Police officials are taking a "wait and see" approach to a recent warning from Taser International advising officers not to shoot its stun guns at a suspect's chest.
Meanwhile, critics of the 50,000-volt weapons say the company's advisory lends credence to what they've been saying all along: That the weapons are dangerous.
The Arizona-based company said in an Oct. 12 training bulletin that hitting a suspect in the chest from the stun guns could cause an "adverse cardiac event." It marks the first time the company has suggested there is any risk of a cardiac arrest related to the use of Tasers.
Taser officials stressed in the bulletin that the weapons don't necessarily cause cardiac arrest, but that officers can avoid controversy by aiming at the pelvic area.
But police are trained to aim for "center mass" -- the chest -- when deploying a gun or Taser, said Shelby Township Police Capt. Stephen Stanbury.
"We'll have to further investigate this and get more information," Stanbury said. "However, if we do need to change our training and start thinking about pointing the Tasers lower, we'll do it."
Byron Pitts, attorney for the family of 16-year-old Robert Mitchell, who died last year after Warren officers shot him in the chest with a Taser, said the company's advisory shows the devices are dangerous.
"It's a product liability issue; if you know the Ford Pinto is going to explode, you need to warn somebody," said Pitts, who is handling the Mitchell family's wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer would not comment on the ongoing lawsuit, but said his department is reviewing the recent advisory from the Taser manufacturer.
Ron Scott, director of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, said the company's advisory "shows what we've been saying all along about Tasers being potentially dangerous."
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More information: http://www.huliq.com/3257/87897/taser-warns-against-shooting-chest
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