Mpls Police Shoot Knife-Wielding Woman after Taser Ineffective

Ok, the world is taser crazy!

I guess that's no surprise to anyone huh?

I'm in there with you I seeded my first today at 5:55am.... (shameless plug)....

Er.....Time zones?.....

When they're threatening someone else, in front of them.

Surprisingly, it is fairly complex. For example, the actual shock cycle is 5 seconds long, and the waveform the unit generates is not just an el blasto, it's a carefully shaped charge that mimics the nerve impulses in your voluntary nervous system (which is why it has essentially no impact on your heart) with the objective of simply overriding them and making your muscles lock up as if you were doing isometric exercises. Hence, you topple over and are generally quite disoriented. Because of this waveform, the actual amount of electricity it uses is amazingly small.

If the darts don't get skin contact, the unit figures this out by measuring your resistance, and before it starts the shock cycle it generates a higher zap that opens an ionization channel between the dart and the skin (that is, through your clothes), when that channel is opened, it starts the shock. But it in effect ionizes at each dart separately so the ionization charge doesn't course through your body, only the disabling charge. It does this in less than 1/2 second after firing.

Also, since the darts have wires connected to them, there are about 6 different cartridges, based on usage range. In this situation (Minneapolis), it's possible that he was too far away for the cartridge he was using and they ran out of wire before they embedded.

Taser training? I'm scared of you now. ;)

Seriously though, interesting info, Jim. Thanks for commenting.

It does give you a 50,000-volt charge, but the current (amperes) is very small, about what you get in two or three doorknob shocks at home, which are also in the 30,000 to 50,000 volt range. What makes the difference is that the charge is mimicking your nerve impulses, and it's just strong enough to override them.

The units are programmed to deliver a 5-second charge, then they need a couple of seconds to refill the capacitors, then they can fire again. If you hold down the trigger, nothing happens until you release it. Once it's refilled, you can deliver another shock assuming the darts are still in place.

The subject's weight is not an issue, your body doesn't "soak up" the electricity. The actual amount of electricity is so small -- a pacemaker puts out about 100 times as much every beat -- and it's just running between the two darts, wherever they are. It doesn't reach very far away from that path. Optimally, you want the darts to be as far apart as possible so it involves more muscles and more nerves. So you'd like one in the shoulder, one in their heel. That's why there are several cartridges, because the darts are fired at a slight angle to each other to give spread. People who "aren't effected" by Tasers either didn't have the darts in them, or they were too close together. There are people who aren't effected by Mace but a Taser just overrides your voluntary nervous system -- it's not mainly pain compliance -- regardless of your other condition.

Now if you're drunk enough, or psychotic, or whatever, you might be able to get right back up again and start fighting again, but if you're getting that shot you are out of the ballgame for the duraton of the shot. One of the training videos was of a huge and muscley inmate at Oak Park Heights who was on a rampage including literally throwing officers around. The first shot knocked him off his feet, but he was still getting up. The second charge really flattened him but he was still strongly resisting being cuffed, and after the third shot he was pleading with them to stop. But three shots is very unusual.

I'm scared of you now. ;)

You may relax . . . the officer still has to actually hit the subject with the darts. I am not a frightfully accurate shot, especially with lots of adrenalin in use!

I was a deputy sheriff before tasers. We learned to use the baton (night stick) to fend off attackers. It takes constant practice to be sharp with such weapons. Just as it takes constant practice to be proficient with a hand gun or rifle. The police do not have enough time to become more than minimally proficient with any of these. The existence of the taser sometimes replaces the perceived need to train with a night stick.

It takes a lot of practice to be willing to let someone just come 'close' with a knife. It takes a lot of practice to have the confidence that you can keep them just missing. Being attacked automatically invokes a heightened response.

The close confines of a kitchen limit the responses an officer can chose. This is another case where the lapel camera would provide a lot of good information.

Ya'll ingineers think ya are so smart. Take my pencil and write what I tell you to on your ticket...

The existence of the taser sometimes replaces the perceived need to train with a night stick.

Our officers very seldom use a baton although they're all trained in them. And batons are designed to significantly injure people, they often inflict lasting injuries (caved-in joints or major muscle trauma), and can become lethal force from a legal standpoint -- e.g. blows to the neck or head, or to the groin. They are also primarily "pain compliance" and some people who are drugged or insane are very insensitive to pain. And as Dr. Know points out aptly, you have to be close-in to use them.

Tasers just make your muscles stop working and 99% of the time that's the end of the fight right there.

Me, too. I've grabbed enough electric fences to know I don't like it!