Can Tasers kill?
The Taunton Police Department took delivery of 10 Tasers in 2008 when Raymond O’Berg was chief. But it wasn’t until April 2010 that officers began bringing them out into the field. Another 15 units were purchased in 2010 through federal grant programs and forfeited, criminal proceeds. Walsh said the 25 is enough to equip the 50 Taser-certified officers working any given patrol shift. He and officers who have undergone the eight-hour certification course say Tasers are inherently non-lethal. “It only affects the muscles, not the internal organs,” said Patrolman Michael Williams, one of five TPD Taser instructors. But despite endorsements from police departments across the country, and claims by Taser International that its product is not lethal, there continue to be scattered reports of death and severe injury due to Taser misuse. This year, for example, a lawsuit was filed against Taser Inc. by the family of a Las Vegas doctor who died — allegedly after being tased five times by a stat
