Two Las Vegas police officers are suing Taser International, Inc. (makers of the YouTube sensation) after reportedly being seriously hurt during mandatory Taser training. As part of their training, the officers were tased so that they could "truly understand the weapon." Police detective Marcus Martin, the department's lead Taser instructor, had this to say when asked why the "hands on" training was subsequently stopped:
"I have to tell you that I have a different understanding of that weapon than folks that have never been Tased, but as training went on what started occurring is we started having officers getting hurt. So it was a policy decision that was made at the higher levels of the agency as to should we allow folks to be Tased and get hurt. It's a cost-benefit analysis.''
Costs: a little pain, the occasional lawsuit. Benefits: truly understanding the weapon, hilarity. We demand a recount!
The original story ran in the Las Vegas Sun.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/nov/23/cops-raise-taser-safety-claims/