Defective & Dangerous Products

• Grand Jury: Don't Taser Kids

  Joe Saunders | February 06, 2006 9:16 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  "Police should not use Taser stun guns to subdue children," a Miami-Dade grand jury has stated. However, they didn't propose an outright ban on the weapon. Taser stun guns emit 500 volts of electricity which incapacitates the victim. There are increasing reports of deaths as well as abuse of taser stun guns. In one recent incident a Nashville man was tasered 19 times before dying.

• Nashville Man Tasered by Police 19 Times, Dies

  Joe Saunders | February 05, 2006 6:11 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  Last year, a Nashville man was tasered by police a total of 19 times! Not surprisingly, he later died. In spite of this, more police officers will receive taser weapons after a scant 4 hours of training. It seems to me that if police officers are going to be equipped with these stun guns, more research on safety needs to be done. In addition, 4 hours of training hardly seems sufficient when...

• California Coroner Calls Taser a Factor in Death

  Joe Saunders | February 04, 2006 11:58 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  For the first time in Santa Clara County, California, a coroner has determined that a Taser gun factored in a man's death. Dr. Christopher Happy concluded that "a contributory cause of death was post tasering and pepper-spraying."According to Richard Konda of the Coalition for Justice and Accountability, a local police watchdog group, "There are just a lot of open questions about Tasers, and we...

• 75 year old Madeira Beach Man Tasered 3 Times by Deputies

  Joe Saunders | February 03, 2006 7:21 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  In a story that ran today in the St. Petersburg Times, a 75 year old man who is blind in one eye was tasered three times by Pinellas County deputies in December 2005. The deputies had been summoned to the Madeira Beach condo after friends of the man had called deputies saying they were concerned about him. He was suffering from loneliness after the holidays and had threatened to shoot himself...

• Arizona Republic Identifies 167 Cases of Death by Taser

  Joe Saunders | January 30, 2006 10:16 PM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  The Arizona Republic, using police reports, autopsies, media stories, and Taser International's own documents, to identify 167 cases of death involving the allegedly non-lethal weapon. Groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Amnesty International have questioned the use of the stun gun which emits 50,000 volts of electricity into a human body.

• In Florida, Even Kids Can Get Tasered

  Joe Saunders | January 26, 2006 8:44 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  In spite of the Florida Senate's efforts to stop the practice, it remains legal to taser a child under the age of 16. While it defies logic, a police officer can use a Taser to subdue a child. This extreme form of behavior modification is deplored in a recent article by Alexis Colvard in the Georgia State University School newspaper.

• Taser Begins Marketing Controversial Stun Gun to General Public

  Joe Saunders | January 14, 2006 10:19 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  The makers of Taser stun guns have begun an aggressive campaign to recruit civilian buyers for devices now used in the U.S. primarily by about 8,500 law enforcement agencies.Taser International is focusing on sales to ordinary citizens despite the high-profile deaths of police suspects after being repeatedly shocked by the weapon. The push comes after an onslaught of negative publicity,...

• Florida Medical Examiner: Taser Contributed to Man's Death

  Joe Saunders | January 11, 2006 10:31 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  The 50,000 volt electric shock from a Taser gun contributed to the 2004 death of a Lee County man, according to Associate Medical Examiner Barbara Wolf.Byron Black, 39, of Fort Myers died in a hospital after deputies used both a stun gun and pepper spray to subdue him. All drug tests were negative according to the autopsy.More than 100 people have died in the US and Canada since 2001 after...

• Legislatures Need to Monitor Taser Use

  Joe Saunders | January 03, 2006 11:07 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  It seems that each day we hear stories of more people dying after being tasered by police. Across the United States and in several other countries, the use of Taser weaponry has come under scrutiny. Questions have been raised about whether Taser shock, up to 50,000 volts of electricity, represents particularly high risks for those on some medications, people with heart problems, and the...

• Recalled Defective Toys Still on Florida Shelves

  Staff Writer | December 23, 2005 3:29 PM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  A recent inspection by the Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Department found that many recalled defective products remain on stores' shelves despite the fact that business owners could face fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Inspectors visited nearly 100 stores in 31 cities looking for several products which had been recalled and where supposed to be removed from stores. About...