Being shocked with a Taser is no joke. Nearly 300 cases of people dying after being Tased by police have been documented.
In more than 10% of those cases, medical examiners identified the Taser as either the primary or a contributing cause of death. The U.S. Justice Department considers the issue serious enough to have launched an investigation into as many as 100 Taser-related fatalities.
With several local police agencies already using Tasers and others moving toward adopting them, Central Oregonians have a right to expect their news media to treat the question of Taser use – and potential abuse – responsibly. So it was dismaying to see our only daily newspaper treat it as little more than a bit of fluffy infotainment.
Last week, The Bulletin published a story headlined “More area police forces are turning to the Taser.” For the most part the story was a straightforward, serious look at the pros and cons of Taser use by the area’s police and sheriff’s departments.
But the main story was accompanied by a smaller story – what people in the newspaper business call a “sidebar” – that described the experience of the reporter after she volunteered to let herself be Tased by a Bend police officer.
The sidebar was accompanied by a series of dramatic photos showing the reporter grimacing in pain as the Taser struck her and delivered its jolt, and then crumpling to the floor – as grinning uniformed cops looked on in the background. (In case you didn’t get a copy of the paper there’s a video of the performance on The Bulletin’s website.)
We have two problems with the sidebar and the photos. The smaller problem is that they seem more like a cheap stunt than an exercise in real reporting. The argument that the reporter had to get herself Tased so she could write about how it felt is specious. Reporters write about drug abuse without smoking crack, and they write about drunken driving without downing 12 shots of Jack Daniels and getting behind the wheel.
The bigger problem is that the sidebar and photos give the impression that Tasing somebody isn’t much more than a harmless prank – even sort of fun. (It reminds us a little of Rush Limbaugh’s remark that the tortures at Abu Ghraib were no worse than a fraternity initiation.)
The Bulletin reporter apparently suffered no lasting ill effects. But she’s a healthy young woman. The outcome might have been very different if she had been an older person, a child or unwell – or if she, like most people who get Tased by police, was under extreme stress and/or the influence of alcohol or drugs.
It’s unfortunate that the Bend Police Department agreed to play along with this stunt. But as journalists we’re more disappointed that our colleagues at The Bulletin – especially the editors, who had the final say – decided to give the go-ahead. It was unworthy of a publication that claims to be a responsible and serious newspaper, and we’re giving it THE BOOT.
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 5, 2008.
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You are probably dissappointed that there were no ill effects. It makes all your crying about taser use loook a little suspect.
Actually, I found it interesting. And luckily, I’m part of the 99% that is probably smart enough to avoid getting Tased.
“It makes all your crying about taser use loook a little suspect.”
Nope. As we said, the reporter is a young, healthy woman, she wasn’t (we assume) under the influence of booze or drugs and she wasn’t under stress, aside from whatever stress she might have felt from knowing she was about to get Tased. This stunt was not a scientific test or demonstration of Taser safety, which was part of our problem with it.
“I’m part of the 99% that is probably smart enough to avoid getting Tased.”
I hope you’re right. But someday you might get pulled over for a traffic violation and a cop might decide to Tase you because you don’t obey his orders quickly enough or he doesn’t like your tone of voice or the way you look at him. It’s been known to happen — even to “smart” people like you.
Kudos to the source for giving The Bulletin The Boot on this one. I can’t help but wonder whether OSHA too will give them and the cops the boot. I’m perplexed about the Taser debates, ’cause back when I covered cops and courts such devices (as well as chokeholds) were used only in deadly force situations. That’s far more stringent than the Ashland response, and would also have prohibited the Bulletin reporter’s stupid stunt.
Hey–anyone can own one!
You can buy them at Taser Parites for women–they come in seven fashionable designer colors! Don’t like that Idea? Try anyone of the websites that offer the C2 Taser at wholesale costs!!
We should all be concerned about the current marketing of Tasers to the general public as safe, harmless self defense devices. Criminals use them to debilitate victims. YouTube is filled with videos of them being used recreationally by their owners. There are a number of videos outthere of questionable use by the police at the same source.
This is going to be like the concealed to carry argument for handguns. We have a right to defend ourselves. How does someone determine that the people carrying are mature and capable of judgement in their use?
There are enough horror stories out there to raise questions about their use by the police. What is going to happen when the Taser is widely spread in private hands?
Don’t tase me, bro!
“And luckily, I’m part of the 99% that is probably smart enough to avoid getting Tased.”
So true.
“like most people who get Tased by police, was under extreme stress and/or the influence of alcohol or drugs.”
And again, whose fault is that. You make my point very well though.