I've been saying for some time the police are growing to use Tasers for anyone who talks back to them. KCSD has no set policy for using them, or even reporting a use of force with a Taser (like most other law enforcement agencies do).

"A store clerk suspects the customer is using a stolen credit card"

How does one "suspect" a stolen credit card? It's either stolen or not and this can be proven promptly with a call to the issuer and/or a check of the person's ID.

If you have ever been to a Best Buy, this does not surprise me in the least. I know several that have had poor dealings there with either clerks or so called in store security. Best Buy does not have a good repuation for this. I fault Best Buy for setting the wheels in motion on this one. People do die from getting Tasered.

One of the problems with Tasers, beyond the fact that the police seem to overuse them, is that they can indeed be fatal. Many people have died as a result of being tasered, yet the company that makes the Taser as well as police departments have made up a phrase to describe the people who do wind up dead from this brutality, excited delirium. Apparently it's your fault if you die from being tasered.

I dare say that Best Buy will be paying for this customer's Christmas gifts for the foreseeable future.

Several years ago when I was required to attend annual HEAT (High Energy Awareness Training) sessions at the Y-12 plant, we were told that as little as 6 volts applied under just the right circumstances could paralyze the heart muscle.

It seems that the danger associated with the use of a taser would depend highly on where the victim is hit.

Another factor not normally considered is that every human body has a slightly different conductivity. Voltage levels that can produce a current sufficient to be fatal in some may not in others. I once knew an electrician who could touch across 240 volts with his finger and say, "that's 240, it tickles more than 120".

As an aside, have you ever checked a 9 volt battery by touching the contacts to the tip of your tongue? A fresh battery will light up your day.

Wearybottom Associates

I learned it as 10 microamps, and given the typical resistance of the human body (one hand to another), this works out to be about 200V. That's why we standardized on 115-125V for household power. Six volts? Maybe applied directly to the exposed heart with paddles!!!

Needless to say, Tasers are well in excess of 200V, so unless they are somehow current-limited to < 10 microamps, they can kill.

The erosion of the most basic of rights and desensitization towards such treatment is another casualty of the Duhbya era. There was a time not too long ago when law enforcement, rent-a-cops, whatever, would NEVER EVER use this kind of force on the general population, at least unless there was a riot situation for real. Now it's becoming just a normal thing we're all getting used to.

Don't forget to deny her all the rest of her rights, paranoid capitalist extremist assholes. Cheney, Ashcroft, Gonzales, and Clarence Thomas would be proud.

I already hated Best Buy anyway. Don't imagine I'll be going back.