Asheville Citizen-Times quick to defend Tasers

Editors, Asheville Global Report, In a recent editorial, "Used Properly, Tasers Save Lives," the Asheville Citizen-Times praised a recent police Taser incident as justification that Tasers are an "essential weapon in officers' arsenal" that "prevent suffering and save lives." I'm glad the person wasn't hurt and the officers didn't use a firearm, but it's what the Citizen-Times chooses to disregard and dismiss when it comes to the safety of Tasers that is troubling and demands a response. With the editorial the Citizen-Times has chosen to reduce the rising death toll related directly to Taser use to the mere assertions of "critics who say." But information regarding the Taser's role in people's deaths has come from coroners and medical examiners, autopsy reports, police and paramedic reports, doctors, victims families and respected human rights organizations such as Amnesty International. What lives were saved, and what suffering was prevented, in the case of over 150 people since 2001 who died almost immediately following a Taser shock? Last year alone, a year in which Asheville received at least 30 new Tasers with funds designated for "crowd control" and "homeland security," 61 people died in different parts of the country after being struck by police Tasers. The Citizen-Times' generalized claims that Tasers do not kill when used properly fumble when put beside a growing number of Taser-related deaths–a number which has risen dramatically each of the last five years" and concerns from medical examiners and human rights organizations. It is sad to see the Citizen-Times so quick to defend Taser use and attempt to clear the waters of any remaining issues surrounding safety and the significance of people who have died after being Tasered. The same brand of argument that says Tasers save lives, without really explaining how Tasers have also ended lives, has been applied to torture and the occupation of Iraq ("people in Iraq were allowed to vote in an election under US control, so therefore the war is worth it"). I know people in this city who have been Tasered, not for being self-destructive, armed or violent towards police, but for not doing what they were told by a police officer. That's a slippery slope that the Asheville Citizen-Times has chosen to ignore. Bud Howell Asheville, NC