Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/07/03/cops-charged-with-murder-after.html
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I thought tasers would not kill, so what gives. Is the taser company lying?
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Probably, but the instructions also probably don’t recommend discharging the weapon 50 times.
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they can’t be lying… look, go to the web site https://ca.taser.com/, click on the link “Taser safety and research”, and you get the full story here: https://ca.axon.com/how-safe-are-taser-weapons
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The dude on the left should additionally be indicted for that neckbeard.
Also: fuck these sadistic murderous assholes.
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Just keep repeating to yourself citizen, it’s just two bad apples, it’s just…
Ah, fuck it, I can’t even keep up the sarcasm on this one. What the actual fuck?
Edit: Re-read the article. They were free for a year? And they lied multiple times about the incident? And they were allowed to “peacefully turn themselves in” a day after the arrest warrant? “One bad apple” isn’t even in the neighbourhood of this shitshow.
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Defund the police.
From the article linked below, this is a case of the wrong kind of first responder getting the call.
So basically, two small town cops were so freaked out by Jared Lakey’s behavior that they murdered him instead of trying to help him.
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No kidding. If I were ever to be okay with no-knock warrants (which I’m not) this would be that time.
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Certainly this implies tasers have waaaaaay too much battery juice. They should be out of commission and need recharging after two or three discharges, max.
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No - they are “less lethal”.
Also, not intended to be used 50x over on the same person.
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50 times! Pepper spray is non-lethal too, but if you drown someone in a big vat of it…
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I actually thought they did have only ~2 shots, but looking into it more, that is only when used at range. Tasers can be used either at touch range or fire dart electrodes at range. There is only enough propellant/darts for typically 2 shots, but I guess enough battery juice to keep going indefinitely? Or at least several minutes?
But seriously. Tasers are dangerous when used properly, but this is just straight up murder. One of the selling points of the taser is that it momentarily incapacitates the target but the effect (usually) wears off in a few seconds. Using it properly means you are supposed to take advantage of those few seconds to physically restrain the target. If you aren’t doing that, then you are basically just using it to torture and or kill someone.
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It’s hard to fathom what it would be like to stand there and keep pulling the trigger (or whatever the Taser equivalent is) over and over and over again on a human being. I mean, I suppose the same goes for shooting someone in the back while they’re fleeing from you, but that’s at least a “quick” action, for lack of a better phrase. This is prolonged electrocution. What goes on inside someone’s dead, hateful brain while they do this?
But then again, I’m neither a sociopath nor a cop.
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Jesus, all the details I’m reading various places get even more damning. After doing this, the cops tried to cover themselves by lying about every aspect of it.
They told the medics they had shocked him only four times and that he was on drugs (a lie), which must have impacted how they provided care. They lied about the circumstances of their being there, claiming he was running down the street naked (he wasn’t), that he did various things that were aggressive (and not caught on camera), and that he resisted arrest - by refusing to put his hands behind his back while they were electrocuting him (i.e. while he was physically unable to do so).
Don’t even need to do that. We had at least one person die from being indirectly pepper-sprayed during recent protests. Just having breathing issues can be enough for it to be deadly.
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I’ve had laser sighted tazers pointed at me by Oklahoma cops.
Glad it wasn’t these 2 or I’d be dead right now.
Fuck the police, and fuck the justice system of Oklahoma in particular
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I am beginning to think that one must be the first to become the second of those things.
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See, that’s what gets me. Cops shoot people all the time, and then we say “we’ll give them less lethal options, that’ll solve it!” Except when we do, they just use those weapons in a way that their victim dies anyways.
Killing was always the point.
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Tasers use pain and temporary disability due to shock to enforce compliance. In effect, they are bullwhips that leave less skin damage, and aren’t as visibly horrifying to on-lookers.
So, its white men with whips, same as it ever was.
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I can’t help you with the question; but it’s actually a somewhat involved operation, not a quick action. Repeated tazing isn’t something you can really do swiftly and at a distance, like emptying a magazine, it takes nontrivial amounts of time and often very close contact. Tasers can only deploy 1 set of ranged ‘probes’(the manual’s term for a barbed conductive dart) before being reloaded. The only option for repeated tazing is either re-energizing an already deployed set of probes, if the connecting wires haven’t been severed; or going over to “Drive-Stun Backup”.
Not sure which model these officers were using; but the mechanism of action and basics of operation are common across the line, so here is the x26 manual:
On page 9 we learn that the “Digital Power Magazine” is rated for ~195 5-second discharges, with some variation based on temperature. On page 12, discharge behavior is described: 5 seconds per trigger pull, or continuous discharge as long as trigger is held.
On page 17 we get into “Drive-Stun” operation:
“To apply a drive-stun, place the safety in the up (ARMED) position and pull the trigger. The drive-stun mode generally will not cause NMI and becomes primarily a pain compliance option.”
“When using the drive-stun, push (drive) the front of the X26 ECD firmly against the body of the subject. Simply “touching” the X26 ECD against the subject is not sufficient. The subject is likely to recoil and try to get away from the electrodes. It is necessary to aggressively drive the front of the X26 ECD into the subject for maximum effect.”
And finally(the caveats about ‘pursuant to your agency’s policies and guidance, when operator safety is at risk’ are new. Didn’t see them the last time I looked up a tazer manual):
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… who exhibited such gross recklessness…
50 times isn’t ‘reckless’.
I hadn’t realised they could be used repeatedly, either.
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