Taser's in the News - Put your taser article here!

[dant]

Found this in the Oregonian, 9/22/2006, ppg. "C4"

Oregonian, by Maxine Bernstein

Odd actions led officers to man who died in custody, police say

Portland police say they stopped to talk to James Phillip Chasses Jr. Sunday
night after noticing him acting odd and possiblty urinating on the street.

Police are continuing to investigate the 42-year old man's death in police
custody but released a few more details Thursday, after at least two witnesses
filed complaints of excessive force with the city's Independent Police Review
Division.

Three officers at a traffic stop in the area of Northwest 18th Avenue and
Everett Street first spotted Chasse and suspected he may have been under
the influence of alcohol or drugs or suffering a mental disorder. Later, they
saw him again and thought Chasse was urinating on the street.

Police approached him, and Chasse ran off. Three officers ran after him.

According to a police statement, "as they reached him an officer pushed
Chasse in the back with is forearm, which caused Chasse to stumble to
the ground."

Witnesses Randall Stuart and Constance Doolan, who each filed seperate
complaints against the police this week, said the three officers forcefully
knocked the man to the ground at Northwest 13th Avenue and Everett.


Police say Chasse fought with the three officers as they tried to take him
into custody. During the fight, police say, he bit Sgt. Kyle Nice and attempted
to bite another officer. One of the officers placed his Taser gun to Chasse's
torso to stun him, Detective Divison Cmdr. Cliff Madison said.

Police say it had no effect on Chasse.

Witnesses, though, said police repeatedly kicked Chasse after he fell to the
pavement and bit an officer. After being shocked, Chasse lost conciousness
but was still breathing. Suddenly, he stopped moving and screaming, witnesses
said.

Police called for paramedics when Chasse "appeared to have lost conciousness,"
a police release said Thursday. An ambulance crew and Portland Fire Bureau
workers found Chasse's vital  signs to be normal, police said.

Witnesses said they were disturbed that Chasse was bleeding from the mouth
and wasn't taken to a hospital for more medical attention.

The officers took Chasse to jail on accusations of assulting a police officer and
resisting arrest. At the jail booking facility, nursing staff evaluated Chasse and
determined he should receive further medical attention before being booked,
police said Thursday.

Officers drove Chasse to Portland Adventist Hospital, but on the way, Chasse
slumped in the back seat and lost conciousness. The officers and medical workers
tried to revive him at Northeast 33rd Avenue and Clackamas Street but could not.

The Multnomah County medical examiner's office is awaiting toxicology results
before releasing the cause of death. All officers involved have been interviewed.
The case will be reviewed by the proscecutors and a grand jury.

A family member and a friend said Chasse had suffered from a psychotic mental
disorder since his teenage years.

"He was in and out of half-way houses and acute care settings with various
medical/psychiatric diagnoses and treatments prescribed," hist aunt Julie Chasse
Cargill wrote in a letter. "The life of James Jr. was a sad struggle, But, how much
sadder for this man to have died 'in custody'.'"

Jason Renaud, a volunteer with the Mental Health Association of Portland, said he
had gone to school with Chasse at the Metropolitan Learning Center, "This is a
sad day for Jim, for hist family, for all the people who helpped him over the
years," Renaud said.

So a taser was used but I'll bet tasers will not be associated with the cause of death,
since only a toxicology test wil be used? Interesting.

[tschai]

Wonder too if any mention will be made of internal injuries such as a ruptured spleen or damaged kidneys as a result of repeated kicking-and also any bruises / broken bones associated with such rough treatment, and may have led to this individuals demise. Sounds like the poor beggar had a really rough time in his life what with his mental condition and all.

I can certainly see the officers being upset and frustrated with the man resisting them-and these people lay their lives on the line daily and are exposed to all sorts of dangerous things-but then again as we have all to often seen, they can allow their frustrations to cloud their professional judgement and something like this happens.

[herondancer]

Comment on SOTT series on Tasers 10/04/2006:

Has anyone noticed the huge upswing in the use of tasers being depicted in the media.  Not just cop dramas or reality cop shows either.  I've seen it in night-time soap operas too.  The worst was in the second "Meet the Parents" (an awful movie to begin with, but we have cable.  It just shows up).  Not only was did it show this wing-nut law officer using it on the lead characters, but it made it FUNNY.  Just made me sick.  

I had to point out the social conditioning aspect of it to my kids; how it "normalizes" such an awful weapon.  I only hope it registered.

Herondancer

[dant]

Well,

A grand jury is still ongoing.  Autopsy discovered 16 broken ribs, and a number of
'blunt force trauma' and all sorts of wild stories are flying around over this incident.

This reminds me of the miliraristic nazi storm troupers...  geez.

I guess if you see the police approaching you.... RUN!!!  HIDE!!!!
The STORM-TROUPERS ARE COMMING!!!!

You should read the story in the Oregonian on just how well trained
the police are when explaining their versions of the event... very
very wel coached, lawyered up.  The policemen involved are sure
having a nice vacation, mai tais, until this mess get cleaned up.

I just have this gut feeling that the grand jury is gonna white wash
this one as they have for 99% cases that come to them involving
the police force.

[Pirates Go ARRRRRRGH!]

Taser Incident at UCLA Under Review

An attorney who was part of a review of excessive force complaints following the Rodney King beating will investigate a UCLA police officer's use of a Taser on an Iranian-American student, the school said Friday.

The move came in response to student demands voiced earlier Friday at a news conference and subsequent rally, where speakers said the shocking of Mostafa Tabatabainejad, 23, sent a chill across the campus.

"As students we feel our safety is endangered, and we do not feel safe on campus," said Sabiha Ameen, president of the Muslim Students Association.

Tabatabainejad, 23, was shocked Tuesday night after arguing with a campus police officer who was conducting a routine check of student IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles, Powell Library computer lab.

Campus police say he refused to show his student ID and refused to leave the building when asked.

A few hours after the rally, acting Chancellor Norman Abrams announced he had chosen Merrick Bobb, the founder of a local nonprofit dedicated to police reform, to lead an independent investigation.

Here's a link to the incident caught on the cameraphone of a student

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3GstYOIc0I&eurl=

I hope that link works, it looks a little funky with an equal sign dandling on the end. If you watch the video, notice how the campus cops keep telling the kid to stand up as they are tazing him. Doesn't a tazer mometarily cause paralysis?

[Nomad]

We've all seen the various stories starting to pop up more and more, of police using Taser guns in the US. But the US cops are generally armed anyway, right?

Here in Britain, guns are MUCH less widespread (most people here have never seen a gun), and so most police are unarmed, and this is fine, they don't need guns. however things have moved on...

Tasers are now in use in the UK. There was an astoundingly short article (maybe 10 seconds, with a 2 SECOND video clip) sneaked into the local-TV news between longer articles, about a policeman using a taser-gun for the first time, on someone in Peterborough, today. I had just switched on the TV, and the article was gone before I'd hardly even taken it in, so I can't recall any further details, other than it being justified as some kind of violence-suppressing manouvre

[Ben]

Interesting coincidence - I was talking to a taxi driver this very morning about the possibility of this occurring. I have not seen it in the news anywhere.

[Joseph Edward Garnet Man]

It's sneaking up this state....
If you can add up the list to paint a picture
1.tasers
2.helmet mounted cameras
3.biometricsID (cards etc)

Separate to that, does anyone know whether one can deflect a taser charge....y'know pool of water, rubber shoes long iron pole. Can't really imagine that I am going to be tasered in the near future, but I am sure I have heard of it backfiring somewhere....



p.s whisper....jees uk is small!! I think we've met Ben!!

[the rabbit]

Hi
Here its mentioned by the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/6183066.stm


Taser gun used in police arrest
Police in Cambridgeshire have used a Taser stun gun for the first time while making an arrest.

Officers were called to the Boongate Service Station on St John's Street in Peterborough on Friday evening after reports of an assault.

A 54-year-old man from the city was taken to hospital with head injuries.

Armed officers then went to Keverston Walk where they used the Taser during the arrest of a 35-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder.

A Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman said it was the first time a Taser had been used in the county.

[Guest]

I had to point out the social conditioning aspect of it to my kids; how it "normalizes" such an awful weapon.  I only hope it registered.

You can rest assured that they noticed your comment. Whether the actual commentary sunk in, well, that's very hard to say. But maybe that's less important than the exemplar of aware living.

Sometimes, as an exercise, I see how long things go before someone says or does something that evidences they aren't just vending machine zombies. It sometimes takes days.
No telling how your being authentically present quickened their consciousness ...
... and no need to tell, or even know.

stay well

c.t

[Freya]

One of the scariest things about the taser is its conditioning/programming effect on police officers. In their view, it is not a 'lethal' weapon, however, it is an 'awesome means of control'.  Their predatory 'desire to capture their prey' just loves this weapon.  They stand less of a chance of legal actions, or an IA investigation, verses using an actual firearm.  And they, especially those that have just enough of a conscience not to blatantly take a life, get to 'draw, aim and fire' without much fear of repercussions, legally, mentally or emotionally.  They just beg the suspect (which could be anyone at anytime), to flee, so they can play with their toy.  The 'Go ahead, make my day' mentality.

Once the normalization and acceptance of LEs 'shooting without hesitation' via taser programing is completed on society, the taser will be removed and the 'gun' that will be left will be their 9mm.  They will be programed to shoot without forethought, and we will have been programed to accept.

Just my 2 cents (less with inflation),

Laurie

[radish]

A close in-law of mine is a law enforcement officer.  He has recounted that in their training each officer had to be tased to experience the effect on themself. He thus assured that it was "just a little tingle" resulting in temporary paralysis (giving an officer just enough time to get a crazed and extremely dangerous drug addict under control - hardly anything to get upset about).  My in-law is also physically large and very healthy, but he seems to think that his response to tasing is representative of everyone else's.  There would seem to be a large blind spot there, not at all reassuring.

[D Rusak]

This popped up on the side of the screen by my NOTmail account account today.

What happens when you hand a 'bot a Taser?
iRobot Corp.: Arming robots with Tasers offers non-lethal weapon
By Mark Jewell
The Associated Press
Updated: 7:03 p.m. ET June 28, 2007
BOSTON - RoboCops and robot soldiers got a little closer to reality Thursday as a maker of floor-cleaning automatons teamed up with a stun-gun manufacturer to arm track-wheeled 'bots for the police and the Pentagon.

By adding Tasers to robots it already makes for the military, iRobot Corp. says it hopes to give soldiers and law enforcement a defensive, non-lethal tool.

Oh, I guess that's opposed to the offensive, lethally programmed tools the government has already been supplied with.  Machines or not.

But some observers fear such developments could ultimately lead to robots capable of deciding on their own when to shoot and kill.

"It's one more step in that direction," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based military research organization.

"It is not the first step in that direction, but I think at some point toward the end of the next decade, you're going to start seeing RoboCops, or a Terminator," Pike said, referring to a pair of 1980s robot-themed sci-fi films. "We may see autonomous robots capable of inflicting lethal force."

Sure, distract the public into thinking this is a sci-fi movie, a situation that could never happen in real life.  Methinks the operators are the problem, specifically the ones that apparently already have programmed robots and other "machines" for lethal purposes.

Jim Rymarcsuk, vice president for business development at Burlington, Mass.-based iRobot, said notions of armed robots acting on their own are far beyond what the company envisions for the partnership announced Thursday with Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser International Inc.

"Right now, we have no plans to take any robot with a lethal-weapon approach to the market," Rymarcsuk said. "For this system, and all systems we have looked at, there is a human in the loop making the decisions. This in no way is giving the robot the capability to use force on its own."

Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed. The companies said they have developed a model that will be demonstrated at a conference Taser is holding in Chicago on July 9-10. The model pairs iRobot's existing PackBot Explorer with the Taser X26 in what iRobot calls "the first robot of its kind with an on-board, integrated Taser payload."

There's no word when the system will be offered for sale, or for how much.

The system isn't entirely unprecedented. Foster-Miller Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based rival of iRobot, already offers a version of its track-wheeled Talon robot that can be fitted with a Taser with laser-dot aiming capability.

The Taser, used by thousands of law enforcement agencies, is an electric stun gun designed to help officers subdue violent suspects without nightsticks or guns.

However, some critics contend the weapon can be deadly, particularly on suspects who use drugs or suffer from heart problems. Taser International and police counter that no weapon is risk-free, and that Tasers actually save lives by helping officers avoid more dangerous weapons.

For iRobot, its Taser-equipped system will be the first robot capable of using force to disable a person, rather than a bomb. The 17-year-old company is best known for its mobile robots for the consumer market, including the disc-shaped, carpet cleaning Roomba.

But home robots account for only 60 percent of the company's revenue. The rest comes from government and industrial customers, including the military and police.

Versions of iRobot's PackBot have disarmed roadside bombs and searched caves and buildings in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some scout dangerous areas before soldiers or emergency responders go in.

With the Taser venture, iRobot "is testing a new market, and they've found a cheap way to do it," said Alex Hamilton, an analyst with The Benchmark Co. "The PackBot works. You'll need software to make it work with the Taser, but my guess is they will be able to achieve it."

Pike at GlobalSecurity.org envisions police SWAT teams and prison guards using Taser-equipped robots to deal with hostage situations and unruly inmates. He also expects they could supplement — or even replace — human guards patrolling property.

"I could see rent-a-cop companies wanting to buy it, I can see corrections departments wanting to buy it, because it might be seen as a cost-effective alternative to having a human guard patrolling a perimeter," Pike said.

Pike says Taser-equipped, remote-controlled robots are still a few steps away from becoming killing machines. If that happens, the development would run counter to a robots-should-not-harm-humans principle that classic science fiction author Isaac Asimov outlined in his 1950 anthology, "I, Robot" — the namesake of iRobot the company.

"For now, as soon as you let go of the joystick, the robot just sits there," Pike said. "So questions of moral agency don't arise — that is to say, whose finger is on the trigger. But a little further down the road, when these ground vehicles do achieve greater autonomy, there may be no human finger on the trigger."

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: _http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19487439/?GT1=10150

Besides the fact that tasers obviously have NOT been proven to be safe, the fact that this article is on a major public site like hotmail/msn is just flaunting in our face!  They push the idea that the robots could become the ones that kill, as opposed to their human operators.  Problem is, those "humans" aren't so human after all.

[Locksmith]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292271,00.html

Flashlight Weapon Makes Targets Throw Up

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

It looks like a big flashlight — but it's really a nonlethal weapon designed to make you sick.

Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc., of Torrance, Calif., has been granted a contract by the Department of Homeland Security to develop what it calls the "LED Incapacitator," according to a DHS online newsletter.

The handheld device using light-emitting diodes to emit super-bright pulses of light at rapidly changing wavelengths, causing disorientation, nausea and even vomiting in whomever it's pointed at.

This has to rank right down there with the TASER (http://www.taser.com/Pages/default.aspx) and rent-a-thug Blackwater on humanity and productivity scales.

I note from TASER's website that the CEO is so proud of his work that he puts forth the MIB image: He dresses in all black with the letters TASER stitched with white thread on the collar of a custom-made dress shirt. No doubt he want to fits right in with his "customers."

These people have at least two strikes against them when surmising their psychological makeup; they have without remorse promoted the production and marketing of devices that terrorize and inflict great pain, and they have scurried up the corporate pole. This is not meant to make blanket judgments about successful entrepreneurs, but one should wonder about them when their produce is the proliferation such horrible devices.

Makes me cringe!

[Locksmith]

And, it just gets worse. This is an item in SOTT's 'Best of the Web - Science & Technology' today:

http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/articles/show/138287-Eye-catching+new+Taser+sparks+controversy

Eye-catching new Taser sparks controversy

Reuters, Thu, 16 Aug 2007

It resembles a hand-held electric razor and is available in metallic pink, electric blue, titanium silver and black pearl.

"We wanted to make sure that it was something that people were comfortable carrying and didn't make it look like they were 'Dirty Harry,'" said Tom Smith, the company's co-founder and board chairman, referring to the Clint Eastwood movie.

"And it does the job."

That's it, I'm going to find an empty hermit's cave to hide in.

OMG, I've just replied to my own post. I'm already a hermit!