With a recent Chicago death fueling a longstanding national debate on the safety of Taser stun guns, Evanston police say they still have a lot to review before deciding if they will purchase Tasers.
Evanston Police Department has been looking at several less-than-lethal weapons, including the Taser gun, “for the past year or so,” said Deputy Chief Joe Bellino.
University Police is not considering the Taser, said Asst. Chief Daniel McAleer.
Human rights advocacy group Amnesty International reported that since 2001, more than 70 people have died after police stunned them with a Taser, which shoots a low-amperage electrical current to immobilize victims.
Twelve deaths have been either directly or indirectly linked to the Taser gun, said Amnesty spokesman Christopher Watson.
Taser International advertises that its product saves lives by providing police with an alternative to firearms.
But media attention on the deaths and on what some call inappropriate Taser use — such as the recent tasing of a 6-year-old boy in Florida school — has caused police departments across the nation to question the gun.
On Feb. 10, a 54-year-old Chicago man died after Chicago police stunned him with a Taser. Medical examiners have been unable to determine if the death was linked to Taser use.
On Feb. 7 a 14-year-old boy went into cardiac arrest after a Chicago police sergeant stunned him with a Taser. The boy was released from the hospital several days later.
Chicago police, who have been using Tasers since April, suspended further distribution but continue to use the department’s 200 guns.
The incidents in Chicago are just one factor EPD must review as it considers new alternatives to lethal force, Bellino said.
“We’ll continue to review all of the information that comes out, both from the manufacturer and from other departments,” he said.
More than 6,000 law enforcement agencies, most of them in the United States and Canada, use Taser technology, according to Taser International’s Web site.
Taser Vice President of Communications Steve Tuttle was out of town last week and did not return phone calls early this week.
A November report on the business’ Web site estimates that the Taser, by reducing the number of police shootings, has saved more than 6,000 lives to date.
But police officers often turn to Tasers too quickly, Watson said.
“We’ve seen Tasers used in situations where law enforcement officials wouldn’t even use pepper spray or a baton,” Watson said.
He mentioned a 9-year-old runaway in Arizona who police tased after she had been handcuffed and put in a squad car.
Amnesty International is calling for the suspension of police officers’ Taser use until more studies are conducted into the cause of death of Taser victims nationwide.
Every weapon comes with its dangers, said Mark Iris, former executive director of the Chicago Police Board and a lecturer in Northwestern’s political science department. But he said there can be a “tremendous number” of advantages to using the Taser.
Several years ago in New York, a police officer shot and killed a man threatening people with a hammer, Iris said. Now that officer is being sued for using improper force.
“The officer runs the risk of getting smashed in the noggin with a hammer,” Iris said. “It can be potentially fatal. In that type of situation, a Taser could have essentially saved the man’s life.”
UP officers use pepper spray and collapsible batons when a situation isn’t serious enough for lethal force, McAleer said.
“We don’t believe we need a third alternative,” McAleer said.
At EPD other options being considered besides the Taser include a gun that fires a small weighted sack that “has a knock-down effect,” Bellino said.
But no matter what new weapon EPD buys, he said, officers should be able to give a reason for why they used a certain weapon in a certain situation.
“You still have to be justified in any application of force that you use,” he said.
Reach Marissa Conrad at [email protected].
