A week ago, Taser International released a bulletin that advised police officers to avoid shooting suspects in the chest because of the extremely low risk of an “adverse cardiac event.”
The advisory, issued in an Oct. 12 training bulletin, is the first time that Taser International has suggested there is any risk of a cardiac arrest related to the discharge of its stun gun.
But Taser officials said Tuesday that the bulletin does not state that Tasers can cause cardiac arrest. They said the advisory means only that law-enforcement agencies can avoid controversy over the subject if their officers aim at areas other than the chest.
Oh, an “extremely low risk”? And surely being shot with a taser doesn’t cause cardiac arrest, but just to minimize the possibility of linking a tasering with immediate death, aim the tasers elsewhere. Commandos at some local police departments in my area aren’t so sure that’s good advice.
But police are trained to aim for “center mass” — the chest — when deploying a gun or Taser, said Shelby Township Police Capt. Stephen Stanbury.
“We’ll have to further investigate this and get more information,” Stanbury said. “However, if we do need to change our training and start thinking about pointing the Tasers lower, we’ll do it.”
Locally, Warren police murdered 16-year-old Robert Mitchell earlier this year when they tasered this hulking and dangerous boy who was all of 5’2″ and 110 pounds.
