The TASER was developed in the 1970’s by an American inventor named Jack Cover.  TASER is an acronym for Tom A. Swift Electric Rifle. Any police reform legislation that does not restrict taser usage will leave open the opportunity for further misuse and abuse of this powerful weapon. 

On the night of June 12, 2020, two Atlanta police officers attempted to place Rayshard Brooks under arrest for DUI.  As Officer Rolfe and Officer Brosnan attempted to handcuff the suspect, Brooks resisted.  During the scuffle, Brooks grabbed Officer Brosnan’s taser and punched Rolfe.  Rolfe used his taser and shot Brooks with it.  With Officer Brosnan’s taser in hand, Brooks began to run away from the officers.  Officer Rolfe fired his taser again at Brooks.  As Brooks continued to run away, he turned halfway back and fires Brosnan’s taser at Officer Rolfe.  He missed.  Rolfe then dropped his taser, drew his firearm, and fired three shots at Brooks.  Brooks was hit in the middle of his back and in his buttocks.  The third shot missed Brooks, hitting a nearby vehicle instead.  Rather than an alternative to deadly force, the tasers at this crime scene were what led to deadly force. 

In the morning of April 4, 2015, North Charleston police officer Michael Slager pulled over Walter Scott for a broken brake light.  Officer Slager’s dashcam video shows Slager walking up to the driver’s side front window and speaking to Scott.  Slager then returns to his patrol vehicle.  Once Slager is back at his police car, Scott gets out of his vehicle and begins running.  Slager runs after Scott and catches him.  A physical altercation ensues. During the struggle, Slager fired his taser, hitting Scott.  After being hit by the taser, Scott takes off running again.  As Scott was running away, Slager drew his .45-caliber handgun and fired eight rounds at Scott.  Five bullets hit Scott – three in the back, one in the buttocks, and one in the ear.  When Slager contacted the police dispatcher, he said, “Shots fired and the subject is down.  He grabbed my taser.”  What Slager did not know was that the entire incident was recorded by a bystander, Feidin Santana. 

In both cases, police officers attempted to use their tasers to force compliance, much like a cattle prod.  When police departments began issuing the taser guns to their officer’s in the 1990’s, the public was told that the taser would save lives because it was a non-lethal alternative to a firearm. Americans were told that this new tool for law enforcement fell somewhere between the nightstick and the firearm.  We were told it would be used primarily in situations where deadly force would be authorized.  

During the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, most Americans were appalled when they saw the police using cattle prods on Civil Rights activists.  The police called them shock batons, and used them along with dogs, clubs, and tear gas, to disperse crowds of activists marching for equal rights / equality under the law.  The public was outraged.  People being intentionally shocked by police with cattle prods was beyond even excessive force for most observers.  It seemed sadistic, and definitely wrong. 

A brief history of the TASER:  The TASER was developed in the 1970’s by an American inventor named Jack Cover.  TASER is an acronym for Tom A. Swift Electric Rifle.  Tom Swift is a fictional literary character that invented amazing gadgets and went on thrilling adventures.  First published in 1910, there are over 100 books in this juvenile science fiction series.  Jack Cover was a big fan of Tom Swift – so much so that he decided to name his electric gun after him.  TASER was born as an alternative to deadly force. 

If the taser was removed from the Rayshard Brooks crime scene, would Brooks still be alive?  What about Walter Scott?  Would he still be alive if Michael Slager didn’t have a taser?  Nobody can say for certain how things would have unfolded.  What is certain though is data which shows that when the taser fails to subdue a suspect, they are often shot by police. 

APM Reports investigated taser usage and effectiveness across the United States.  It was discovered that between 2015 and 2017, there were at least 250 cases where a police officer shot and killed a person after the taser failed to stop the suspect.  These 250 fatalities account for 1 in 12 fatal shootings by police over a three-year period.  In many other instances, taser deployment escalates the tension and resistance.  When shocked with electricity, some people react by trying to get away from 50,000 volts and 3.6 milliamps of current.  It’s reflex at that moment – not resistance. 

Walter Scott ran from Officer Slager because he owed back child support and didn’t want to go to jail that day.  Once Scott was hit by the taser, he continued to run from Slager to get away from volts and amps, and not go to jail that day.  Now Scott is dead and Slager is in jail.  Police need to quickly learn when they should be chasing after people and when they get them another time or day.  Slager had Scott’s car and license.  Based on all that has been reported about Walter Scott, there’s a strong possibility that he would have turned himself in peacefully in a few days. 

The danger Rayshard Brooks posed to society on June 12, 2020 was when he was operating a motor vehicle while impaired beyond the legal limit.  Officers Brosnan and Rolfe had his driver’s license.  They had his car.  Some thirty minutes earlier, Brooks was asleep behind the wheel of his car in a Wendy’s parking lot.  Where was Rayshard Brooks running to and how far was he going to get?  Besides not wanting to go to jail at that moment, there really isn’t ever a great moment to go to jail, was Brooks also running because he didn’t want to get hit with the taser?  Now Brooks is dead and Rolfe has been charged with murder.  Rolfe’s legal defense will center on Brooks half-turning back towards Rolfe and shooting the taser he took from Officer Brosnan.  The defense will contend either that Rolfe thought the taser was a handgun, or that he feared becoming incapacitated by getting hit with the taser, which could then allow Brooks to gain access to Rolfe’s firearm. 

In these two fatality cases, and in hundreds more across the United States, the taser was deployed when deadly force was not yet authorized.  The taser was being used as a cattle prod but the recipient’s reaction was more like that of a mischievous teenager that just jabbed a stick into a large hornet nest.  Run, run, run as fast as you can!  What cannot be explained is why some police officer’s see the firing of his or her firearm as an appropriate response to what is deemed a failed taser deployment. 

The line for when to use the taser, or any other device that delivers high voltage to a person, needs to be made crystal clear.  A taser should only be used as an alternative to deadly force.  That means the situation must be life threatening in order for a law enforcement officer to fire his or her taser.    Any police reform legislation that does not restrict taser usage will leave open the opportunity for further misuse and abuse of this powerful weapon.  No longer should police be able to use the taser to gain cooperation or compliance.  The taser must only be authorized to use as an alternative to deadly force.