The Taser is definitely over-used in certain situations ... and it has been an AWESOME tool in others. Just depends on the one holding the taser gun. Don't know if better training is needed (since there is those out their who do know when to use it responsibly) or better psych tests?
While it could be said that many of the deaths were on subjects that might have deserved it, the death of any innocent person is far to much..
There is always something else to blame as well.. He was high on Coke and that's what killed him, or he had prior heart condition hence he had a heart attack and it was not the Taser that killed him.. We heard all the excuses here as you can see from this map how many deaths there have been and this stopped count in 2007 ( 5 years ago ) from Taser related uses.. You gotta remember we only have 30+ million people here not 300 Million and not much gets lost in the news..
http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/map-tasers-canada/
Taser President came up to BC to fight this new procedure as we were one of their "prospering markets" as he sat in court. They were so pissed they were willing to sue the Province ( State ) for defamation saying they have never lost and claiming their device is 100% safe.. We are still waiting for the lawsuit..
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ernationals-challenge-bc-says/article1532370/
This device in my opinion is as dangerous as a defibrillator and we don't hand those to people to walk with on the street..
Although the Taser is a programmable device, the controlling software does not limit the number of the bursts of pulses and the time between bursts while the trigger is held down continuously, or the number of times the shock cycles can be repeated. Thus the design does not adequately reduce the likelihood that the victim's heart enters into a deadly ventricular fibrillation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroshock_weapon