I saw this article in the Atlanta Journal and saved
it to pass on Bob K
Citing the deaths of two men stunned with Taser-type devices in the past 18
months, a coalition of activist groups will hold a community meeting Sunday to
discuss the safety of the stun guns.
"We're calling for a moratorium on the use of the Taser gun because the
jury's still out," the Rev. Fred D. Taylor of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference said at a Wednesday news conference.
The SCLC and other organizations want law enforcement agencies to stop
using the electric weapons, which deliver an incapacitating 50,000-volt shock,
until an independent study of their safety can be conducted.
Two men in custody died after Tasers were used on them by Gwinnett County
sheriff's deputies.
Amnesty International, which will participate in Sunday's forum, persistently
has criticized the Taser. The human rights organization is expected to release a
report Friday detailing the number of Taser-related deaths it has tallied since
2001.
The SCLC, an Atlanta-based organization co-founded by the Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr., said Taser-type stun guns have been linked to 86 deaths nationwide
since 1999.
Taser International, the leading manufacturer of stun guns, maintains that
its product has not directly caused any deaths. An estimated 7,000 agencies
worldwide use Tasers.
The weapons have sparked controversy across the nation. Police have used them
on elderly people and children as young as 6. In Birmingham, school resource
officers got approval this week to carry the devices after the superintendent
said police are afraid of students.
In September 2003, after biting a Gwinnett deputy's ear, jail inmate
Ray Charles Austin was stunned at least three times, given psychotropic
drugs, punched and placed in a restraint chair. Austin, 25, passed out and died.
Last May, during a scuffle with deputies, Frederick Williams, 31, died after
being shocked five times.
Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter is considering filing criminal
charges in the Williams case. He said Wednesday he still was investigating. The
medical examiner ruled that Williams and Austin died of heart attacks.
State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) sponsored a bill to ban Tasers, but the
bill went nowhere.
Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, NAACP and Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition also will attend Sunday's forum, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Gwinnett
County Justice Center, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville.
� The Associated Press contributed to this article.
