SEATTLE — Tasers and similar stun guns, increasingly popular among law enforcement agencies nationwide, are generally safe for police to use, according a study paid for by the Justice Department.
However, the study’s author cautioned that the weapons have the potential to injure or kill.
In the review of 962 reported cases of people jolted with electrical conducted energy weapons, a technical term for devices designed to deliver temporarily disabling bursts of electricity, 99.7 percent had no injuries or minor ones such as scrapes and bruises that did not require hospitalization.
Two subjects in the study died, but autopsies found neither death was related to use of a Taser.
The research was presented Monday in Seattle at a national research forum of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
D.C.: Problem with stored blood
Much of the stored blood given to millions of people every year may lack a component vital for it to deliver oxygen to the tissues. Nitric oxide, which helps keep blood vessels open, begins breaking down as soon as blood goes into storage, two research teams report in separate studies in this week’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Doctors have become increasingly concerned about levels of heart attack and stroke in patients receiving transfusions and the new findings may help explain that.
Tenn.: Guilty plea in child porn
A man pleaded guilty Monday to a child pornography charge that authorities say drew two men to set a house fire that killed his wife in a botched bid to drive him from their Huntsville neighborhood. Timothy Chandler, 53, was sentenced to five years of probation but will serve no jail time for having hundreds of child porn photos on a computer disk that his wife’s relatives found. Gary Sellers, 39, and Robert Bell, 37, later pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated arson charges in the death of Chandler’s wife, Melissa Chandler. Sellers and Bell are accused of drunkenly torching the house where the Chandlers had lived for nine years. The fire occurred Sept. 2, three days after Timothy Chandler was released on bond on the porn charge.
Iowa: Romney maintains lead
Mitt Romney is still the Republican to beat in Iowa, maintaining a lead he’s held over other presidential candidates for months. A poll released Sunday by the Des Moines Register shows the former Massachusetts governor with support from 29 percent of Iowa Republicans. Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator, is in second place with 18 percent. Rudy Giuliani leads in national polls.
Texas: Slaying over stinky feet
A drunken argument over smelly feet led a man to stab his roommate to death, Houston police said Monday. William Antonio Serrano, 22, and the other man were drinking Saturday night when the victim told Serrano his feet had a foul odor, Sgt. Macario Sosa said. Serrano grabbed a knife and stabbed his roommate several times, police said.
Sudan: Darfur town attacked
In a widening offensive, Sudanese forces on Monday attacked Muhajeria, a southern Darfur town controlled by the only rebel group that has signed a peace deal with the government. Minni Minawi was the only rebel leader who signed a May 2006 peace deal with the government, and it was unclear why it would attack Minawi’s group.
Afghanistan: Prisoners executed
Ending a three-year moratorium on the death penalty, Afghanistan executed 15 prisoners by gunfire, including a man convicted of killing three foreign journalists during the U.S.-led invasion, the prisons chief announced Monday. The mass execution took place Sunday evening. The crimes committed by those executed included murder, kidnapping and armed robbery, but officials said no Taliban or al-Qaida fighters were among the prisoners.
Israel: Talk of splitting Jerusalem
Two senior Israeli politicians, including the prime minister’s closest ally, talked openly Monday about dividing Jerusalem, but the ideas still fall far short of Palestinian demands to establish their capital in all of the city’s eastern sector, annexed by Israel after the 1967 Mideast War.
Canary Islands: Whale attack
A killer whale at a marine park hit its trainer and dragged her underwater repeatedly until it finally freed the woman, who had a badly bruised chest and a broken arm, park officials said Monday. Claudia Vollhardt was working with a 1.5-ton male orca named Tekoa on Saturday, rehearsing a trick in which they swim together with the whale pushing her feet from behind with its snout. Tekoa slammed the woman in the chest from underneath and ended up pulling her right arm, park officials said. Pulling Vollhardt with her, the whale submerged and resurfaced several times in the 40-foot-deep tank before it finally released the instructor. The 29-year-old trainer insisted it was an accident, not an attack.
From Herald news services
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