"I sit on the scientific and medical advisory board for TASER International...." What do you expect a member of the board of this taser company to say? OF COURSE he'll say anything to try to make his company look good! The $64,000 question is WHY did that cop tase Brian a SECOND time after Brian was handcuffed? This was CLEARLY against the rules and, thus, was murder by cop!

Panama Redneck: I never said tasering results in death. I said in cases where tasering results in death, the cause of death propertied by the cops is Excited Delirium. But not in any other cases – no death certificates of people dying of ED in car accidents, plane crashes, surgery etc. Only in police custody. For me, this does not pass the smell test.
   
   Clearly tasering can result in death. A taser killed Brian.
   
   There is no question the use of tasers most often DOES NOT result in death. However, there is credible evidence to suggest that tasering is:
   1) Not as safe as advertised
   2) Should not be used on anyone with any evidence of an underlying medical condition, particularly one involving any kind of mental incapacitation.
   3) Because of the possibility of death, tasers should NEVER be used on "innocent" people and used only as a means of last resort for suspected criminals.
   4) Cops should NEVER be allowed to taser someone who does not sign a speeding ticket, or does not immediately comply with an order, or someone who is running away, or is ripped out of his mind in front of his pregnant wife and two year old daughter or ... well you get the picture.
   
   Too many cops use the taser as the easiest means to subdue someone - sometimes even before they have determined if the person DESERVES being subdued. I am also NOT saying a taser should never be used - but clearly should not use a taser in any situation like this. Brian was not a threat to this cop. Had the cop made any number of different choices, it is obvious Brian would be alive and well today.
   
   Please, as Doggie1MD pointed out, you seem quite capable of conducting research. Since tasering seems to be what you are interested in, I suggest you do all you can to seek out contrary evidence to what you now hold true. This is the best way to justify or modify your opinion. For me, I have little interest in issues related to the use of tasers in general, I am just sad about the loss of Brian. 11

Wow! Is anyone shocked that Miss Walsh used Amnesty International as the source of information for her story?
   
   Like so many story tellers (aka "journalists") today, they decide what story they want to tell and then go find the "facts" that help them tell their story.
   
   Is it a wonder that journalists have as much credibility as politicians.
   
   I guess if you're good at spinning yarns, you might as well get paid to do it.

curious cat: I know what you mean! All those idiots tithing 10% to a "church" whose founder and convicted conman and fraud "translated mysterious golden plates from an angel with the use of a hat and a rock from a language that does not exist so he could get laid."
   
   People will pay for most anything, eh? Looneys. 11

LIAR! My TASER manual states "50,000 volts" with almost no amperage. It is designed to neurologically disable, not electrocute.

Cyprian:
   
   Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read. Especially an OWNER MANUAL from a Taser manufacturer!
   
   Yes, the taser DOES deliver low amperage and high voltage. This combination overcomes the body's ability to voluntarily control muscle movements.
   
   High amperage and High voltage would most certainly kill you immediately, depending where the current entered and exited your body, least of all turn you into a BLACK Angel like like it did to angel Moroni atop a recent LDS temple!
   
   The manual is incorrect tho by leading you to believe that tasers operate on the neurological system of the body. Perhaps "neuro-MUSCULAR", but NOT "neurological." But since you're such a taser-carrying weapons expert,
   
   Why don't you tase yourself and let us know how it went? We're all DYING to hear first hand from someone who survives.
   
   What happened?
   
   Did you babble neurological nonsense?
   
   Any neurological brain f*arts, or spiritual dreams?
   
   Perhaps uncontrollable priapism?
   
   Maybe you noticed how difficult it was to stand, talk, or breathe?
   
   Maybe you noticed the manual WAS correct in stating it didn't take much amperage to make your muscles quiver and tense up, and drop your *ss to the floor while soiling and wetting yourself in the process...
   
   The only thing NEUROLOGICAL about a taser, is that the end result is that you generally have less of a desire to fight anymore.
   
   Medically speaking, the mechanism of action has NOTHING to do with your brain (neurological), it's all about the muscles of the body, mostly the ones that control your arms, legs, breathing and heart. I know you think your BRAIN is a muscle, but it's not.
   
   The really SCARY part, is that uneducated IDIOTS like yourself, are carrying tasers, and don't even have the SLIGHTEST CLUE, how they work, or what they do. Just like kids playing with guns, except you'll end up shooting someone ELSE, instead of yourself!

There is a huge and 'unexplained' temporal asymmetry in the many taser-associated deaths such as Mr. Cardell's tragic end.
   
   Such taser-associated deaths always seem to occur only if the taser is actually fired and the darts actually hit the victim.
   
   Please note that when a taser is even drawn from its holster, many jurisdictions will require a written report; even in cases where the taser is not fired. And reportedly, the taser is drawn far more often (about 10 times) than it is actually used.
   
   This time before the taser is fired provides a form of experimental control in the great debate over taser safety.
   
   We would logically expect that there would be roughly as many taser-incident deaths to occur per taser incident and per unit time BEFORE the taser is fired as AFTER.
   
   But that doesn't appear to be the case. We've got about 400 cases where people were tasered and then died, and we'd thus expect that there should be many many hundreds, or possibly even thousands, of police taser reports where the taser was pulled out, but the subject dropped dead BEFORE it was actually fired.
   
   I don't believe that there are very many such reports. I'll bet that they're few and far between.
   
   Which leaves this perplexing asymmetry in the temporal distribution of all these many taser-associated deaths.
   
   There's only one rational conclusion:
   
   The claim that the usage of tasers bears zero causal relationship to the many taser-associated deaths does not appear to hold up to this sort of logical scrutiny.
   
   Note that this simple observation trumps the lack of evidence about the cause of death in any particular case. Since it is a given that there is not yet any reliable and well known postmortem test for any of the plausible taser death mechanisms, such a lack of direct evidence at postmortem is a given and doesn't actually prove anything.
   
   More details of this subtle but devastating argument on the www.Excited-Delirium.com blog.