In some cases, Tasers can kill, company warns

August 4, 2005
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
St. Petersburg Times

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The stun gun maker says subjects in a state of excited delirium are at risk, and law enforcement officials say they are training users to recognize symptoms.

TAMPA - Taser International, maker of the controversial stun guns used by thousands of law enforcement agencies from Tampa Bay to London, has issued a training bulletin that warns repeated blasts of the Taser can "impair breathing and respiration."

For subjects in a state known as excited delirium, repeated or prolonged stuns with the Taser can contribute to "significant and potentially fatal health risks," according to a recent posting on Taser International's Web site.

The three-page bulletin, which comes as the Tarpon Springs and St. Petersburg police departments prepare to outfit officers with stun guns, appears to counter instructions in a training manual issued last year by Taser International last year.

It also departs from the manufacturer's previous dismissals of safety concerns raised by groups such as Amnesty International, which has documented 129 U.S. and Canadian deaths of people stunned by Tasers.

Most deaths were later attributed to drugs, pre-existing heart problems and excited delirium, a psychotic and typically drug-induced state in which the heart is susceptible to cardiac arrest.

But last month, a medical examiner in Chicago became the first in the United States to attribute a criminal suspect's death to a Taser. The suspect had methamphetamine in his system when the officer stunned him, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Taser vice president of communications Steve Tuttle wrote in an e-mail this week that the company is simply reminding officers to use "only the necessary amount of force" when stunning suspects.

St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon is aware of the bulletin, but it won't affect his recent decision to let officers carry Tasers, said agency spokesman Bill Proffitt. "People in this excited delirium state are already at death's doorstep, and we already have to restrain them to get them medical care," Proffitt said. "The training that we provide officers will include the ability to recognize symptoms, and it will go over the limitations on use of the weapon and the necessary medical procedures."

Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said agency leaders attended a seminar in April in which excited delirium and the use of Tasers were discussed. Since then, deputies have been advised during roll call about the symptoms, he said.

The department's policy, like those of other large agencies in Tampa Bay, does not address the issue of multiple, prolonged firings.

But it advises deputies to consider other options besides Tasers for subjects who are very young or very old. Pinellas deputies are not to use Tasers on pregnant women.

"At this point it doesn't appear the bulletin will impact our policy," McMullen said.

Tampa police Cpl. Tommy Downes, a longtime sniper team member, said any use of force - hand-to-hand, Tasers or pepper spray - is more of a health risk for subjects high on drugs or in some other psychotic state.

"Their pain receptors aren't working, they're overheated, they're super strong," Downes said. "Yet if you have someone who's tearing up a place or attacking people and exhibiting all the hallmarks of excited delirium, you have to do something."

The Tampa Police Department and Hillsborough Sheriff's Office are working to craft new Taser use policies that mirror each other. Neither policy currently addresses multiple firings, but they prohibit "indiscriminate or punitive" Taser use.

Hillsborough deputies are trained to use the Taser "until the person quits resisting arrest," Sheriff David Gee said.