"Largest ever" study finds tasers safe

Not that you needed any kind of study to prove that your shiny new personal stun gun was safe to use, but Dr. William Bozeman and colleagues have just wrapped up an independent study that "suggests the devices are safe, causing a low occurrence of serious injuries." The research was conducted at Wake Forest University, and it showed that out of "nearly 1,000 cases, 99.7-percent of those subjected to a taser had mild injuries, such as scrapes and bruises, or none at all," while the remaining sliver received injuries severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. Granted, Dr. Bozeman did admit that tasers could "clearly cause injuries and even deaths in some cases," but insinuated that the risk was quite low. Tase on, we guess.

[Via Physorg]

[rahat @ Oct 9th 2007 11:14AM]

DONT TAZE ME BRO

[romeo @ Oct 9th 2007 11:41AM]

predictable

[boring @ Oct 9th 2007 12:20PM]

Boring!

[jroc @ Oct 9th 2007 5:43PM]

That was a horrible event, I mean the guy got freaking tazed for asking a question. What ever happened to the freedom of speech. Since when did questions harm people?

[jroc @ Oct 9th 2007 5:45PM]

That was a horrible event, I mean the guy got freaking tazed for asking a question. What ever happened to the freedom of speech. Since when did questions harm people?

[jroc @ Oct 9th 2007 5:48PM]

That was a horrible event, I mean the guy got freaking tazed for asking a question. What ever happened to the freedom of speech. Since when did questions harm people?

[jroc @ Oct 9th 2007 5:57PM]

GRRR Engadget commenting system & mozilla firefox!

[Spartacus @ Oct 9th 2007 7:43PM]

Do taze me bro. Now that we know they're safe...

[Rainier @ Oct 9th 2007 11:15AM]

Don't tase me, bro!

[JC @ Oct 9th 2007 11:50AM]

I ain't your bro. *zap*

[Rainier @ Oct 9th 2007 12:02PM]

Hahah...uhh, sis?

[still boring @ Oct 9th 2007 12:20PM]

lameness repeated

[Brian @ Oct 9th 2007 11:23AM]

As long as the officers recieve proper training, (similar to the way prison guards have to be maced every few years, so they don't abuse it on the inmates), a taser is a much better solution than a gun. We can't all be boondock saints. :p

This is great news.

[Adam @ Oct 9th 2007 11:39AM]

This is terrible news. We are already seeing way too many instances of cops using Tasers (and mace for that matter) as a form of summary corporeal punishment. Supposedly our 8th amendment protects us against this (didn't help the "don't tase me bro" guy though, so I wouldn't count on it helping you).

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

[Brian @ Oct 9th 2007 11:55AM]

A taser was a lot better than broken bones. I'd like to know what injuries this guy sustained, besides a few moments of pain.

One way or another, this guy was going down.

Rather they had to tackle him, or use other means of intense physical force, they disabled him.

[a bit boring @ Oct 9th 2007 12:20PM]

it's not news, nor is it great.
It just confirms what most people already know.

[Paul @ Oct 9th 2007 12:15PM]

@Adam you are confusing the use of tasers with the use of excessive force. Banning tasers will not stop excessive force, the cops will just use something else.

Treat the cause, not the symptom.

[tonybullard @ Oct 9th 2007 2:23PM]

"A taser was a lot better than broken bones. I'd like to know what injuries this guy sustained, besides a few moments of pain."

So if I run up and Taser you for no good reason, should I not be charged, since there's no permanent injuries?

[Paul @ Oct 9th 2007 4:28PM]

Tasers are dangerous! Go back to using guns!

Oh, wait . . .

[Xzavier @ Oct 9th 2007 5:14PM]

It is great to live in a society where the Police are not using Taser on people breaking the law, however using taser on people who have either did nothing wrong or simply put, didn't OBEY their Masters... ahem, sorry the police.

They say... Take your pick! Either you will be shot, or you can get taser, it's your choice! We throw are arm up in the air and say... taser me please! It's better than being shot! However what did you do wrong to warrant that taser/being shot in the first place? If a person say NO to a police office, that dose not mean that the police office has the right to use force against your simple 2 letter word. However here in America that is so normal we don't even notice anything being wrong.

If the police are the Prison guards then what the heck does that make the rest of the population? And we come to the conclusion that Brian comment should get I guess prisners in a prison would give Brian Highest ranks as well?

For all of you guys out their that think that other people are sooo bad that they need to be shot, locked up, or taser... Then this link is for you AMERICA!
http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=4185

America... the land of the free and the home of the br***

[wireless.nemo @ Oct 9th 2007 11:24AM]

this isn't news.

Most of the people who end up having serious or fatal injuries have a pre-existing, serious heart condition to begin with.

tazers > you

[Ohng @ Oct 9th 2007 12:13PM]

Yep .. it's best not to have any medical condition before someone decides to taze you. Make sure you alert all cops, who want to arrest you, about a bum ticker.

Then, once they do taze you and you're dead, you can charge them with .. oh wait.

[wireless.nemo @ Oct 9th 2007 12:57PM]

what's your point, Ohng? What would you rather subdue them with? Guns are too deadly, Batons are too harmful, Mace can have long term effects, etc etc etc.... nobody is ever happy

[Penguin Warlord @ Oct 9th 2007 4:56PM]

@ohng

Maybe the solution is to not run from the cops. Honestly if you've done nothing wrong then you have nothing to fear.

[Simon @ Oct 9th 2007 7:44PM]

@Penguin Warlord

O Rly?

How about shooting a guy whos just carrying a table leg?

http://web.amnesty.org/wire/september2002/UK

[Djunior80 @ Oct 9th 2007 11:28AM]

Great! Just what arrogant corrupted "I am above everyone and the law" cops needed to hear!

[LC @ Oct 9th 2007 11:31AM]

Riiight, because the alternative would be to show that Tazers were unsafe so those "arrogant" cops would have to resort to pumping lead into someone instead of voltage.

[besobeso @ Oct 9th 2007 11:51AM]

Of course there are corrupt cops just as there are corrupt people in every line of work...it is difficult to screen for morality. However, speaking as a person who has, voluntarily, been hit with a 5 sec. burst from a police issue X26 Taser, I will say that you can consider yourself lucky when the officer choses this method to subdue you in the event of resistance as opposed to OC spray, ASP baton, or by throwing small pieces of metal your direction your way at a high rate of speed. Once the officer turns off the power, the effect disappears much more quickly than you might realize, which can not be said for those other methods. And guess what, people have died after being sprayed with OC, people have died after being struck with a baton, and with the gun option, it goes without saying. The Taser is the best option all around, I am convinced of that. Like every other tool, it can be abused, but you don't blame the tool.

[Brian @ Oct 9th 2007 11:59AM]

"The Taser is the best option all around, I am convinced of that. Like every other tool, it can be abused, but you don't blame the tool."

Amen

[boring as hell now @ Oct 9th 2007 12:20PM]

it's possibly a better option to disable suspects than firing bullets at them, but it also opens wide the possibility of torture without leaving much marks, hence much greater possibility of abuse.

[Mr.Tech @ Oct 9th 2007 11:33AM]

Officer: To taze or not to taze? mn... perhaps... "thinking"

Dude: DON'T TAZE ME BRO!

Officer: After that how can I not? "TAZEEEEEE"

Dude: Damn that's refreshing... Do it again?...

[Totally hopeless boring @ Oct 9th 2007 12:20PM]

I can't believe how lame this is.

[Steve Jobs @ Oct 9th 2007 11:34AM]

I know a kid that bought a tazer off of ebay while we were in college...Guess what happened...we all got drunk and he ended up wasted on his hands and knees leaning over the edge of the bathtub with his head under the faucet. We were all still partying and hanging out during this time (we did have an eye on poor j to make sure he wasn't drowning or anything). Enter the tazer and the video camera...duh duh duh...j with his head hanging in the bathtub was just to inviting a target, so we rolled tape and tazed him in the ass. Needless to say he was pissed and took his revenge the next day.

[boring @ Oct 9th 2007 12:20PM]

boring telling of a boring story. Who cares.

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 9th 2007 11:35AM]

I for one welcome our taser-wielding overseers.

[boring! @ Oct 9th 2007 12:20PM]

This ain't Slashdot. It's been a boring joke there since the day it came out.

[norritt @ Oct 9th 2007 11:44AM]

That are bad news! The more of these "They cause no harm, but stop bad guys" news come, the more "trained staff" will feel less concern about finally use it. Even if it would be totally unnecessary!

And what are the mental consequences? Think about it.

[Brian @ Oct 9th 2007 11:47AM]

TAZE MORE BRO's

[nntpgrip @ Oct 9th 2007 11:48AM]

Who paid for the study?

Tazers should be banned because they give the false sense of "the safe alternative".

So its my fault I had some heart issue I didn't know about that without contact with a tazer might have limited me to 65 years of life, but due to the tazer I am dead right now.

With a traditional gun, its clear what that will do.

Someone needs to come up with something small you can wear that will absorb the charge and make the tazer ineffective.

[Colorado @ Oct 9th 2007 1:35PM]

You, sir, are a moron.

"Who paid for the study?"

Straight from the article: "Dr. William Bozeman and colleagues have just wrapped up an independent study"

"Tazers should be banned because they give the false sense of "the safe alternative"."
1. What about tazers is false? The study speaks for itself.
2. Is there any other "safe alternative" that has shown itself to be as effective and proven to be safe as the tazer?

"So its my fault I had some heart issue I didn't know about that without contact with a tazer might have limited me to 65 years of life, but due to the tazer I am dead right now."

It is completely your fault if you provoke and resist and officer enough to the point where he has to use a tazer. If you would just cooperate with them, there would be no need to use it.

"With a traditional gun, its clear what that will do."

What the hell does that mean?

"Someone needs to come up with something small you can wear that will absorb the charge and make the tazer ineffective."

Nice. Let's invent something that'll help criminals resist officers even further, necessitating the invention of a less-safe alternative to disable criminals.

[Scott Winegar @ Oct 9th 2007 1:57PM]

Here's a crazy ass idea, when a cop tells you to get on the ground, you do it instead of resisting like every idiot that gets tazed fails to do.

[Xzavier @ Oct 9th 2007 1:54PM]

After reading the part "Two subjects died, but autopsy reports indicate that neither death was related to the Taser." I decided to do a google search on "taser death" and I found a lot more that just 2 people dying!!!

USA: TASER-Related Deaths Increasingly Frequent; Total Exceeds 150, Reports Amnesty International
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGUSA20060328001

Then I wonder... so how could this be??? After rereading the article again I notice this. "In a review of nearly 1,000 cases, 99.7 per cent of those subjected to a Taser had mild injuries, such as scrapes and bruises, or none at all."

Oh! So that is how Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center makes it seem like that taser are safe. Time to send Bonnie Davis a few emails!


Also, I wonder if 1 of those 2 people that died were from the link below?

Police fatally taser gasoline-soaked suspect
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/21/police-fatally-taser-gasoline-soaked-suspect/

[nntpgrip @ Oct 9th 2007 3:21PM]

@Colorado - Hope you get tazed to death in front of your children, cop...

[Martin Trautmann @ Oct 9th 2007 11:54AM]

What happens when those tazers are abused (e.g. this person which was tazered as punishment while demonstrating)? Are there any legal actions against the owner?

[Wwhat @ Oct 9th 2007 11:32PM]

Congressional medal of honor I expect.

[Brian @ Oct 9th 2007 11:56AM]

I should also have said, I'd rather be tased than maced.

[kakapo @ Oct 9th 2007 11:56AM]

When a fascistic police state (such as - oh let's see - are there any around today?) has to use any form of brutal force and it is approved by any "independent body" then watch th use of force increase.

Tasers are safe and so are atomic bombs - until you set them off. Not a single death can be attributed to a taser sitting on a table and a person accidentally or intentionally bumping into this device, HOWEVER put the taer into the hand of these morons called Polizei or Gestapo or your local University pseudo-polizei and you can actually see someone die. Why, you may ask. Becasue these sorry sick SOBs do not know when ot stop and in fact they usually get off on the pain they inflict and look forward to inflicting more.

Here in Australia (qucikly becoming a police state under Little Johnny)... we are seeing more and more use of the taser to stop drunks on the street. Oh, that's really necessary!

When you give authoritarians the "right" the inflict pain you create a torture culture. Enjoy!

[Phreak511 @ Oct 9th 2007 2:14PM]

"When a fascistic police state (such as - oh let's see - are there any around today?) has to use any form of brutal force and it is approved by any "independent body" then watch th use of force increase...."


Well, gee. I don't see any jack-booted thugs breaking down your door and dragging your sorry ass out of your home or blocking your internet access. Of course, next time you and your hairy girlfriend are walking through a dark parking lot and a bunch of thugs surround you, don't bother calling 911 on your Iphone. You wouldn't want the police to use "ANY FORM" of force on those guys.


Why don't you move to Iran or China and see what a real police state can do.

Nimrod.

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 9th 2007 12:03PM]

A Taser and a gun should be standard issue to all police officers.

Why is it that people are accustomed to police possesing LETHAL FORCE but not happy to hear of them possesing LESS-THAN-LETHAL foce?

That attitude only shows how poorly America recognizes human rights - and more importantly HUMAN LIFE.

I'd rather seee a debate over gun control and taser control than ABORTION because we should focus on how to treatr life that already lives and breathes.

Yes, I would worry about TASERS being abused by RACIST, angry and hateful police officers that are out there. Perhaps the devices should be tuned carefully to prevent abuse by police?

[andy @ Oct 9th 2007 12:42PM]

You guys do realize that tasers have chips in them that record the time/date/length of each deployment, and whether a cartridge was fired at that time or not, right?

If everything you do is recorded, I'd say there's pretty good potential for oversight and minimizing of abuse.