Are Officers Violating Suspects’ Constitutional Rights By Tasering Them?
by James Ballidis
(Orange County, CA)
It has long been established in criminal justice jurisprudence that police have the right to use reasonable force to deal with suspects who are combative or who are resisting arrest. However, when force crosses the line into excessive, police may be in violation of the suspect's Fourth Amendment rights.
In Graham v. Conner, the United States Supreme Court determined that the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against "unreasonable" search and seizure would apply to excessive force cases and thus an objective reasonableness standard would be used to determine if a police officer’s actions constituted excessive force rather than a substantive due process standard.
Moreover, California courts have ruled that excessive force can be found in cases in which an officer’s use of the device resulted in serious or fatal personal injury, explains an Orange County injury lawyer.
When used in firing mode, a taser essentially deploys bursts of energy to people targeted with the device. The wattage of electrical output is strong enough that it causes muscle contraction and collapse, overriding the body's central nervous system. When used in "drive-stun" mode instead, the taser does not attack the central nervous system but instead affects the sensory nervous system only, causing pain.
In neither case is it likely that a single five-second taser shock would cause lasting harm to an adult who is not pregnant. However, tasers can aggravate pre-existing injuries, cause soft tissue damage or muscle strains, cause minor burns or scarring, and can result in secondary injuries. When a person is on drugs or has a compromised immune system, the risk of using a taser goes up significantly.
During a traffic stop in San Diego County, an officer tasered an unarmed motorist, who, despite expressing frustration with the circumstances leading up to the stop, was following the officer’s orders. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, the man had not threatened the officer or made any attempt to flee. The shock caused him to fall on the ground and shatter four teeth.
The U.S. Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit, which is located in San Francisco, California, ruled that the officer had used excessive force, explains an attorney.
Many of the cases of excessive force involving the use of a taser that have made headlines in the past few years resulted in much more serious personal injury and even death.
Between June 2001 and March 2005, tasers caused 103 fatalities in the United States and Canada, according to an Amnesty International report. Hopefully, such statistics and these recent court rulings will lead to stricter guidelines for the use of tasers by law enforcement.
Author biography:
For over 35 years, attorney James Ballidis and the staff at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie have been helping the victims of accidents. During this time, he has written extensively on the personal injury claims process. If you are a California resident and would like to request a free book or article, feel free to call 866-981-5596.
