Schedule for November 2009

    At the Barlow Street Community Center, City Police Sgt. Joseph Erikson fires a verbal warning and then two sharp, electrically charged probes into Sgt. Joe Thomas’ back, from a yellow X26 Taser gun he holds from 7 feet away.

    Thomas’ whole body contracts. He emits a loud, prolonged, guttural roar. AmeriCorps workers at Common Ground hear him from across the hall. The two officers standing at Thomas’ sides help him drop softly. Face down. To a mat on the hardwood floor.

    “You better get AmCare,” someone mutters.

    Rescue workers arrive quickly to check the probe that went astray and became lodged in a fatty pocket at the base of Thomas’ neck. Hospital emergency staff must remove the barb; AmCare policy prohibits it. The shot wasn’t supposed to hit there, but did.

The Taser’s disturbing, 5-second effect has passed, and – despite his temporary, Frankenstein-ish features – Thomas jokes about what happened.

“I could have fought through it,” he jokes groggily, lying stomach-down on the floor. Turning serious, Thomas adds, “There was nothing I could do. I was waiting to start drooling.”

The other officers laugh, but they know their turn is coming. Their countenances might be cool, but the air around them tells a sharply different story. One by one, laying face down on the mat, they take a five-second strike from the Taser in Erikson’s hand.

Get hit in the back or the thigh – their choice.

Officer Jason Wetherby: “NGAAAAAAUGH!”

Officer Keith McMahon: “YAUGGGHH, WOO-HOO-HOO-HOOO!”

Officer Frank McCarty: “AUUUGGGHHH! OW!”

“That was the girliest scream of the day,” someone jokes.

Everyone is OK. Even Thomas.

“That 5 seconds seems like an eternity,” Wetherby says. “It’s not terrible. It’s just … hot. It’s really weird. It’s really hard to explain.”

Those 5 seconds were the worst of the six-hour training session that city police officers underwent Thursday. That night, those officers were certified to carry a Taser, an electroshock weapon that fires 50,000 volts anywhere from 15 to 25 feet away.

A small, fish-hook-like device – like the one lodged in Thomas’ neck – punctures victims and overrides the body’s motor and sensory systems. All muscles tighten. The victim is rendered immobile – even if drunk or high. The effect lasts 5 seconds, but it can go longer if the trigger is held.

In mid-October, city aldermen unanimously granted City Police Chief Gary Taylor’s request to purchase and deploy less-than-lethal force via Tasers – a first for city police, at no initial cost to taxpayers.

The city has obtained four Tasers at $1,000 each as part of a fair trade with International Police Supply (IPS), of Woodbridge, Va., the departments’ equipment supplier. In exchange for the devices, which will be rotated among city police officers, the city will give IPS outdated firearms, ammunition and riot helmets.

In making his case to the city council, Taylor said he discovered a need for Tasers after his department faced three instances since July during which his officers could have used lethal force but resisted.

Taylor read aldermen a quote from a Vermont Attorney General’s Office report that stated, “The Taser has proven to be an effective law enforcement tool, both in Vermont and nationally.”

Already, four St. Albans City officers have Taser experience: Cpl. Sean Bourgeois, Officer Holly Moore, Sgt. Ronald Hoague Jr., and Josephson, who first became certified while working for a Rhode Island police force and recently earned re-certification.

Josephson is conducting the Taser training sessions for St. Albans City Police. Until 2003, it was mandatory for officers that carried a Taser to experience the shock from it. Not anymore, but Josephson encourages that firsthand feeling.

“I think you really need to understand what it is,” he said. “But it’s up to them. It’s their choice.

“You always remember your first hit. And your last. I’ve been hit about a half-dozen times, as part of my certification and during demonstrations. It’s just another tool to help us protect the public. I believe in this.”

Deterrence, debate

    So does Taylor. He believes Tasers could act as another mitigating measure to St. Albans City crime, perhaps in the same way as the summertime graffiti clean-up day, Neighborhood Watch program, and community forums – but with a bit of a jolt.

    “And if we never have to use them because people know we have them,” Taylor said, “I think that’s great. I think there’s a huge deterrent effect with these.”

    Seven-thousand police agencies in the U.S. and 28 in Vermont use Tasers. Arizona-based Taser International, the company that sells the devices, claims more than 12,800 police, correctional and military groups in 44 countries use Tasers. Of those agencies, more than 4,500 of them arm all their patrol officers with Tasers.

    According to a recent CBC News report, more than 260,000 Taser immobilizers have been sold to law enforcement agencies since 1998.

    Taylor researched Tasers thoroughly before going to aldermen with his request and has modeled his department’s 20-page policy after the one crafted by Burlington police.

    The heart of the policy is page six, item J: “Electronic Control Device.” The policy says Tasers “are not to be used in a punitive or coercive manner, and shall not be used to awaken, escort, or gain compliance from passively resistant subjects. Special consideration must be given to populations that may be more susceptible to injury …”

    Taylor said he would not tolerate excessive force or misuse of weapons, including Tasers, from any officer under his badge.

    “Misuse of force is an issue in more ways than one,” the chief said. “It could result in anything from a reprimand or dismissal or, if it got that far, a criminal charge.”

    Tasers have earned their fair share of bad publicity, both nationwide and in Vermont. A 20-year-old Rutland man is suing the city for being stung with a Taser in the front seat of a police cruiser.

    George Griffin’s lawyer put video footage of the incident on YouTube. Griffin claimed an officer used the Taser after he refused to put on his seat belt. Rutland City Police said use of the Taser was justified, because Griffin would not comply with commands.

    Perhaps the most famous use of a Taser occurred on Sept. 17, 2007, when Andrew Meyer, a 21-year-old University of Florida student, got hit by a Taser during a town hall forum that featured U.S. Sen. John Kerry, a former Democratic presidential candidate.

    Several videos of that episode were posted on the Internet, and, within a month, it had attracted 2.6 million views. The incident also sparked a famous catchphrase: “Don’t tase me, bro!”

    According to CBC News, Amnesty International claims more than 290 people in North America have died after Taser shocks since 2001. In November 2007, the UN Committee Against Torture released a statement that said “use of TaserX26 weapons (the ones used by St. Albans City), provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death.”

    There have been several accounts of deaths involving Tasers, but none have been linked directly to the device. In all cases, the victims either had chemicals in their system or a pre-existing medical condition, according to various reports.

    In May, Taser International won a civil suit that ordered a medical examiner to change autopsy reports for three men who died in confrontations with police. The ruling forced the doctor to delete references that said the deaths were related to electric shock and term them “accidental.”

    Taser International has not lost a product-liability lawsuit.

    Josephson said officers are trained to aim for areas of muscle mass when using Tasers. “Red zones” – discouraged target areas – include the front of the neck and fatty areas that might lessen the strength of the charge.

    “The idea is safety,” Erikson said. “There are times when shots go astray and end up in areas we try to avoid (as with Sgt. Thomas).”

    Taylor is not concerned about the debate and bad publicity swirling around Tasers; he speaks of them confidently.

    “This is progressive, modern thinking,” he said, regarding the installation of Tasers on his force. “It’s about providing another tool to our officers.”

    And after Thursday? His officers have a new appreciation for Tasers.

    “I now have respect for the Taser,” Officer McMahon said, after taking a stun to the back. “I’m definitely going to think about deploying it before I do. This is not a toy. At all.”

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