On September 30th, I blogged about Tasers and their use, abuse, and relation to deaths across America and elsewhere.
Today, another story appeared in the news about the death of a 19 year old, and at least apparently healthy, young man in California who was Tased by police at a board and care facility after "becoming combative."
While it's hard to know what "combative" meant to the officer who discharged the weapon, I can't help but think it highly unlikely that this same officer would have drawn his gun and fired on an unarmed man accused of being in a fight with two other unarmed men.
As I mentioned before, while the use of these weapons has skyrocketed in the U.S. (500 Tasers in use in 2000 compared to 14,000 in use today), the weapons are too often placed in the hands of officers without the necessary training, safeguards and oversight to use them properly.
The result is that Tasers appear to be used by some members and departments of law enforcement in situations NOT as an "alternative" to deadly force, but rather, as just another routine means to subdue suspects. This attitude ignores the increasing number of deaths related to Tasers and undermines the seriousness of its potential impact on targets.
This trend is something we here in Maine need to pay attention to, as more and more police departments, hospital emergency rooms, and others decide to add Tasers to their repertoire.