July 17, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org MILWAUKEE, WI
- The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin today demanded that the
Town of Mukwonago police and other Wisconsin police agencies adhere to
professional standards when deploying and using stun guns
“The ACLU
demands that Mukwonago and others that may have deficient policies and training
suspend use of stun guns, such as the Taser, until appropriate changes are made
to prevent another tragedy from happening,” said ACLU of Wisconsin Executive
Director Chris Ahmuty.
The ACLU is also concerned that the
Mukwonago incident may be another example of the tendency of police to “try out”
a new technology in the first few weeks after its deployment or training.
Other Wisconsin departments have seen a marked drop-off in the rate of use of
the devices after their novelty has worn off. According to news
reports, dozens of deaths have occurred around the country after police have
used these devices, including many situations that raise doubts about the stun
guns’ safety and usefulness.
“Training in stun gun use must
emphasize that these weapons can be lethal. The training should be
comparable in duration and scope to firearms training. The four hours of
training which Mukwonago provided is woefully inadequate,” Ahmuty said.
Nickolos Cyrus, a mentally ill man found in his bathrobe on a
construction site, died after being shot multiple times by Mukwonago police with
a stun gun on Sunday. According to press reports, police shot the man
while he was walking or running away and administered a “drive stun” directly to
his body when he was already on the ground but failing to put his hands in a
position in which they could be cuffed.
“If the press accounts are
accurate, the use of a stun gun was completely unwarranted in this situation and
again raises grave concerns about the adequacy of police policies and officer
training regarding use of these potentially lethal weapons,” said Laurence
Dupuis, the ACLU of Wisconsin’s Legal Director. “There is an emerging
consensus that Tasers should not be used on fleeing suspects or against those
only offering passive resistance, as appears to be the case here. It is
also critical for officers to distinguish between the “non-compliance” of a
mentally ill individual and the dangerous behavior of a criminal. Had the
emerging standards of Taser use been applied in this case, it is possible that
Mr. Cyrus would still be alive today.”
The Wisconsin Law
Enforcement Standards Board and its Tactical Skills Advisory
Committee
agrees. According to its June 2005 recommendations, Tasers should only be
used to overcome “active resistance” that “creates risk of bodily harm to the
officer, subject and/or other person.” The policy prohibits use against
“people who are running away” and recognizes the importance of differentiating
between “purely criminal behavior” and “behavioral illness.”
While
the ACLU of Wisconsin, which provided comment to the WLESB on the use of stun
guns, believes that the stun guns may have a place in police arsenals, the
organization also told the Standards Board that police policies often permit
inappropriate and unnecessarily harmful uses. The Taser should be
considered potentially lethal, and generally used only as an alternative to
deadly force.
Indeed, recent research by University of
Wisconsin biomedical engineering professor John Webster, demonstrates that
Tasers can cause cardiac ventricular fibrillation – a precursor of cardiac
arrest – in pigs. Particularly in susceptible populations, such as the young,
the elderly or those with obvious medical conditions, Tasers must be presumed
capable of causing cardiac arrest in humans as well. Moreover, the Taser
causes excruciating pain to which people should not be exposed without a high
degree of law-enforcement justification. The ACLU of Wisconsin believes
stun guns should never be used against fleeing, unarmed suspects; against
obviously pregnant women; against individuals incapable of inflicting injury;
for crowd control; or to obtain compliance from passively resisting
subjects.
