The days when law enforcement policies in the Charleston area let officers use Tasers to catch fleeing suspects are numbered.
A federal court decision that declared such uses of stun guns cruel and unusual punishment is prompting local police departments to make changes. At least eight agencies are drafting adjustments or considering them, and some, including Mount Pleasant’s force, already have. In North Charleston, where patrolman Michael Slager fired a Taser to stop a running Walter Scott before resorting to his pistol, authorities are still looking over a policy that says officers can use the device to take people into custody.
Civil rights advocates have praised the changes as vital to avoiding unjust uses of force and other confrontations that could turn violent, such as Scott’s shooting death. But police advocates fear the new procedures might create greater risks to all. Their only hope of upending the decision rests in a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
John Blackmon, president of the Tri-County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3, said Tasers had slashed the rate of injuries to officers and suspects. The new policies could undo that, he said.
“Nobody wants to be outside the law, so (police) are going to comply,” he said. “But in this situation, it seems to hurt the agencies and the officers. ... It’s a bad ruling.”
Last month’s opinion by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared it unconstitutional for Pinehurst, N.C., officers to use Tasers on a mentally ill man clinging to a post. He was shocked five times, and he died. The judges said they wanted to put other officers on notice that it is illegal to use stun guns on people resisting capture but not posing a danger to others. . .
The sheriff also sees the Taser as an important tool that could be banned for correctional officers in some confrontations. Sometimes, he noted, an inmate at the county jail will refuse to follow orders at all costs, and the officers are left with no choice but to use one. Without stun guns, Knight said, they’ll be forced to use more physical means, putting everyone in greater danger.
. . . The Taser’s manufacturer boasts that stun guns have spared 161,000 people from death or serious injuries. In a statement, the company said the ruling had made “sweeping pronouncements” that have bred confusion among officers. One Virginia department took all of its Tasers off the streets.
“This decision actually promotes the notion that officers should go hands-on with nonviolent physically resisting subjects rather than utilize the Taser,” the company said.
But civil rights advocates said Tasers also can escalate encounters that end badly for officers and suspects....
