SCLC to look at Taser concerns

• Originally published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 31, 2005 Copyright 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By MAE GENTRY, LATEEF MUNGIN

Citing the deaths of two men stunned with Taser-type devices in the past 18 months, a coalition of activist groups will hold a community meeting Sunday to discuss the safety of the stun guns.

"We're calling for a moratorium on the use of the Taser gun because the jury's still out," the Rev. Fred D. Taylor of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said at a Wednesday news conference.

The SCLC and other organizations want law enforcement agencies to stop using the electric weapons, which deliver an incapacitating 50,000-volt shock, until an independent study of their safety can be conducted.

Two men in custody died after Tasers were used on them by Gwinnett County sheriff's deputies.

Amnesty International, which will participate in Sunday's forum, persistently has criticized the Taser. The human rights organization is expected to release a report Friday detailing the number of Taser-related deaths it has tallied since 2001.

The SCLC, an Atlanta-based organization co-founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said Taser-type stun guns have been linked to 86 deaths nationwide since 1999.

Taser International, the leading manufacturer of stun guns, maintains that its product has not directly caused any deaths. An estimated 7,000 agencies worldwide use Tasers.

The weapons have sparked controversy across the nation. Police have used them on elderly people and children as young as 6. In Birmingham, school resource officers got approval this week to carry the devices after the superintendent said police are afraid of students.

In September 2003, after biting a Gwinnett deputy's ear, jail inmate Ray Charles Austin was stunned at least three times, given psychotropic drugs, punched and placed in a restraint chair. Austin, 25, passed out and died. Last May, during a scuffle with deputies, Frederick Williams, 31, died after being shocked five times.

Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter is considering filing criminal charges in the Williams case. He said Wednesday he still was investigating. The medical examiner ruled that Williams and Austin died of heart attacks.

State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) sponsored a bill to ban Tasers, but the bill went nowhere.

Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, NAACP and Rainbow/PUSH also will attend Sunday's forum, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Gwinnett County Justice Center, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville.