When Baltimore resident Thomas Campbell allegedly went on a rampage two weeks ago in Sandtown Winchester — climbing on a BGE utility truck and then tossing furniture at police officers in the basement of a west Baltimore church– police used two 50,000-volt shocks from a Taser stun gun to subdue him.
But Campbell, 50, collapsed and died moments later after struggling with the officers, becoming the fifth death this year in Maryland involving the use of Tasers by police, a device they deem a “less than lethal” alternative to firearms.
Now both criminologists and activists are advocating for more research and tighter restrictions on its use, even as more police departments across the state are using Tasers, the predominant brand of stun guns in the country, to subdue suspects.
“The Taser may be an excellent tool, but the problem is that there has been no volume of independent research and its effect on people,” said Sheldon Greenberg, associate dean of the Division of Public Safety Leadership at Johns Hopkins University?s School of Education. “All the research about the safety of Tasers has been vendor driven.”
Of particular concern to Greenberg is the use of Tasers not only by officers, but on them.
“I?m very concerned about the fact that police academies allow recruits to shoot one another with a Taser as part of their training,” he said. “I have a brother who is a police officer, and I don?t want 50,000 volts going through him until there is a body of knowledge that tells me they?re safe.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, which published a study citing nearly 150 Taser- related deaths since 2004, has advocated for curtailing the circumstances in which Tasers can be used.
“We think there use should be sharply limited to where lethal force is otherwise authorized,” said Meredith Curtis, spokeswoman for the organization?s Maryland chapter.
“We would also like to see more vigorous officer training as well,” Curtis said.
Still, despite lingering questions over the safety of stun guns, medical examiners nationwide have rarely, if ever, ruled Tasers as a contributing factor in cases where suspects died after being stunned — a fact Maryland State Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler attributes in part to human physiology.
“When people die because of electrical activity it doesn’t change their anatomy,” Fowler said. “The moment you die, all your normal physiological processes stop.”
Fowler cites “excited delirium” as another possible cause for Taser-related deaths. A controversial and still widely debated psychological condition, “excited delirium” links an acute and agitated state of mind to sudden and otherwise unexplained deaths of people in police custody.
“[With] some people, a very small percentage is going to suddenly collapse in police custody, which lends a lot of credibility to the theory,” he said. “We have 10 to 12 of these types of cases on average per year.”
Representatives for Taser International, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based manufacturer of the device now in use by about 11,000 police departments nationwide, said a significant body of independent research proves the product is safe.
“There are over 3,000 pages of Taser technology studies, research and medical reviews including several peer- reviewed human studies,” said Steve Tuttle, spokesman for the company.
Tuttle said he takes exception to any claim safety research is insufficient.
“This outlandish claim flies in the face of reality.”
Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford said stun guns are a vital tool that protects both the lives of the officer, and the suspect.
“The thing to remember is: A Taser is used in a situation where there is significant danger to the officer. Take it off the belt and what you?re left with is a baton — or a gun.”
Greenberg, however, believes further study is necessary.
“Professional law enforcement has not embraced research or study as way it should,” he said. “That inhibits us.”
