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UN Says Tasers Are a Form of Torture

The use of Tasers "causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture," the UN's Committee Against Torture said. "In certain cases, they can even cause death, as has been shown by reliable studies and recent real-life events." Three men — all in their early 20s — died from after tasering in the United States this week, days after a Polish man died at Vancouver airport after being tasered by Canadian police. There have been 17 deaths in Canada following the use of Tasers since they were approved for use, and 275 deaths in the US. "According to Amnesty International, coroners have listed the Taser jolt as a contributing factor in more than 30 of those deaths."

13 of 816 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Fortunately... by reboot246 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Mod me troll, too, but the two previous posters were correct. The U.N. has always gone out of its way to bash the United States. Tasers torture? According to the U.N. everything is torture. What a feckless, useless, corrupt bunch of weasels.

  2. Re:Alternative by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    this has resulted in cases like the diabetic who had a fit on a buss and fell incapable of moving, he was reported as strange by the driver, and the cops decided to taser an immobile man for not responding.

    The perfect treatment for those idiots^Wpolice officers would be 2400VAC for a few minutes in a wonderful American invention known as the Electric Chair. Give them a taste of their own medicine, except stronger.

    -b.

  3. Herding cattle by roman_mir · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Utah cop tasers a guy without provocation and then lies about it.

    Robert Dziekanski died in Vancouver after senseless tasering by four cops. The Vancouver police department later lied about what happened.

    To me it looks like the pigs are using the tasers not as less-lethal instruments to be used against dangerous suspects instead of guns, but as whips are used to herd the cattle by a bunch of cowboys (or jackals, that's what it looked like in case of Dziekanski.)

    We are the cattle, and the pigs are the cowboys herding us. We are not human to them.

    I always saw cops as the force used by those in power to control the masses and not for public protection, now it is only more apparent.

  4. Let's look at the makeup of this committee by kaufmanmoore · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Let's see who some of the members of this committee are who are telling the world about what's torture:

    Egypt
    Senegal
    China
    Cyprus

    I guess these countries don't engage in any torture

  5. Re:Why tasers are bad. by timmarhy · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    don't you comprehend the difference between replacing guns and using tasers instead of guns in some situations? because that's what i posted above, learn to fucking read.

    --
    If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
  6. Re:Why tasers are bad. by timmarhy · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    show me an example of this happening, INCLUDING full details.

    because i've watched 100's of cop hater video posted on youtube and i'm yet to see one where the person got tased for no reason.

    the most common reason is failing to compile with a lawful order. it must be something about the current generation where they think the police have no authority, which forces the police to FORCE them to compile in order to control the situation and maintain authority. this ultimate protects us as a community wether you like it or not.

    --
    If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
  7. Re:Why tasers are bad. by LibertineR · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    You are preaching to the wrong crowd.

    There is no consideration here for the cop who gets shot in the face by someone pulled over for speeding or without tags on their car. No consideration at all for the cop who repeatedly orders someone to stop and drop, or move back, only to have that person kill the cop with their own weapon. These things rarely are reported with the emphasis placed on the stories of the supposed innocent victim.

    Sure their will be a few instances of someone otherwise incapacitated who cant follow a cops orders, but that is so rare it isnt even worth mentioning.

    The fact remains that anyone who does not follow a lawful order who CAN follow that order, and chooses not to, is NOT innocent, and is partially responsible for whatever happens next.

    You see, this is the new "question authority" crowd looking for their 21st century street cred. The villains are the victims, and no one is responsible for their own behavior. Kimberly Tunahill, a San Diego cop and high-school friend of mine was shot through the neck and killed walking up to a vehicle. No, she would not have been saved by a taser, but I dare say that if it were between a young law inforement officer and a street thug afraid of being sent BACK to prison, I say tase the bastard till he smokes. Shit happens.

    At the rate things are going, someday, someone will say that law enforcement of any kind is a form of torture. I'm an old geek who often wishes we could just go back a few years to when we didnt always blame those sworn to protect us for doing their goddamn jobs.

  8. Re:reality check by wanderingknight · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Mod parent the fuck up. Fuck you if you can't face reality, people: The fact remains that the countries in power are the ones making the rules.

  9. UN. Putting the UN in UNintelligent..... by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    "Acute pain" constitutes a form of torture?

    So, does this mean that the girl who pinched me in the 2nd grade (and I have several witnesses) can be brought before the Hague Tribunal and charged with torture?

    How about the "mathematically masochistic" math teachers whose endless sermons gave me brain-wrenching migranes?

    How about the next baseball pitcher who accidentally nails a batter with a fastball? Is EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO CAUSES the sensation of pain in another individual now a TORTURER? Interestingly enough, the UN also considers pepper spray and Mace (50% CS + 50% CN) to be illegal chemical weapons, even if used by civilians.

    Would the UN like it better if we just shot criminals as a means of obtaining compliance whenever they are violent towards law-abiding citizens?

    How can such "noble" organizations throw away the rights of law-abiding citizens, especially in terms of self defense, and support the rights of the criminals over the rights of those actually respecting the rule of law?
    The UN is just like California: The criminals are better off that law-abiding citizens.

    --
    Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
  10. Re:Taser abuse by ScrewMaster · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    They know how to deal with the same problems the US cops deal with, but by talking and using their heads instead of escalating the violence by attacking first.

    Trust me, those UK cops wouldn't last ten seconds on the South Side of Chicago. I don't have a beef with cops going around armed, as long as they're trained in the use of those weapons, have to account for the use of their weapons, and suffer the consequences of any abuse they mete out.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  11. Re:if by "in depth article" by towermac · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    "... and you can't ask armed policemen with 20lbs of gear to go hand to hand 1 on 1 with every idiot that is resisting arrest. "

    that's exactly what I want them to do. We got in this mess by letting 90lb blondes become police officers. Her only option is to tase or shoot you

  12. Why idiots are bad. by toddhisattva · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Sleep deprivation is torture. Loud music for long periods of time is torture. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit.

    Many unpleasant things are not torture.

    The United Nations is unpleasant. Does the UN's existence constitute torture?
  13. Re:So remember... by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I think it behooves us to also look at the other side of it, impossible as it may be to properly quantify.

    Whaa?? This is Slashdot — the cops are always wrong. No matter how the cops subdue a violent criminal attacking them, the moonbats here will find fault. The correct thing for the cops to do is let the perps continue their rampages with impunity and hope nobody videotapes them with discourteous expressions on their faces.