Taser Had No Effect
Filed Under: Local
The Taser is in the news again but for a different reason this time. At about 10:45pm Monday, police here in Winnipeg were called to an apartment building on Langside St across from Balmoral Hall School after a male caller to 911 claimed his life was in danger. The caller said he received a threatening call from another individual and that he was on the way over there.
Two police units were dispatched with the first arriving within minutes. As the two constables from the first unit walked around to the rear of the building they came into contact with the suspect who was brandishing a handgun.
After refusing to drop his weapon, the suspect was shot with a Taser which seemed to have no effect. Continuing with his aggressive behaviour the suspect was shot and killed by the second constable. After an initial review the Taser was found to be functioning properly.
Why did it have no effect on the suspect? The Taser works by firing a pair of contacts that emit a 5-second burst of 50,000 volts when connected to a person. Possible reasons for failure include one of the contacts not hitting the target, the target being too far away or the clothing worn by the target being too thick. My own personal belief is it is the latter.
Winter here in Winnipeg can be brutally cold and as a result people tend to bundle up. Of course this begs the question how effective is such a device under these types of conditions?
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