Police and municipalities in the U.S. have faced at least 435 wrongful death suits involving Tasers, with families and estates due to receive at least $172 million in publicly funded payouts.
After Reuters examined hundreds of wrongful death lawsuits, they found the public pays most of the liability bill as police describe difficulty keeping up with the manufacturer’s increasingly detailed safety alerts.
Reuters was unable to identify settlement amounts in dozens of cases where terms weren’t disclosed, therefore the amount of money paid out by the government is substantially higher than $172 million.
The United States police and municipalities face at least 435 wrongful death suits involving Tasers, with families and estates receiving at least $172 million in publicly funded payouts
Taser, which changed its name this year to Axon Enterprise Inc, says its product safety warnings are ‘strong and unambiguous’ and that its advisories protect both the company and its police clients from liability.
Taser said the only deaths that can be attributed to its stun guns involve 24 cases in which the person died from secondary injuries, such as falls or fires caused by the Taser.
However, Reuters weas able to collect official cause-of-death rulings for more than 70 per cent of the deaths it identified – 712 cases.
Tasers were listed as a cause of death or a contributing factor in 153 of those cases.
At least 48 people have died in the United States since January, about one death a week, in incidents where police used Tasers, according to a Washington Post examination.
Police have described difficulty with keeping up to date with Taser’s increasingly detailed safety alerts
1,005 people have died in the United States following encounters with police in which Tasers were used either on their own or, more often, as part of a larger mosaic of force
The ongoing debate continues across the U.S. over how police use force in the wake of these wrongful death suits.
Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International said: ‘We’re proud that we’ve given a tool to the toolbox that provides a safer alternative than using a baton strike that beats somebody senseless.
‘It’s better than spraying an acid in someone’s eyes that’s going to make them suffer and burn for 45 minutes, even after they’ve complied, versus what we call an elegant, more humane and accountable solution.’
Taser, which changed its name this year to Axon Enterprise Inc, says its product safety warnings are ‘strong and unambiguous’ and that its advisories protect both the company and its police clients from liability