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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Taser

Taser stories: 18 news summaries
VIRAL VIDEO

 San Jose Suspends 
 Cops in Student Beating 

Officers suspended, officials 'concerned' over use of force

Oct 26, 09 1:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - Four San Jose police officers videotaped as they beat and tasered a college student have been placed on administrative leave pending an official review. A grainy cell phone video shows the officers using nightsticks to repeatedly strike Phuong Ho, 20, after responding to a domestic disturbance call last month. Ho... More »

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California • police • San Jose • Taser • police brutality • college student

Taser Tells Cops: Don't
Aim at Chest

Company cites 'extremely low risk' but insists stun gun is safe

Oct 21, 09 11:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - Stun gun maker Taser has issued an advisory to police departments suggesting cops not aim at a suspect’s chest because it poses an "extremely low" chance of triggering an "adverse cardiac event." The company insists its product is safe, but if something goes wrong, "it... More »

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Arizona • ACLU • American Civil Liberties Union • heart attack • cardiac arrest • Colorado • Taser • stun gun • police department

(Newser) - An Australian man has been hospitalized with burns over 20% of his body after he burst into flames when Tasered by police, reports the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Police say they had no choice but to use the stun gun on the man—a known gas-sniffer and violent offender—when... More »

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Australia • law enforcement • police • Aborigines • Taser • Western Australia




 SF Cop Charged 
 in BART Slaying 

Ex-officer surrendered on suspicion of murder

Jan 14, 09 7:17 AM CST
(Newser) - The transit officer who fatally shot an unarmed man on New Year's Day, sparking San Francisco-area riots, was arrested last night in Nevada on suspicion of murder, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Sources say Johannes Mehserle, 27, had fled California after receiving death threats in the wake of Oscar Grant's... More »

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San Francisco • police • mob • protests • video • race riot • Oakland • Ron Dellums • riots • suspect • Taser • police brutality • shooting • BART • Oscar Grant • Johannes Mehserle

 Cop Victim's 
 Mom Pleads 
 for Calm 

Rioters trash streets in Oakland after officer shoots unarmed man in BART station

Jan 9, 09 2:16 AM CST
(Newser) - The family of a 22-year-old man shot dead by police at an Oakland BART station have appealed for calm following violent protests, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Hundreds of businesses and cars have been trashed and 105 people arrested in disturbances. Prosecutors are considering filing criminal charges against the... More »

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Oakland • Ron Dellums • riots • Taser • BART • Oscar Grant • police shooting • Johannes Mehserle

Britain Buzzes Over Plan to Give Bobbies Tasers

Opponents fret over potential misuse, loss of gentle image

Dec 11, 08 1:45 PM CST
(Newser) - A plan to outfit London’s iconic, and traditionally unarmed, bobbies with Tasers has lawmakers and police worrying about potential misuse and tarnishing the UK’s gentle image—which has included arms-free policing since 1829, the Christian Science Monitor notes. Over the past 20 years, 37 officers have been killed... More »

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London • police • Amnesty International • Taser • police brutality

 NY Taser Cop 
 Commits 
 Suicide 

Officer who authorized fatal use of stun gun, shot himself in head on 46th birthday

Oct 2, 08 12:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - The New York cop who said he was “truly sorry” over authorizing last week’s fatal Tasering committed suicide this morning, his 46th birthday, Newsday reports, hours before victim Iman Morales was to be buried. Lt. Michael Pigott, whose weapon had been seized, shot himself in the head with... More »

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suicide • NYPD • police • Taser • Iman Morales • Michael Pigott

Cops Made Mistake in Taser Death: NYPD Commish

Kelly underscores success rate of emergency-response units

Sep 30, 08 2:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - Last week's Tasering of an emotionally disturbed man that led to his death was a "mistake" by New York police officers, commissioner Raymond Kelly admitted yesterday. Two cops involved in the incident have been put on desk duty, and the entire 440-member Emergency Service squad will undergo a retraining... More »

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NYPD • police • training • Taser • accidental death • police brutality • Raymond Kelly

 Naked NY Man Falls 
 to Death After Cops' Taser 

Stunned suspect falls to his death from fire Brooklyn escape

Sep 25, 08 11:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - A naked man fell to his death yesterday in Brooklyn after police fired a Taser at him, the New York Post reports. The man, 35-year-old Iman Morales, had been ranting on a second-story fire escape. His mother begged police not to hurt him, saying he was sick, but when Morales... More »

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NYPD • police • Brooklyn • Taser • police brutality • public nudity

 Cops Tase, Kill Renegade Emu 

Bird dies after state troopers are forced to tase it

Sep 3, 08 1:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - An Emu ran wild on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for two hours Monday and died after state troopers used a taser on it, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. Motorists said the bird ran up and down the shoulder of the road until getting stuck in traffic lanes with high barriers on either... More »

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birds • Pennsylvania • state police • animal attack • emu • escape • Taser • Pittsburgh • animal • exotic animals

New Taser Tech Would Electrify Cops' Shields

'Peel and stick' film can be used without raising a traditional weapon

May 14, 08 6:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Rioters might finally have met their match: Taser International is rolling out a “peel and stick” film to electrify cops' shields—so they won’t even have to fire the gun-shaped original to render troublemakers immobile, Wired reports. The product was unveiled at a showcase that also includes shock-inducing... More »

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riots • Taser • shields

Tampa Cops Tase Brawling Pitcher

Reyes gets punched and spits up blood on birthday bender

Apr 11, 08 8:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Police Tased Rays pitcher Al Reyes twice today in a Tampa, Fla. bar before arresting him for unlawful violence, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Cops say Reyes was celebrating his birthday when he picked a fight, took a punch, and "began to spit blood on the people in... More »

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police • pitcher • St. Petersburg • birthday party • Taser • Tampa Bay Rays • Al Reyes

Fla. Man Dead After Deputies Tase Him

Paramedics refuse
to help after ex-con
is zapped

Mar 22, 08 7:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Florida man died yesterday after Broward County deputies Tased him for being "naked and belligerent" in public, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Paramedics said James Garland, 41, was too violent to treat after being zapped, so deputies drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.... More »

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Florida • police • Taser • nonlethal weapons • police brutality • Fort Lauderdale

The Taser Party: Chicks Dig It

Self-defense-minded women seek something a little more shocking

Jan 6, 08 2:41 PM CST
(Newser) - At-home female entrepreneurs are ditching Mary Kay for Tasers, but they're keeping the pink. Taser International is marketing its user-friendly C2 "personal protector" to the public, and women with an interest in self-defense are holding independent Taser parties in states where the stun gun is legal. "It's a... More »

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feminism • Amnesty International • Taser • stun gun • sexual violence • self defense • Tupperware • Taser C2 • Mary Kay

Taser Trooper Cleared

No wrongdoing found in YouTube , death threats continue

Dec 1, 07 6:46 AM CST
(Newser) - A Utah Highway Patrolman who Tasered a motorist in the back has been cleared of wrongdoing, the Deseret Morning News reports. A public-safety panel found that cop Jon Gardner had been justified in zapping motorist Jon Massey as he was walking back to his car after a traffic stop. Gardner... More »

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YouTube • police • Utah • highways • Taser

Man Dies After Police Zap Him With Taser

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

Nov 19, 07 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... More »

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police • civilian casualties • Taser • stun gun

Police Who Tasered Student Placed on Leave

University prez calls incident at political forum 'regretful'

Sep 19, 07 5:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two University of Florida police officers who used a stun gun on a 21-year-old student at a campus forum with John Kerry have been placed on paid leave pending an investigation, CNN reports. Disturbing video of the incident, in which the student pleaded with police not to taser him, has... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John Kerry • police • University of Florida • Taser • Andrew Meyer • stun gun • forum • J. Bernard Machen

Student Tasered at Kerry Speech

Senior zapped and arrested for disrupting U of Florida forum

Sep 18, 07 4:19 PM CDT
(Newser) - Police Tasered and arrested a University of Florida student after his belligerent questioning of John Kerry during a campus event last night. Andrew Meyer, who has a history of recording his own pranks, spent the night in jail after pressing Kerry beyond his allotted time, the AP reports. Officers removed... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John Kerry • University of Florida • student • Taser • student activism • Andrew Meyer

18 Stories


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