I have and it hurts like hell.

From: sun-sentinel.com

Amnesty International Calls For Taser Suspension

Police departments throughout the nation are abusing the use of Tasers, firing them on children, the elderly and in situations that do not merit the use of a 50,000-volt jolt, a report released Monday by Amnesty International concluded.

In calling for the temporary suspension of Taser use, the human rights group points to the rising number of deaths it has linked to incidents in which electro-shock weapons were used.

The group included in its report the 2003 death of a 31-year old Pembroke Pines man who died after being zapped and tied and the 2002 death of a homeless man who struggled with Hollywood police officers.

The release of the report comes at a time when the Miami-Dade Police Department is reviewing its Taser policy after officers used a stun gun on a 6-year-old Miami boy and a 12-year-old girl this year in separate incidents and the resignation of a Boyton Beach officer who zapped a prisoner inside a holding cell.

While acknowledging the importance of using a non-lethal weapon to combat crime and saving lives, Amnesty officials, longtime foes of less-than-lethal weapons, worry that the excessive use of Tasers will lead to more deaths and human rights violations.

"They've become part of their routine use. We've been seeing occasions in which a person didn't want to show an ID, or didn't move fast enough, or didn't do what the officer told them to do on the moment he said to do it," said Amnesty spokesman Edward Jackson. "We've seen instances in which a person was repeatedly hit with a Taser, sometimes up to five times, violating the international standards prohibiting torture or the cruel treatment of humans."

Local police officials took issues with the report, saying Tasers have decreased the use of deadly force.

More importantly, there has been no evidence linking the weapons to the reported deaths, they said.

"Since we began using Tasers, we've had only one [police gun fired] in two years. That's an amazing statistic," said Miami Police Chief John Timoney.

"I was looking at some reports this weekend and I can guarantee that if it wasn't for the Taser, some of these people would've been shot with a gun," the police chief said.

Timoney, who added that his department has strict guidelines on Taser use, vowed to discipline any officer who violates them.

Police officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties declined to comment, saying they had not seen the organization's report.

Miami-Dade Police officials, who have come under fire for the stunning of the 6-year-old, say they are reviewing their policy.

They also dismissed the Amnesty International report.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinions and drawing their own studies," said Miami-Dade spokesman Robert Williams. "We're drawing our own study and working with community groups, and we will be looking into all aspects of the policy."

In its report, Amnesty International identified 74 people who died after being shocked with a Taser, 12 in Florida.

The 97-page report, which devotes an entire chapter to Florida, also highlights other South Florida incidents in which the organization deemed abusive or excessive.

They include an incident in which a 15-year-old girl was pepper sprayed and then stunned during an argument with a Miramar police officer in 2002, and a mentally ill woman who was jolted after interrupting a seminar at a country club in Pembroke Pines.

In each of the cases cited in the report, police administrators justified the use of force. Most of the deaths were attributed to other factors such as drug use or heart problems, the report said, while others were inconclusive.

The report also used a 2002 study conducted by the stun gun's manufacturer, Taser International, to bolster its argument against them.

That analysis looked at 2,050 incidents in which officers used their Tasers.

Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

What did you do that deserved a taser sting?

No, but I hit a prowler with a taser once in self defence.

50 Kv with enough current to feel is lethal force. Period. All you need are a couple of breaks in the skin in the right places, maybe some blood or other conductor, and the game is over.

I can't find the safety documents at Fluke, but cautious EE's start paying attention at 50v and even the insane ones are paying attention by 500v. It doesn't take much current to disrupt the heart at all: all you need to do is get a little voltage difference in the right place...

And as I recall there have been several documented Taser deaths in Europe.

what would happen if you tasered someone in their mouth?

I once tested a taser on my leg.

I hit myself in the leg with a 90,000 volt volt "Thunder Woman" (after calling it a bitch gun) and almost shit myself. Then my friend calling me a bitch grabed it and put it to the front of his shoulder, hit the button an hucked the fucking thing as hard as he could (out of reflex) and it broke appart all over the floor.

The next day we took the broken tazer appart and hooked some 16 guage wires around the 2 outside probes (Those are called the contact probes) the inner ones are the cool testing probes that make the visable arc. Anyway, we then hammered 2 nails in the end of a broom stick and attached the wires, and could taze shit form like 5 feet away. Realizing what retards we put our minds to better things, like where are we going to get five bucks for a bag of dirt weed.

Hey wait, tasers are the ones that shoot two wires?

Then the one I have is a stun gun, not a taser.

But what I REALLY want is a maser, those giant weapons the japanese keep shooting at Godzilla.

The Wall Street Journal is running a story today that Taser, Inc. is being investigated over claims tasers don't kill anyone. It seems Arizona Republic (and others) has documented 11+ killed and a number of injuries.

Also, Taser made a suspicious sale at the end of the year, maybe fixing the books to make the quarter and/or year.