Willie Smith was high on cocaine the night he pinned his
wife down and told her he wanted to get the devil out of her. She broke
free, crawled out of their bedroom window and called for help. Auburn
police say that when they came and tried to arrest Smith, he resisted.
So officers used a Taser, subduing him with 50,000 volts of
electricity. When Smith finally emerged from the apartment, he was
rolled out on a gurney -- hogtied, face down with his hands and ankles
cuffed behind him, his wife said. She could hear him whimpering. The
48-year-old man had a heart attack in the ambulance. He died in the
hospital two days later. Smith was the third person in Washington to
die after being shocked with a Taser; others died in Silverdale and
Olympia. Nationwide, there have been 69 such deaths since 2000, raising
concerns about a new breed of electric shock devices in widespread use
by law enforcement. In dozens of cases nationwide, autopsies showed the
victims died of a heart attack, cocaine intoxication or underlying
causes such as heart disease. But autopsies in at least five cases
found Tasers were a contributing factor in the deaths. The company that
manufactures Tasers insists they are safe and non-lethal, and some
medical professionals think some of the deaths may be the result of a
combination of physical restraint and drug-induced agitation. But
Amnesty International and other groups say such deaths are troubling
and shouldn't be overlooked as more law enforcement officers use Tasers
in a wide variety of situations. [more]
- Pictured above: Willie Smith was the third person in Washington state to die after being shocked with a Taser.