Community concerns and questions written on large sheets of paper covered the walls of EWEB’s Training Center Wednesday night. Eugene residents looked to medical professionals, police officers, civil liberties workers and those responsible for drafting guidelines for the use of Tasers in Eugene’s police force for answers about the new weapons.
Some citizens came to testify about their experience being shot by a Taser, a weapon police argue they need to give officers another option before using a gun. Others came simply to seek a better understanding of what having Tasers in the community might mean.
A draft of the policy, two months in the making, was available for inspection. It contains what members of the police commision’s Use of Force/Taser Policy Committee admit is not a perfect policy. Committee chairman John Brown said there were areas where committee members were not in complete agreement.
Eugene resident Martha Lawrence said she did not know whether she had reached a decision about her level of comfort with the introduction of Tasers to the community.
“I am glad we have the opportunity to get knowledge and communicate how we feel about it,” she said.
Eugene police brought a Taser that had been discharged. Thin copper wires connect to sharp barbs that hook into the skin. Electric current flows between the barbs for five seconds, causing a “neuromuscular interruption,” Sgt. Kevin McCormick said.
Although there are officers who have volunteered to be shot with a Taser, most police forces are not using the guns on officers during training. The Arizona Republic reported in 2005 that police in five states sued Taser International, the manufacturer of the guns, for injuries sustained when they were voluntarily shot.
Although neither of the officers present had been struck by a Taser, some other officers on the Eugene police force had.
McCormick said one officer had described the sensation as the longest five seconds of his life, another as “the most painful thing he’d ever experienced.”
Lt. Scott Fellman said, despite not experiencing a Taser shock themselves, officers still know what it means to use a Taser.
“We don’t hit officers with batons or beanbags. There would have to be some training value,” he said.
One woman recalled the sensation of burning when she was shot with a Taser in the Lane County Jail.
Michelle “Christeonna” Dinsmor said she has a host of problems that aren’t apparent just by looking at her.
“I look perfectly fine but I’m all messed up on the inside,” she said.
Dinsmor said she was in restraints when she was shot with the Taser.
“It’s hot. It feels like fluid, hot gas almost. It cuts your breath off,” she said, demonstrating how the shock tightened her whole body. “It felt like I was dying.”
Dinsmor said she had wished someone could have calmed her down verbally instead, a sentiment echoed throughout the meeting. Many residents, including Sue Archbald, called for crisis management training in addition to Taser training.
Tasers seem to have the most adverse effects on people at risk for cardiac problems, people who are in a state of excited delirium or when there are multiple applications, said Dr. Richard Lindquist, an emergency room physician at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.
“It’s the folks with higher risk factors that end up getting Tased,” he said.
The draft policy contains guidelines for police to follow when determining whether to use a Taser on someone. No one under 12 or older than 60, no pregnant women, no one who is medically fragile, no one who is close to or covered in a flammable liquid and no one who will fall and be more seriously injured should be Tased. Also, the guidelines state no one who is “engaged only in passive resisitance” should be shocked.
Dave Fidanque of the American Civil Liberties Union said his group felt the policy was too lenient on when a Taser could be used.
“It should only be deployed in cases where there is a threat to life or safety,” he said. “It should be OK for Tasers to be available in place of deadly force.”
Fidanque said the ACLU felt using a Taser should be just under using a gun on the police use-of-force continuum, a guideline for when to use certain weapons. Fidanque said most police wanted it placed on the same level as pepper spray.
The subcommittee will reconvene July 5 in the McNutt Room in Eugene’s City Hall where there will be time for public comment. The regular police commission meeting will be held July 12 in the same location.
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