

They were introduced in 2003.
In 2011 they were used 1,500 times.

[chrisgel]

That sort of confirms my point I think. If there had been 1500 firearm discharges in a year their would surely be questions asked.

[Sqad]

Well that suggests that Tasers work..........

[Gromit]

// In total, at least 194 children aged 16 or under have had Tasers deployed on them in the last three years.

More than 20 young children hit with the weapons despite concerns they can lead to fatal heart attacks.

They include six children aged only 14, four youngsters aged 15, and 13 teenagers aged 16. Scores of other children as young as 11 have been threatened by officers with the weapons. //

[pixie373]

What were they doing at the time, gromit?

[Octavius]

I think - and I have no first hand experience of this - that use of taser in required circumstances would be far preferable to rubber bullets, baton bashing, fistfights and kung fu.

[chrisgel]

Yes squad, those 11 year olds would probably be dead if they had been shot. Should count themselves lucky really.

[Orderlimit]

From the BBC site

The BBC's Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the man's death was the tenth to have occurred in England and Wales after police used a Taser.

He said in eight of those cases it was found the Taser had not caused death, and in the other two - the latest death in Manchester and that of a Plymouth man in April - investigations were ongoing.

[Sqad]

chrisgel....exactly.....just my point.

[pixie373]

So there haven't been any deaths caused by tasers? Two being investigated...

[Baldric]

//The Independent Police Complaints Commission, is working to establish the full circumstances//

I'm sure once they have done this the Police will be totally exonerated.

[Gromit]

// A man who had doused himself in petrol turned into a human fireball when police shot him with a Taser. //

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2315486/Andrew-Pimlott-burned-death-police-taser-horror-Officers-fired-50-000-volts-man-doused-petrol.html#ixzz2Yk6ScXsq


I supposed he died by fire, not the electric shock then.

[daffy654]

Medical episode indicates an underlying health problem such as heart disease, asthma, epilepsy, diabetes etc. Tasering someone with epilepsy can cause seizures which can be difficult to resolve.

[pixie373]

That is horrible, gromit. So, out of the ten deaths, eight were not caused by the Taser. Is this one of the two being investigated?

[pixie373]

Sorry, gromit- i meant the story on the,link is horrible (in case i wasn't clear)

[Gromit]

// Brian Loan: County Durham, Oct 2006 - died from heart disease three days after Taser fired

Dale Burns: Barrow, Aug 2011 - died of drug poisoning after Taser fired //

[Orderlimit]

Yes it is Pixie

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-22316820