The Future of Electric Torture

by digby

Foster Kamer at Gawker explains:

Intrepid cNet reporter Caroline McCarthy went out to the desert to hang out with some TaserBros, and by TaserBros, I mean “The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.” They introduce her to the pictured X12 Something Or Other Killer Death Shotgun. The gentleman assisting McCarthy helpfully notes that what’s so awesome and neat about the X12 DeathShotty is that it only accepts ammunition for a Taser, so you know, god forbid somebody confuses the Bumblebee Shitspinner with an actual shotgun, they won’t be able to pump Grade A American Lead into those pussyass kids screaming about the whales or whatever. Just voltage, pure and simple.

If only that were all. They also exhibit a shockingly awesome (heh) Wall of Tase, which, from what I can tell, works like this: say your little brother has some friends over and they’re being real fuckers. You set up two “walls” on each side of the garage, facing each other. You coax them, in your driveway, to come back in the house. As they walk through the garage, you hit the trigger, and BA-BLAW! All nine of those little gremlins are now on the ground, unable to steal your weed. For extra fun, make them eat a bunch of popcorn kernels and see if you can get them to pop post-consumption.

So yes! Taser technology isn’t going anywhere; in fact, it’s getting cooler than ever. Kinda makes you sentimental for an old-fashioned nightstick beatdown, though, doesn’t it? Sigh. Those were the good ol’ days.

Actually, these are the good old days:

The police officer who used a Taser on a mentally ill man who died as a result of the two high-voltage shocks will not be disciplined and remains on patrol, the Fort Worth police chief said Friday.

Police Chief Jeff Halstead said the administrative investigation into the April 18 death of Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr. is closed but declined to comment on it. He said he turned it over to the district attorney and expects a grand jury to review the case next month.

If Officer Stephanie A. Phillips were to be indicted or convicted, the 17-year police veteran would face disciplinary action, Halstead said.

Jacobs’ family had called police that day to report a disturbance because he had not been taking his medication for bipolar disorder, relatives have said. Officers said he became combative.

In August the medical examiner ruled that Jacobs’ death was a homicide. Phillips stunned the 24-year-old with a Taser twice—the first time for 49 seconds and the second time for 5 seconds, with a 1-second interval between the shocks, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office report.

Neither paramedics at the scene nor emergency room personnel could revive him, and he was pronounced dead about noon—an hour after police used the Taser, the report said.

Tasers issue a 50,000-volt shock that over-stimulates the nervous system and causes muscles to lock up, temporarily immobilizing a person.

An autopsy concluded that the primary cause of death was “sudden death during neuromuscular incapacitation due to application of a conducted energy device,” and said no traces of alcohol or drugs, electrolyte imbalances, or signs of heart or lung disease were found—all of which can be contributing factors in a death.

The good thing about tasers is that they are harmless so all these neat new electrocution devices are probably even more harmless.

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