NYPD Orders Cops Not to Aim Tasers At Chest

This line jumped out at me: "A source also tells the News that Taser International did not actually notify the NYPD about the warning."

Since I have yet to see any reports out of the U.S. about police conforming with the new taser target zone, issued to Canadian police departments by Taser International via Training Bulletin 2015, I can't help but wonder whether the company even issued this bulletin to police south of the border. According to the following report (and as quoted above), the NYPD was NOT notified by Taser International. WOW!!

October 18, 2009
Gothamist

Hey, whaddaya know—shooting 5,000 volts of electricity at somebody's chest could adversely affect the heart! Manufacturer Taser International Inc. has issued a warning about Taser chest-shots, suggesting that law enforcement officers aim their Tasers at perpetrators' backs, arms, or abdomens. In response to the warning, the NYPD brass has formally ordered officers not to shoot Tasers at suspects' chests.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne tells the Daily News, "Until the NYPD can more fully evaluate the implications of the manufacturer's newly advanced recommendation, we are temporarily adopting Taser International's suggestion." Last year an NYPD officer fired his Taser at an emotionally disturbed man waving a long florescent light bulb atop a first story awning; the man fell to his death and the sergeant who gave the order to Tase subsequently committed suicide.

A source also tells the News that Taser International did not actually notify the NYPD about the warning. The company has been vigorously defending their product despite repeated deaths and controversy, and some communities have banned officers from using them entirely. Earlier this month, a Florida teenager died after being Tased and falling off bicycle, and at Coachella in April, a naked wizard was Tased multiple times.