Wednesday 24 August 2011

More on Taser Deaths

On Friday I wrote about how no one had died in the UK (between 2004 and 2010 at least) from being hit by a police taser. Today I see this headline from The Guardian:
Man dies after Taser arrest near Bolton
Of course, read the report and you'll see:
A man who stabbed himself in the abdomen has died after being Tasered by police.
...
Greater Manchester police said the officers had been threatened. They entered the house and deployed a Taser. "After it was deployed, it became apparent he had a serious self-inflicted stab wound to his abdomen," police said in a statement.
So most likely cause of death, at this point, would not be the taser then. Of course, the headlines are accurate he did die after being hit by a taser. But then if you wait long enough everyone who has ever been hit by a taser will die. Why not a headline "100% of people hit by tasers will die"? As accurate and misleading as this one.

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