Company that markets Taser Guns Made False Claims: Use of Tasers Linked to Death
Thousands of police departments, including every major law enforcement agency in the Valley, buy Tasers on a claim that the electric stun guns will instantly take down suspects without inflicting harm. That assertion of safety has generated record sales for Scottsdale's Taser International Inc., which markets its guns as alternatives to deadly force and says its goal is to arm every police officer in America. But an Arizona Republic investigation has revealed that Taser's claims are based on autopsy reports the company never possessed. For years, Taser officials cited these reports as proof that the stun guns never caused "injury or death to another human being." Now, officials acknowledge they never had those autopsy reports and didn't start collecting them until April. The Republic's review of autopsies and interviews with medical examiners found Tasers have been linked to at least five deaths. Medical examiners in three cases involving suspects who died in police custody cited Tasers as a cause or a contributing factor in the deaths. In two other cases, Tasers could not be ruled out as a cause of death. [more]