Stun gun use by police can draw public rebuke or applause

After a man refused repeated commands to hand over his driver’s license during a confrontation over a parking violation, a Kansas City police officer fired his stun gun at him.

In Texas, a Denton police officer deployed a stun gun on a disruptive man trying to interfere with an arrest of a screaming woman on an apartment balcony. Police had told the man at least 30 times to back away.

In the first case, Kansas City police now are defending themselves in a lawsuit that alleges the officer used excessive force.

In the second, growing public complaints evaporated in Texas after NAACP leaders pointed out the officer’s actions had been justified.

Protesters upset about officer-involved shootings across the country have argued that police should use stun guns or other less-lethal options before firing bullets. But as the two examples above show, the public wants stun guns to be used properly, too.

At least 50 people in the United States died last year after police used a stun gun to end violent confrontations, according to a Washington Post study. The Post reviewed police, court and autopsy records of stun gun incidents to determine that number.

Dozens of stun gun incidents have been captured on video, some recorded by private citizens and others through an officer’s body-worn camera. Police agencies have released some of those videos to the public.

The Star gathered four videos of stun guns incidents from various police and law enforcement agencies to show the public a range of how they were used in cases that drew public attention for various reasons.

“I think we are seeing better use and the results speak for themselves,” said Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Arizona-based Taser International, a leading manufacturer of stun guns used by police. “What I am seeing out there is smart use. We are dealing with violent suspects where all bets are off and split second decisions have to be made.”

About18,000 law enforcement agencies in 107 countries use Taser equipment.

Recently, the company announced it plans to sell to private citizens a smaller version of the weapon police use. The device can carried in a purse, pocket or holster.

A handful of state outlaw public carrying of stun guns. Just Monday, however, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a Massachusetts case that the Second Amendment right to bear arms includes the right to carry stun guns.

When it comes to police use of the weapons, some observers say stun guns should be used sparingly, if at all.

“The Taser was not meant to be used as a compliance tool. As a matter of fact, most police departments have policies against using Taser as a compliance tool,” said Rafe Foreman, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor who has studied use-of-force cases. “In other words, when you pull out a thing that looks like a gun, you are escalating the situation, you are not calming (it) down. You’re not de-escalating; you are escalating it.”

According to The Washington Post, the link between Taser use and the 48 deaths was unclear. One death happened when an incapacitated person fell and hit his head. Other deaths involved complicating factors, such as victims with a heart ailment or who had used methamphetamine, PCP intoxication or cocaine, the Post reported.

Most stun guns discharge two dart-like probes that send an electrical charge through a person’s body that momentarily paralyzes their muscles and causes intense pain. Studies have shown that the devices prevent or reduce physical struggles.

However, the American Heart Association concluded in a 2014 study that stun guns can cause cardiac arrest and death.

In Kansas City, the use of stun guns have prompted civil and criminal legal action.

Damian Words, the store clerk, alleged in civil lawsuit that Officer Dale Secor allowed the situation involving a parking ticket to unnecessarily escalate. Police said Woods became upset and aggressive towards Secor.

Bryce Master, a 17-year-old Independence teen, nearly died in September 2014 after a police officer pulled him over on a traffic stop and used a stun gun to get him out of the car. The officer, Timothy N. Runnels, later resigned from the Independence Police Department and pleaded guilty to violating Masters’ constitutional rights.

Under the plea agreement, Runnels admitted that he deliberately dropped Masters headfirst onto the ground while the nonthreatening teen was handcuffed. Masters suffered brain damage after he went into cardiac arrest. To save his live, doctors placed him into a medically induced coma that included lowering his core body temperature.

Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, said it is essential that law enforcement agencies provide their officers with reoccurring training.

Police departments should seek alternatives to ensure suspects comply with an officer’s orders, said Foreman, the UMKC law professor.

“They claim it is less than lethal then why are so many people dying from it,” he said.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 1:07 PM with the headline "Stun gun use by police can draw public rebuke or applause."