So it appears we have moved from the era of cops shooting people to them tasering everyone. At least every other day, an article is posted about someone being tasered by the police. The most recent being, former LSU quarteback Josh Booty, older brother of USC quarterback John David Booty. Booty was pulled over under suspicion of DUI, and when he became belligerent during the booking process, he was tasered. Do we not restrain people any more? I think the police are a little too quick to whip out the taser. Hold the guy down, cuff him, do something other than taser him.
The most famous tasering though, the student who questioned Jonh Kerry at the University of Florida was tasered because his line of questioning was beleived to be out of line by campus security and the police. He was drug away from the microphone and while pleading with the police to let him go, he was tasered. (*video*)
Tasering seems to be widely used as a means of subduing someone, and while I don't condone it, i believe it shouldn't be the first means of getting some one to cooperate. There are certain situations in which I believe people should be tasered for the safety of the officers, it just seems to be a go to item now.
A report came out from Amnesty International stating that the taser-related death toll has reached over 150 people as of March 2006. These death tolls are only going to increase because the usage is increasing.
Do you think tasering is being overused in law enforcement? All comments welcome.
Taser definition by Wikipedia.
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