High Taser Usage Stirs Controversy
posted 8:25 pm Thu January 24, 2008 - Frederick County, Md.
"Misuse and abuse" is how 20-year-old Jarrel Gray's family describes the Frederick County Sheriff's Department firing of so-called "non-lethal" taser guns. Gray died in November 2007 after being subdued with a taser during a fight on East Gresham Court in Frederick.
Corporal Rudy Torres, a 13-year department veteran, deployed the voltage and according to Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, Torres is responsible for seven of the department's 70 taser firings, or 10%, over the past two years.
"I would go on the side of the officer before anything else because they put their lives on the line every day," said one resident. Another person doesn't agree. "We've seen all the interviews and shows on TV and they're hurting people. That's excessive."While the number of taser deployments for a department of 172 appears high, the sheriff fiercely defends the number saying it reduces the times officers will pull their guns.
"He is a very active shift supervisor. He's right out there on the street with his men. He backs up his men. He handles a lot of calls himself."
Right now, 140 Frederick County deputies carry tasers. By contrast, Fairfax County Police, a department of more than 1,400 officers, have fired their 171 tasers about 218 time during approximately the same time period. Numbers from Arlington County indicate their department of 366 officers deployed its 42 tasers 8 times in 2007.
Jarrel Gray's cause of death is still pending, as is a possible lawsuit field by his family.
Latest Comment on High Taser Usage Stirs Controversy
dzisig13
11:17 pm on 01/24/08
Having been tasered, I can say that these weapons are non-lethal. They hurt like a son of a gun, but once it stops there is no pain. If you don't put yourself in that situation you won't get that pain. Usually death occurs if someone is high on a narcotic or have some sort of physical ailment that would cause their death anyhow. If you consider the percentage of people who are tasered and die versus the number who are tasered and have no ill effects, the statistics would point you to believe that it is no greater than a noramal death statistic from either natural or accidental causes.
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