tasers/electroshock weapons

Article

5 May

A taser (also known as a conducted electrical weapon, electroshock weapon or electronic control device) is a weapon that delivers an electric shock of up to 50,000 volts to its victim, causing extreme pain and disabling muscle function. They are marketed as an alternative to firearms but have not been shown to reduce police shootings (1).

“Taser” is the brand name of the most common electroshock weapon, manufactured by Axon Enterprise (formerly called Taser International).

Tasers have a similar size, shape and grip to a pistol and are generally holstered on an officer’s belt or chest. Tasers have two modes of firing. The primary probe mode shoots two darts/probes attached to wires. The darts are shot in a wide arc, and are designed to penetrate a victim’s skin at different points in the body. The Taser then sends an electric pulse through the wires, which flows through the victim’s body. The darts both need to penetrate or be within a few centimetres of the victims skin, and they need to be widely placed to prevent short circuiting. Each shot in probe mode expends a cartridge, with up to ten cartridges on the latest Taser.

Older Tasers can also be used in “drive-stun” mode which does not require cartridges so can be used repeatedly. The Taser is placed directly on a victim’s skin, causing pain without disrupting muscle function. The Taser website recommends using probe mode as it leaves less evidence on the victim’s body, stating

“Due to automatic reflex actions, most subjects will struggle to separate from the TASER CEW when it is used in the drive-stun mode. Each time the CEW comes back in contact with the individual, another set of marks may be visible. Using the probes allows for one point of discharge” (2).

This blatant recognition of the violent nature of the weapon by its manufacturers aligns with the history of its use by police forces to brutalise victims while attempting to mask the violence.

a brief history of electroshock weapons

In 1911 the novel “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land” was published in which the American protagonist invents a gun which fires bolts of electricity. He travels to Africa and uses the gun to hunt elephants for ivory, and kill “red pygmies” who get in the way. The novel would eventually inspire the acronym TASER - Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle (3).

Cattle prods were invented in the early 20th century to move cattle through pain compliance. Consistent with capitalist and colonial states, whereby Indigenous peoples and other marginalised communities were often equated with animals, it did not take long before cattle prods were weaponised against people. In 1963 US police officers used cattle prods to “herd Negro demonstrators”(4). Vegan anarchists have written on the continuity between domination of animals and white supremacy (5).

In 1969 NASA researcher Jack Cover began work on the Taser and he completed the weapon in 1974. Early Tasers propelled the darts through small gunpowder explosions, which led to the weapon being classified as a firearm. Cover’s company Taser Systems Inc. collapsed in 1980. In 1991 a new company was formed by brothers Rick and Tom Smith named Air Taser Inc. (later Taser International and now Axon Enterprise). In 1999 they launched the M26 Taser, now shaped like a handgun. Axon now dominates the market after directly marketing to police departments, aggressively defending their patents and acquiring competitors. In 2017 the company changed its name to Axon to reflect their changing business - manufacturing body cameras and software in addition to electroshock weapons.

In 2023 Axon released the Taser 10, a new model which can fire up to ten probes, allowing a single weapon to incapacitate several victims (6).

dangers of electroshock weapons

The United Nations has stated that Taser use can constitute torture and may result in
death (7). Axon previously claimed that Tasers were non-lethal but no longer does so. Tasers can trigger cardiac arrest, particularly after repeated or prolonged shocks (8).

Axon and authorities have attempted to whitewash the deaths of people caused by electroshock weapon use. Authorities point to the safety of Tasers in laboratory conditions that don’t reflect their real-world use. A 2011 report by the US Department of Justice stated

“There is no conclusive medical evidence in the current body of research literature that indicates a high risk of serious injury or death to humans from the direct or indirect cardiovascular or metabolic effects of short-term CED exposure in healthy, normal, nonstressed, nonintoxicated persons” (9).

But in the field, Tasers are almost never fired at victims who are “nonstressed”. Police regularly fire tasers at people who have pre-existing health conditions, with no regard for the risks. While Axon and police forces are quick to point to pre-existing medical conditions as the cause of all deaths after Taser shock, otherwise healthy people can still suffer cardiac arrest. This was the case with Black teenager Daryl Turner who was killed by police in 2008 (10).

Since Tasers disrupt muscle function, victims can fall and become unable to protect themselves. These falls can result in cuts, bruises, broken bones or even death such as the case of Iman Morales in 2008. Morales was killed when police fired their Taser at him, causing him to fall off a building ledge (11). Falls are particularly dangerous to elderly people such as Clare Nowland, a 95 year old with dementia who died after she was tased and fractured her skull in 2023 (12).

Tasers can set flammable substances alight, which has led to several injuries. In 2013, British police fired a Taser at Andrew Pimlott, a man with mental health issues who had doused himself in petrol. Pimlott was set on fire and died of his injuries five days later, with an inquest finding the Taser to be the most likely cause of ignition (13).

Tasers can set CS gas on fire, leading to potentially lethal situations if tasers are fired after police have deployed tear gas (14).

Being shocked by a Taser can temporarily impair cognitive function, calling into question the ethics and reliability of any subsequent interrogation (15).

Tasers are stored in a holster like pistols and have a similar grip, which can cause police officers to fire the pistol in confusion (or falsely claim that they were confused). For example, in 2009, police fatally shot Black man Oscar Grant in the back when he was unarmed and restrained. Police Officer Johannes Mehserle claimed that he had intended to use his Taser, not his gun (16). In 2021 Officer Kimberly Potter killed another Black man named Daunte Wright in a similar incident (17).

excited delirium

“Excited delirium” is a supposed medical condition widely rejected by the medical community. The concept of excited delirium has been promoted by police and Axon to divert blame for deaths after Taser shocks.

Excited delirium describes a condition where an individual becomes extremely agitated and disoriented, and exhibits resistance to pain and “superhuman strength”. The term was used occasionally in medical literature from the 19th century, before its first modern use by Dade County Chief Medical Examiner Charles Victor Wetli. Wetli blamed excited delirium for the deaths of cocaine users who died in police custody (18), and then 19 black sex workers. It later turned out the sex workers didn’t die of excited delirium - they were murdered by a serial killer (19). Wetli continued to push the excited delirium theory, claiming that Black people were genetically predisposed to dying of excited delirium after consuming even small amounts of cocaine (20).

Police started using the term up in the 1990s as a way to explain deaths in custody, particularly after victims were placed in restraints or shocked by Tasers. Taser International (now Axon) has trained police in recognising “excited delirium”, and has paid Wetli and his former trainee Deborah Mash to act as witnesses in legal cases against the company. Taser/Axon has directed police departments to send brain tissue samples to Mash who claims to be able to diagnose excited delirium from post-mortem tests (21).

Amnesty International found excited delirium listed in 75 out of 334 deaths after Tasering between 2001 and 2008 (22).

The concept of excited delirium has been rejected by most major medical authorities. For example, it is not recognised by the World Health Organisation, International Classification of Diseases or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)/American Psychiatric Association (23, 24).

The diagnosis is widely regarded in the medical community as unscientific and steeped in racism (25). A study by Osagie Obasogie found that Black and Latinx people made up 56% of deaths in police custody attributed to excited delirium (26).

In 2009, the American College of Emergency Physicians published a paper recognising excited delirium (27). Deborah Mash and two other members of the task force that prepared this paper were later revealed to be paid consultants for Axon, which they did not disclose (28). As of 2023, the American College of Emergency Physicians has withdrawn the 2009 paper and no longer recognises excited delirium (29).

Despite being debunked, excited delirium continues to be used to defend police killings and deny that Tasers are lethal. For example, excited delirium was cited by Derek Chauvin’s defence in his trial for the murder of George Floyd (30).

countermeasures

Unlike many less-lethal weapons, Tasers are not generally used in crowd-control situations. Police are more likely to use it in a smaller-scale confrontation where they are trying to subdue an individual. If you resist or counter the Taser, the police officer may resort to more deadly force.

However if you do wish to counter a Taser, there are several methods:

Depending on the model, Tasers can fire up to ten darts before being reloaded, and the wire is 13.7 metres long (31). You can potentially stay safe by keeping out of range.
Taser darts can penetrate most clothing, but a thick coat can potentially block the dart. A shield made of wood, rubber or plastic can be used to effectively block the darts.
Although the police claim Tasers are safe, manufacturer G Squared has developed a fabric for police use called Thor Shield which is purported to protect officers from being shocked. The fabric is highly conductive, so the current of Tasers or similar weapons flows through it instead of the body (32).