Im posting this because I was zapped by the r.p.p.d. in '02 by pigs and remember how disturbed I was by that. After wards they kicked me a bunch and stuff just did me dirty but I was more angry about the fuckin tazer. I was running from them for felony warrants. I was scared when I looked back and seen a red laser and a pistol grip in his hand. It was a taser but upon impact I thought he blasted me. Heres the article out of todays Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Damn this is a long one.
Police Tasers
Is a 50,000-volt shock too much?
Sunday, March 6, 2005
By DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
ABOUT TASERS
What they look like: The newer X26 Taser model is yellow and weighs 7 ounces. It is made of heavy-duty polymer.
How they work: They use compressed nitrogen gas to propel copper wires capped with two metal electrodes which pierce the skin and transmit 50,000 volts of electricity. They can paralyze people for five seconds or more. The probes can reach 25 feet.
How they feel: "If you can imagine an 18-wheel truck driving over your leg -- it is the most pain I have ever felt in my life."
--Sgt. John Marty, Taser instructor for Rohnert Park police
When two Santa Rosa police officers arrived at a Fistor Drive home on Feb. 3, they found Anthony Ferrel in a shed sharpening the blade on a long knife.
What provoked police to act in the next chaotic moments is disputed. But the action they took is not. Officers shot Ferrel, 46, and his 15-year-old son, with electric stun guns known as Tasers before arresting them.
The Maria Carrillo High School sophomore was struck twice: once by electrified probes fired at close range from the 50,000-volt, pistol-like weapon, and again when the officer placed the Taser's muzzle directly on the boy's chest, causing him to collapse to the floor.
One of the metal probes, with a quarter-inch fishhook attached to it, penetrated the back of the boy's head and was removed at a hospital, police said.
Taser use is increasingly common in Sonoma County, where most law enforcement agencies are buying dozens of the small stun guns and urging officers to use them before resorting to batons and other weapons.
Tasers "are preventing injuries to both suspects and police," Sheriff Bill Cogbill said. "We're noticing a reduction in injuries because you're not having to go toe-to-toe with these people."
But Amnesty International and other critics say more than 70 people have died in the United States and Canada after being hit by stun guns since 2001. They've called for an immediate moratorium pending safety studies and adoption of national standards, including rules for using Tasers on juveniles.
In Northern California, seven people have died since August after they were hit by Tasers, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Taser International, the Arizona company that manufactures the M26 and X26 models used by an estimated 5,000 police agencies nationwide, says all of the deaths were the result of drug overdoses, existing heart conditions or other factors, including exertion from running from the police.
Numerous lawsuits are pending against the company, including one filed Monday by the family of a Vallejo man who died after he was repeatedly shocked with a Taser. It accuses Taser International of knowingly marketing a dangerously defective weapon as safe and "nonlethal."
Salinas police also are under scrutiny after a 40-year-old man died Feb. 20 after being shocked up to 10 times. The police department says autopsy results will show he succumbed to drug-related delirium.
Despite the controversy, many North Coast law enforcement agencies are pushing ahead with plans to buy Tasers.
In Mendocino County, Sheriff Tony Craver plans to meet with Taser International representatives this week in Ukiah to discuss purchasing up to $70,000 worth of Tasers, about 87 weapons to equip every deputy.
In Sonoma County, where the Sheriff's Department has 27 Tasers and 50 more on order, Cogbill said the current controversy is being fueled by "special interest" groups such as Amnesty International and that medical evidence proves the weapons are safe.
Ed Flint, Santa Rosa's police chief, also is a strong supporter of Tasers, and oversaw the purchase of an additional 32 of the weapons in December, bringing the total number to 98 for use by patrol and traffic officers.
Flint acknowledged that Tasers could "aggravate" an existing health problem in a person and cause injury. "But," he added, "we could sit on somebody to bring them under control or use an impact weapon on them, or we could use pepper spray, and perhaps have a reaction or issue."
Police credit use of the Taser for averting what they said could have been a deadly encounter in the Feb. 3 melee at the Fistor Drive home.
Anthony Ferrel, who was shocked several times with a Taser before being arrested, faces two misdemeanor charges, for resisting arrest and for assaulting an officer.
Officers "definitely had the option to use deadly force and chose not to," said Lt. Brian Davis, who reviewed the incident. "They chose instead to put themselves in a confrontation with someone who had a knife. They used all the tools available to them to stop the combative person from resisting and took him into custody appropriately."
But the Ferrel family claims police used excessive force and have contacted an attorney.
"He's really traumatized by it," Evelyn Ferrel said of her 15-year-old son. "We're trying not to talk about it too much. That's why he's going through counseling for it."
The growing reliance on Tasers among Sonoma County law enforcement agencies as a "less-than-lethal" alternative to guns and other weapons comes at a time when they are under increased scrutiny nationwide.
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, introduced legislation two weeks ago to require California law enforcement agencies to track Taser use, establish a state medical research program and ban Taser sales to private citizens.
At the same time, experts sat down for a two-day forum in Arlington, Va., to discuss the medical, technological, safety and policy issues surrounding Tasers. And the International Association of Chiefs of Police is working on a briefing paper detailing strategies for Taser use.
Public outcry over a 6-year-old being hit with Taser darts when he refused to drop a piece of glass led Florida's Miami-Dade County Police Department to rewrite its policy to include more exact language on when to use the weapons.
Chicago's Police Department shelved plans to purchase 100 more Tasers after a 54-year-old man died and a 14-year-old boy went into cardiac arrest after being hit by the darts three weeks ago.
Variety of uses
In Sonoma County, recent cases involving Tasers demonstrate their wide use in a variety of situations - from a suicidal man to a foot pursuit that ultimately resulted in deadly force.
Sheriff's deputies used a Taser on Feb. 21 to stop a man who had barricaded himself in his room after consuming large amounts of vodka and was threatening suicide with a butcher knife, according to a sheriff's report.
Deputies shot the man with Taser probes after he raised the knife above his head and threatened to plunge the blade into his stomach. The electric current caused the man to roll onto his back, allowing deputies to yank the knife away and take him into custody, the report stated.
In another high-profile incident, a Rohnert Park police officer used his pistol to shoot and kill an armed man Jan. 28 after firing his Taser at the fleeing suspect. It's unclear if the probes struck the man or missed, police said.
Police say many suspects will give up at seeing the red laser dot emitted by the Taser on their body or when the trigger is pulled in the "touch" mode, which illuminates the arcing currents and makes a loud noise.
Amnesty International says police agencies are sometimes too quick to use Tasers and has documented cases in which the weapons were used to get people into police cars faster or speed up the booking process.
Police Tasers
Is a 50,000-volt shock too much?
Sunday, March 6, 2005
By DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
ABOUT TASERS
What they look like: The newer X26 Taser model is yellow and weighs 7 ounces. It is made of heavy-duty polymer.
How they work: They use compressed nitrogen gas to propel copper wires capped with two metal electrodes which pierce the skin and transmit 50,000 volts of electricity. They can paralyze people for five seconds or more. The probes can reach 25 feet.
How they feel: "If you can imagine an 18-wheel truck driving over your leg -- it is the most pain I have ever felt in my life."
--Sgt. John Marty, Taser instructor for Rohnert Park police
When two Santa Rosa police officers arrived at a Fistor Drive home on Feb. 3, they found Anthony Ferrel in a shed sharpening the blade on a long knife.
What provoked police to act in the next chaotic moments is disputed. But the action they took is not. Officers shot Ferrel, 46, and his 15-year-old son, with electric stun guns known as Tasers before arresting them.
The Maria Carrillo High School sophomore was struck twice: once by electrified probes fired at close range from the 50,000-volt, pistol-like weapon, and again when the officer placed the Taser's muzzle directly on the boy's chest, causing him to collapse to the floor.
One of the metal probes, with a quarter-inch fishhook attached to it, penetrated the back of the boy's head and was removed at a hospital, police said.
Taser use is increasingly common in Sonoma County, where most law enforcement agencies are buying dozens of the small stun guns and urging officers to use them before resorting to batons and other weapons.
Tasers "are preventing injuries to both suspects and police," Sheriff Bill Cogbill said. "We're noticing a reduction in injuries because you're not having to go toe-to-toe with these people."
But Amnesty International and other critics say more than 70 people have died in the United States and Canada after being hit by stun guns since 2001. They've called for an immediate moratorium pending safety studies and adoption of national standards, including rules for using Tasers on juveniles.
In Northern California, seven people have died since August after they were hit by Tasers, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Taser International, the Arizona company that manufactures the M26 and X26 models used by an estimated 5,000 police agencies nationwide, says all of the deaths were the result of drug overdoses, existing heart conditions or other factors, including exertion from running from the police.
Numerous lawsuits are pending against the company, including one filed Monday by the family of a Vallejo man who died after he was repeatedly shocked with a Taser. It accuses Taser International of knowingly marketing a dangerously defective weapon as safe and "nonlethal."
Salinas police also are under scrutiny after a 40-year-old man died Feb. 20 after being shocked up to 10 times. The police department says autopsy results will show he succumbed to drug-related delirium.
Despite the controversy, many North Coast law enforcement agencies are pushing ahead with plans to buy Tasers.
In Mendocino County, Sheriff Tony Craver plans to meet with Taser International representatives this week in Ukiah to discuss purchasing up to $70,000 worth of Tasers, about 87 weapons to equip every deputy.
In Sonoma County, where the Sheriff's Department has 27 Tasers and 50 more on order, Cogbill said the current controversy is being fueled by "special interest" groups such as Amnesty International and that medical evidence proves the weapons are safe.
Ed Flint, Santa Rosa's police chief, also is a strong supporter of Tasers, and oversaw the purchase of an additional 32 of the weapons in December, bringing the total number to 98 for use by patrol and traffic officers.
Flint acknowledged that Tasers could "aggravate" an existing health problem in a person and cause injury. "But," he added, "we could sit on somebody to bring them under control or use an impact weapon on them, or we could use pepper spray, and perhaps have a reaction or issue."
Police credit use of the Taser for averting what they said could have been a deadly encounter in the Feb. 3 melee at the Fistor Drive home.
Anthony Ferrel, who was shocked several times with a Taser before being arrested, faces two misdemeanor charges, for resisting arrest and for assaulting an officer.
Officers "definitely had the option to use deadly force and chose not to," said Lt. Brian Davis, who reviewed the incident. "They chose instead to put themselves in a confrontation with someone who had a knife. They used all the tools available to them to stop the combative person from resisting and took him into custody appropriately."
But the Ferrel family claims police used excessive force and have contacted an attorney.
"He's really traumatized by it," Evelyn Ferrel said of her 15-year-old son. "We're trying not to talk about it too much. That's why he's going through counseling for it."
The growing reliance on Tasers among Sonoma County law enforcement agencies as a "less-than-lethal" alternative to guns and other weapons comes at a time when they are under increased scrutiny nationwide.
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, introduced legislation two weeks ago to require California law enforcement agencies to track Taser use, establish a state medical research program and ban Taser sales to private citizens.
At the same time, experts sat down for a two-day forum in Arlington, Va., to discuss the medical, technological, safety and policy issues surrounding Tasers. And the International Association of Chiefs of Police is working on a briefing paper detailing strategies for Taser use.
Public outcry over a 6-year-old being hit with Taser darts when he refused to drop a piece of glass led Florida's Miami-Dade County Police Department to rewrite its policy to include more exact language on when to use the weapons.
Chicago's Police Department shelved plans to purchase 100 more Tasers after a 54-year-old man died and a 14-year-old boy went into cardiac arrest after being hit by the darts three weeks ago.
Variety of uses
In Sonoma County, recent cases involving Tasers demonstrate their wide use in a variety of situations - from a suicidal man to a foot pursuit that ultimately resulted in deadly force.
Sheriff's deputies used a Taser on Feb. 21 to stop a man who had barricaded himself in his room after consuming large amounts of vodka and was threatening suicide with a butcher knife, according to a sheriff's report.
Deputies shot the man with Taser probes after he raised the knife above his head and threatened to plunge the blade into his stomach. The electric current caused the man to roll onto his back, allowing deputies to yank the knife away and take him into custody, the report stated.
In another high-profile incident, a Rohnert Park police officer used his pistol to shoot and kill an armed man Jan. 28 after firing his Taser at the fleeing suspect. It's unclear if the probes struck the man or missed, police said.
Police say many suspects will give up at seeing the red laser dot emitted by the Taser on their body or when the trigger is pulled in the "touch" mode, which illuminates the arcing currents and makes a loud noise.
Amnesty International says police agencies are sometimes too quick to use Tasers and has documented cases in which the weapons were used to get people into police cars faster or speed up the booking process.
