THE TASER: A POLICE DEVICE FOR TORTURE AND DEATH
Christopher Bollyn
American Free Press
The growing use by local police departments of the supposedly "non-lethal"
TASER electro-shock weapon has caused the deaths of nearly 200 citizens in
the United States and Canada.
There are reportedly nearly 200 citizens of the United States and Canada who
have been killed by the electro-shock police weapon known as the TASER,
according to the Auckland, New Zealand-based organization Campaign Against
the TASER. From Woonsocket, Rhode Island, to Wisconsin, Colorado, Arizona
and California, there are numerous current news reports about the death of a
local individual caused by excessive force used by the police involving the
TASER weapon.
"PRIMARILY FOR TORTURE"
In 1997, Robin Cook, then Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, said the
British government considered all such electro-shock weapons, including the
TASER stun gun, commonly used by police in the United States, to be
equipment "designed primarily for torture." Cook said the British
government would "press for a global ban."
"We are committed to preventing British companies from manufacturing,
selling or procuring equipment designed primarily for torture and to press
for a global ban", Cook said in July 1997. TASER guns, and similar
electric-shock batons and shields were listed by Cook as being the weapons
that he would ban from Britain.
TASER is an acronym for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle," Thomas Swift
being a science-fiction character from literature for boys. The actual
TASER weapon was designed in 1969 by Arizona inventor Jack Cover and is
produced today in a variety of models by TASER International, Inc. of
Scottsdale, Arizona. Some 7,000 police departments in the United States and
Canada currently use TASER guns. No spokesman from TASER International was
available to comment for this article.
The TASER gun can be used in two ways. It can either be fired from a short
distance at an individual or it can be used as a stun gun that is placed
directly on the individual before releasing its charge of 50,000 volts – and
higher.
The capacity to inflict repeated and extended shocks at the push of a
trigger makes the TASER open to abuse in both dart and stun gun mode,
critics say.
In some cases, individuals have been shot with TASER darts, then threatened
or stunned with repeated jolts during transportation or custody.
Researchers with the Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project at the University
of Bradford (UK), asked, "What is it like to be incapacitated by a TASER
weapon?"
"When fired the TASER propels two barbed darts with trailing wires that
attach to the skin or clothing. Upon impact a 50,000-volt electric shock is
discharged into the victim for a period of five seconds. Whilst the barbs
remain attached this discharge can be repeated multiple times by pulling the
trigger again (and again)", researchers Nick Lewer and Neil Davison wrote in
their report, "Electrical stun weapons: alternative to lethal force or a
compliance tool?"
EXTREME PAIN
"The immediate effects are debilitating. The current causes involuntary
muscle contraction and extreme pain. The victim completely loses control
over their body and falls to the floor until the current stops. The whole
experience is both painful and degrading", the Bradford study said.
Amnesty International (AI), the leading anti-torture watchdog organization,
has long called on "U.S. state, federal and local authorities to suspend all
transfers and use of TASERS and other electro-shock weapons pending a
rigorous, independent inquiry into their use and effects."
AI considers the use of TASERS to constitute "cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment – and torture."
AI has reported that TASER devices are frequently used to torture and
interrogate people such as political prisoners and that TASERS are used by
police in the U.S. "particularly for torture to 'gain compliance.'"
Law enforcement agencies in the United States, however, have not heeded AI's
call to suspend use of TASERS. Today, some 7,000 law enforcement agencies,
out of a total of 18,000, use TASERS as part of their arsenal.
AI recently reiterated its concerns about the use of the TASER stun gun on
individuals who have already been handcuffed or placed in mechanical
restraints. "The use of the TASER in conjunction with restraints has been a
common factor in many of the deaths", AI reported on 28 March 2006:
"AI considers that inflicting excruciating pain on a suspect who is
restrained, and not able to pose a serious threat to their own life or that
of police officers or members of the public, constitutes an excessive use of
force, sometimes amounting to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment."
A 2004 study by The Denver Post found that in one county, one third of the
112 people shot with a TASER had been handcuffed at the time.
AI has repeatedly protested about subjecting individuals to TASER shocks
while in restraints. This is, however, exactly what happened to me, in
front of my wife and 8-year old daughter, during a brutal attack at my home
near Chicago last week by three still un-identified armed men apparently
affiliated with the Hoffman Estates Police Department.
I was tortured with the TASER stun gun while I was in handcuffs and pinned
down by two of the men, one of whom knelt upon my head.
The police department subsequently fabricated an utterly false report of the
incident, which they passed on to the corporate-controlled media. The
Chicago Tribune based its brief article on my arrest completely on the
fabrications produced by police.
"Police used a TASER to stun a Hoffman Estates man during a struggle after
he called authorities to report a suspicious vehicle that turned out to be
an unmarked police car", the Tribune article began.
The last sentence repeated the police lie: "The officers stopped Bollyn from
entering his house and stunned him with Taser after failing to subdue him."
Clearly, this is an essential lie that the police need the mainstream media
to support.
As my wife and daughter can attest, there was no struggle or resistance from
my side as I was attacked by the three thugs from behind. The square end of
the TASER weapon, and its charge of 50,000 volts, was applied to my lower
back as I was handcuffed and pinned down by two men on my front lawn.
As I later wrote the Tribune, "The only possible explanation for the
gratuitous use of the TASER weapon in this case is that it was applied to
torture me and inflict long-term damage."
A medical expert has informed AFP that TASER energy can cause heart attacks,
blood clots, and long-term damage to vital organs.
In such instances, AI reported in 2004, the force used by the police
officers "violated international standards prohibiting cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment, as well as international guidelines on police use of
force."
Yet in most cases documented by AI, the police officers were exonerated and
not found to have violated any official policies. The Hoffman Estates
Police Department appears to be preparing a similar whitewash and has begun
an internal investigation to be headed by a Lt. Ted Bos, an officer who has
a well-known record of committing similar acts of police brutality, on and
off the job.
In 2004, for example, the department paid $100,000 to Sergio Pantoja, a 2001
victim of police brutality at the hands of Bos and two other officers. Now
Lt. Bos is being called upon to investigate the Bollyn incident.
At the village board meeting on August 21, I told the mayor, the board, the
chief of police and their lawyers, that a corrupt "in-house" investigation
headed by an officer with a record of police abuse was simply unacceptable.
Christopher Bollyn
American Free Press http://www.americanfreepress.net
Please also see:
Campaign Against the TASER http://www.campaignagainstthetaser.com
Related Articles:
ADL Link to Local Police Agencies Uncovered in Chris Bollyn Affair
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/adl_link_to_local_police.html
BOLLYN and "Patrick Henry" Serve Corrupt Officials
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=92086
Bollyn Protests Media Lies and Corrupt Police Investigation
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=92104
Bollyn Press Release on Police Assault with Taser Weapon
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=91985
U.S.: Christopher Bollyn 'Arrested'
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2540&blz=1
Christopher Bollyn
American Free Press
The growing use by local police departments of the supposedly "non-lethal"
TASER electro-shock weapon has caused the deaths of nearly 200 citizens in
the United States and Canada.
There are reportedly nearly 200 citizens of the United States and Canada who
have been killed by the electro-shock police weapon known as the TASER,
according to the Auckland, New Zealand-based organization Campaign Against
the TASER. From Woonsocket, Rhode Island, to Wisconsin, Colorado, Arizona
and California, there are numerous current news reports about the death of a
local individual caused by excessive force used by the police involving the
TASER weapon.
"PRIMARILY FOR TORTURE"
In 1997, Robin Cook, then Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, said the
British government considered all such electro-shock weapons, including the
TASER stun gun, commonly used by police in the United States, to be
equipment "designed primarily for torture." Cook said the British
government would "press for a global ban."
"We are committed to preventing British companies from manufacturing,
selling or procuring equipment designed primarily for torture and to press
for a global ban", Cook said in July 1997. TASER guns, and similar
electric-shock batons and shields were listed by Cook as being the weapons
that he would ban from Britain.
TASER is an acronym for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle," Thomas Swift
being a science-fiction character from literature for boys. The actual
TASER weapon was designed in 1969 by Arizona inventor Jack Cover and is
produced today in a variety of models by TASER International, Inc. of
Scottsdale, Arizona. Some 7,000 police departments in the United States and
Canada currently use TASER guns. No spokesman from TASER International was
available to comment for this article.
The TASER gun can be used in two ways. It can either be fired from a short
distance at an individual or it can be used as a stun gun that is placed
directly on the individual before releasing its charge of 50,000 volts – and
higher.
The capacity to inflict repeated and extended shocks at the push of a
trigger makes the TASER open to abuse in both dart and stun gun mode,
critics say.
In some cases, individuals have been shot with TASER darts, then threatened
or stunned with repeated jolts during transportation or custody.
Researchers with the Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project at the University
of Bradford (UK), asked, "What is it like to be incapacitated by a TASER
weapon?"
"When fired the TASER propels two barbed darts with trailing wires that
attach to the skin or clothing. Upon impact a 50,000-volt electric shock is
discharged into the victim for a period of five seconds. Whilst the barbs
remain attached this discharge can be repeated multiple times by pulling the
trigger again (and again)", researchers Nick Lewer and Neil Davison wrote in
their report, "Electrical stun weapons: alternative to lethal force or a
compliance tool?"
EXTREME PAIN
"The immediate effects are debilitating. The current causes involuntary
muscle contraction and extreme pain. The victim completely loses control
over their body and falls to the floor until the current stops. The whole
experience is both painful and degrading", the Bradford study said.
Amnesty International (AI), the leading anti-torture watchdog organization,
has long called on "U.S. state, federal and local authorities to suspend all
transfers and use of TASERS and other electro-shock weapons pending a
rigorous, independent inquiry into their use and effects."
AI considers the use of TASERS to constitute "cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment – and torture."
AI has reported that TASER devices are frequently used to torture and
interrogate people such as political prisoners and that TASERS are used by
police in the U.S. "particularly for torture to 'gain compliance.'"
Law enforcement agencies in the United States, however, have not heeded AI's
call to suspend use of TASERS. Today, some 7,000 law enforcement agencies,
out of a total of 18,000, use TASERS as part of their arsenal.
AI recently reiterated its concerns about the use of the TASER stun gun on
individuals who have already been handcuffed or placed in mechanical
restraints. "The use of the TASER in conjunction with restraints has been a
common factor in many of the deaths", AI reported on 28 March 2006:
"AI considers that inflicting excruciating pain on a suspect who is
restrained, and not able to pose a serious threat to their own life or that
of police officers or members of the public, constitutes an excessive use of
force, sometimes amounting to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment."
A 2004 study by The Denver Post found that in one county, one third of the
112 people shot with a TASER had been handcuffed at the time.
AI has repeatedly protested about subjecting individuals to TASER shocks
while in restraints. This is, however, exactly what happened to me, in
front of my wife and 8-year old daughter, during a brutal attack at my home
near Chicago last week by three still un-identified armed men apparently
affiliated with the Hoffman Estates Police Department.
I was tortured with the TASER stun gun while I was in handcuffs and pinned
down by two of the men, one of whom knelt upon my head.
The police department subsequently fabricated an utterly false report of the
incident, which they passed on to the corporate-controlled media. The
Chicago Tribune based its brief article on my arrest completely on the
fabrications produced by police.
"Police used a TASER to stun a Hoffman Estates man during a struggle after
he called authorities to report a suspicious vehicle that turned out to be
an unmarked police car", the Tribune article began.
The last sentence repeated the police lie: "The officers stopped Bollyn from
entering his house and stunned him with Taser after failing to subdue him."
Clearly, this is an essential lie that the police need the mainstream media
to support.
As my wife and daughter can attest, there was no struggle or resistance from
my side as I was attacked by the three thugs from behind. The square end of
the TASER weapon, and its charge of 50,000 volts, was applied to my lower
back as I was handcuffed and pinned down by two men on my front lawn.
As I later wrote the Tribune, "The only possible explanation for the
gratuitous use of the TASER weapon in this case is that it was applied to
torture me and inflict long-term damage."
A medical expert has informed AFP that TASER energy can cause heart attacks,
blood clots, and long-term damage to vital organs.
In such instances, AI reported in 2004, the force used by the police
officers "violated international standards prohibiting cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment, as well as international guidelines on police use of
force."
Yet in most cases documented by AI, the police officers were exonerated and
not found to have violated any official policies. The Hoffman Estates
Police Department appears to be preparing a similar whitewash and has begun
an internal investigation to be headed by a Lt. Ted Bos, an officer who has
a well-known record of committing similar acts of police brutality, on and
off the job.
In 2004, for example, the department paid $100,000 to Sergio Pantoja, a 2001
victim of police brutality at the hands of Bos and two other officers. Now
Lt. Bos is being called upon to investigate the Bollyn incident.
At the village board meeting on August 21, I told the mayor, the board, the
chief of police and their lawyers, that a corrupt "in-house" investigation
headed by an officer with a record of police abuse was simply unacceptable.
Christopher Bollyn
American Free Press http://www.americanfreepress.net
Please also see:
Campaign Against the TASER http://www.campaignagainstthetaser.com
Related Articles:
ADL Link to Local Police Agencies Uncovered in Chris Bollyn Affair
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/adl_link_to_local_police.html
BOLLYN and "Patrick Henry" Serve Corrupt Officials
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=92086
Bollyn Protests Media Lies and Corrupt Police Investigation
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=92104
Bollyn Press Release on Police Assault with Taser Weapon
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=91985
U.S.: Christopher Bollyn 'Arrested'
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2540&blz=1