If the Electric chair was inhumane… (op-ed)
The electric chair was the symbol of capital punishment during the twentieth century.
But after botched electrocutions in which the condemned was subjected to multiple electric shocks even proponents of capital punishment considered the proceedings cruel and unusual. So lethal injection was introduced to eliminate the use of electricity and make executions more humane.
Recently a Black man with a knife was shot and killed by San Francisco police officers. The shooting was captured on video and local black protesters called for the resignation of San Francisco’s police chief.
Unlike other law enforcement officers in the United States San Francisco police do not carry Tasers. (A weapon that delivers electrical volts to temporarily incapacitate suspects.)
The police chief and three of his predecessors failed in the past to get San Francisco’s police commission to authorize the use of Tasers.
But after the latest incident the police chief renewed his request by stating: The fatal shooting could have been avoided if the responding officers had been equipped with Taser stun guns … The Taser probably would have been an effective tool to disarm [the deceased] without gunfire.
The police chief is determined to prove he’s taking action to prevent fatal police shooting in the future. But if the use of electricity was inhumane for executions how can the use of electricity be justified to avoid death? (Or have proponents of “take no prisoners” policing always advocated the use of Tasers to make excessive force more humane?)
According to Amnesty International, more than 330 Americans have died after being “Tasered” and at least one pregnant mother has lost her unborn child since 2001. From 2002 to 2005, 211 children were shocked with Tasers … and one 14-year-old boy in a Chicago children’s home had a heart attack after police used a Taser on him. (These figures are from 2001 to 2008. In 2008 Taser International Inc. lost its first products liability case. The jury awarded damages of more than $6 million in a wrongful death lawsuit of a California man. He was intoxicated and subjected to 25 discharges from multiple Tasers by police officers.) The Guardian Newspaper has tracked US killing by police and other law enforcement agencies in 2015 and as of November 6th 47 deaths have been classified as Taser events.
Cardiologists at the University of California, San Francisco acknowledged Tasers are potentially dangerous because a jolt of electricity, at just the right moment in the heartbeat cycle, can cause cardiac arrhythmia, leading to heart attack or death in minutes by ventricular fibrillation. One cardiologist said, “This is no longer arguable. This is scientific fact. The national debate should now center on whether the risk of sudden death with Tasers is low enough to warrant widespread use by law enforcement.”
These risks are known, taken, and justified in order to disarm dangerous suspects, but reports by the ACLU and local newspapers indicate Tasers are mostly used on unarmed suspects who committed minor offenses.
In Fairness data also points out when properly use Tasers are more effective than the police baton (Which was the symbol of police brutality during the twentieth century.) and pepper spray. Plus they have protected police officers and countless of civilians from armed and dangerous suspects.
But when San Francisco’s police commission rejected the use of Tasers they stated the weapon could maim or kill suspects, especially those with heart conditions. They understood wrongful deaths due to Tasers are equivalent to botched executions in the electric chair. So far the San Francisco police commission has displayed the Wisdom of Solomon in a land overpopulated and policed by philistines.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 12/23/15
But after botched electrocutions in which the condemned was subjected to multiple electric shocks even proponents of capital punishment considered the proceedings cruel and unusual. So lethal injection was introduced to eliminate the use of electricity and make executions more humane.
Recently a Black man with a knife was shot and killed by San Francisco police officers. The shooting was captured on video and local black protesters called for the resignation of San Francisco’s police chief.
Unlike other law enforcement officers in the United States San Francisco police do not carry Tasers. (A weapon that delivers electrical volts to temporarily incapacitate suspects.)
The police chief and three of his predecessors failed in the past to get San Francisco’s police commission to authorize the use of Tasers.
But after the latest incident the police chief renewed his request by stating: The fatal shooting could have been avoided if the responding officers had been equipped with Taser stun guns … The Taser probably would have been an effective tool to disarm [the deceased] without gunfire.
The police chief is determined to prove he’s taking action to prevent fatal police shooting in the future. But if the use of electricity was inhumane for executions how can the use of electricity be justified to avoid death? (Or have proponents of “take no prisoners” policing always advocated the use of Tasers to make excessive force more humane?)
According to Amnesty International, more than 330 Americans have died after being “Tasered” and at least one pregnant mother has lost her unborn child since 2001. From 2002 to 2005, 211 children were shocked with Tasers … and one 14-year-old boy in a Chicago children’s home had a heart attack after police used a Taser on him. (These figures are from 2001 to 2008. In 2008 Taser International Inc. lost its first products liability case. The jury awarded damages of more than $6 million in a wrongful death lawsuit of a California man. He was intoxicated and subjected to 25 discharges from multiple Tasers by police officers.) The Guardian Newspaper has tracked US killing by police and other law enforcement agencies in 2015 and as of November 6th 47 deaths have been classified as Taser events.
Cardiologists at the University of California, San Francisco acknowledged Tasers are potentially dangerous because a jolt of electricity, at just the right moment in the heartbeat cycle, can cause cardiac arrhythmia, leading to heart attack or death in minutes by ventricular fibrillation. One cardiologist said, “This is no longer arguable. This is scientific fact. The national debate should now center on whether the risk of sudden death with Tasers is low enough to warrant widespread use by law enforcement.”
These risks are known, taken, and justified in order to disarm dangerous suspects, but reports by the ACLU and local newspapers indicate Tasers are mostly used on unarmed suspects who committed minor offenses.
In Fairness data also points out when properly use Tasers are more effective than the police baton (Which was the symbol of police brutality during the twentieth century.) and pepper spray. Plus they have protected police officers and countless of civilians from armed and dangerous suspects.
But when San Francisco’s police commission rejected the use of Tasers they stated the weapon could maim or kill suspects, especially those with heart conditions. They understood wrongful deaths due to Tasers are equivalent to botched executions in the electric chair. So far the San Francisco police commission has displayed the Wisdom of Solomon in a land overpopulated and policed by philistines.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 12/23/15
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