Local News - March 2003

Taser targets: Taking a 50,000 volt charge is all in a day’s work

By ALICE SMITH, LTN Staff Writer

March 7, 2003 - Detention officer David Powell fell to the floor of the jail Tuesday screaming, unable to move.

He had just been shot in the back with a Taser gun.

About three seconds later, he looked up, grinning.

“Yeah,” Powell said. “That was great.”

Powell was one of the patrol and detention officers at the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office who went through training on how to use the Taser Tuesday.

The Taser is a fairly new tool to the sheriff’s office, said 1st Sgt. Douglas Norwood, staff development and training coordinator.

The sheriff’s office started using Tasers last year, Norwood said. The department has 14 guns.

The Tasers are passed from shift to shift, but there’s always one close by, Norwood said.

Tasers, which are directed-energy weapons, have a 50,000 volt charge, Norwood said.

When fired, two probes shoot out of the gun into the target at 180 feet per second.

Energy waves that mimic brain waves are shot into the person’s system, Norwood said. This causes the muscles to shut down.

“The person completely loses muscular control, and they fall down,” Norwood said.

The impulses are sent for a maximum of five seconds.

When the probes are removed, the wound looks similar to a bee sting. If they are taken out correctly, there is little bleeding.

It hurts, but pain is only a side-effect. The reason the weapon is so effective is that it hinders the body from moving.

And it doesn’t matter how big or strong a person is, the Taser works the same. Only in rare cases does a person need a second shot.

“This is the most effective of everything we’ve got,” Norwood said.

The Tasers, which cost about $450 each, have been used twice since their implementation in Lincoln County, Norwood said.

Norwood fired the Taser into a man who was trying to commit suicide, he said.

In another case, the Taser was used on a combative person.

It was successful in both instances, Norwood said.

Sgt. Lonnie Leonard also volunteered to be a Taser target.

Like Powell, Leonard let out a loud scream before he lost control and fell.

“I was trying to stand up, but there was no way,” Leonard said.

It’s important to understand the tools you use as a law enforcement officer — that’s why Leonard volunteered.

“I have to carry it around, so I wanted to see what it was going to do.”

——————

Staff Writer Alice Smith can be reached at 704-735-3031 or alicesmith@ltnews.com

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

Terms and Conditions