Depending on who you ask, a Taser, a type of stun gun, is either a safe and effective tool ? or a deadly weapon sometimes misused.
But after several deaths in the state involving police use of Tasers ? including a fatality during the weekend in Prince George?s County ? their safety is still subject to debate.
“Police think Tasers are nonlethal, and as we?ve seen with these deaths, there are no such thing as nonlethal weapons,” said Richard Moran, a professor of criminology at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. “They are more likely to be used, and so may cause more deaths than firearms over time.”
But Ken Cooper, a New York firearms instructor who trains police officers to use stun guns, disagrees.
“How many times has a suspect been stunned by police when they would have been shot?” he asked. “It?s a very critical tool for law enforcement.”
Tasers allow police to deliver an electrical charge that debilitates a suspect from a distance.
“The advantages to Taser technology are dramatic reductions in injuries to both suspects and law enforcement officers,” said Steve Tuttle, spokesman for Taser International, which makes and supplies Tasers to police.
Since March, four people in Maryland have died after being stunned with Tasers by police: two in Baltimore City, one in Baltimore County and one in Prince George?s County, where police Tasered a man after they said he became combative.
Uywanda Peterson, 43, attacked a Baltimore narcotics officer “without provocation” during an investigation, police said, prompting the officer to strike her in the chest with a Taser.
In March, Baltimore County police reported that Ryan Lee Meyers, 40, of Middle River, died after being shocked with the device. Meyers, whose family said he suffered from bipolar disorder, refused to drop a baseball bat in the house he shared with his parents. The state medical examiner has ruled that Meyers died of cardiac arrhythmia in association with “police restraint.” The ruling on the cause of Peterson?s death is pending.
Of the almost 180 deaths that have been attributed to stun-gun use since their introduction as a police weapon, the debate rages over whether Tasers or other factors were the cause.
“Any time there is an electrical shock, somebody?s heart rhythm could be knocked awry, but the argument from the Taser people is that there is not enough voltage to kill,” said Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist who investigated John F. Kennedy?s and Anna Nicole Smith?s deaths.
Wecht said Taser-related deaths are often complicated by other factors, making it difficult to place the blame squarely on the weapon.
“I?m not about to say that it is impossible for someone to die after they were Tasered. However, when you analyze the deaths you will generally find one or more other factors, including drug use or preexisting conditions,” Wecht said.
Despite the controversy, Baltimore County is looking to buy more. “We have requested 20 more Tasers. We are going to continue to our program,” police spokesman Cpl. Michael Hill said.
Cooper said stun guns offer an important alternative for officers.
“Cops don?t shoot to kill; police officers want to stop people from doing something dumb ? the Taser is the most effective tool to date to do that,” he said.
Examiner Staff Writer Luke Broadwater contributed to this story.
