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Man Dies After Police Zap Him With Taser

Deputy was trying to break up four-person fight; dead man was only 20

By Colleen Barry,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 19, 2007 4:26 AM CST

(Newser) – A 20-year-old man died yesterday after Maryland police shocked him with a Taser during a confrontation with a sheriff's deputy, according to police. Deputies responded to a call to find four people fighting. Police used a Taser on one of the men, who fell unconscious and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, police said.

The deputy who shocked the man has been placed on administrative leave. Last week, a 40-year-old man in Vancouver died after being Tasered in an airport. Amnesty International reports that 150 people have died after being shocked with stun guns since 2001. Taser officials say such deaths are often "attributable to other factors and not the low-energy electrical discharge" of the device.

Stephen Tuttle, vice president of communications at TASER International, holds up the TASER X26, bottom, and the new TASER C2, top, at headquarters in this Jan. 26, 2007 file photo, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)
Stephen Tuttle, vice president of communications at TASER International, holds up the TASER X26, bottom, and the new TASER C2, top, at headquarters in this Jan. 26, 2007 file photo, in Scottsdale, Ariz....   (Associated Press)
In this image made from video released Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007, by the Canadian Press, Robert Dziekanski, who died after police used a Taser on him, holds a small table at the Vancouver Airport. The video released by Canadian authorities of the last moments of Dziekanski's life show police using...
In this image made from video released Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007, by the Canadian Press, Robert Dziekanski, who died after police used a Taser on him, holds a small table at the Vancouver Airport. The...   (Associated Press)
A TASER X26 is seen in Scottsdale, Ariz. in this April 26, 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/Khampha Bouaphanh, File)
A TASER X26 is seen in Scottsdale, Ariz. in this April 26, 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/Khampha Bouaphanh, File)   (Associated Press)
Police Chief John Martin demonstrates a Taser in Brattleboro, Vt., Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007. Civil libertarians and mental health advocates  in Vermont are up in arms over police use of Taser guns, which have been used recently on an unruly psychiatric patient, two non-violent protesters and a Vermont State Hospital...
Police Chief John Martin demonstrates a Taser in Brattleboro, Vt., Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007. Civil libertarians and mental health advocates in Vermont are up in arms over police use of Taser guns, which...   (Associated Press)
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Vancouver Airport police Taser disoriented immigrant man.   (MichaelCastaneda105 (YouTube))

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