I think that with anything, be it chokeholds, which I'm not really a proponent of either, or anything you're doing to restrain, there comes a point where you have to back off and say this isn't helping.
I think I should make you aware that I'm not an expert at all with electricity; watts and all of that type of stuff confuse the heck out of me, and I don't fully understand it. But as I understand it, repeated applications don't add up.
But if it's not assisting, if you're not getting control of the person, it seems to me it's not the right thing to use. Is there something else we can be moving to?
Unfortunately, I think the discussion is that the taser should be penultimate. If it doesn't work, unfortunately, it doesn't leave a lot.
I don't really know what the multiple use of it is. There was one case I've seen in the literature that really bothered me. I think that individual had something like six to eight tasers from different sites, all with the darts in him and all being discharged. That, to me—not as a forensic pathologist—because I don't know what effect it has, just sounds really weird. It was an American case, thank goodness.
The one case I have heard of that really did cause me concern about the taser being a cause of death was presented at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting in Seattle two years ago. It was a case where the taser was literally used continuously for over three minutes. At that point, common sense would say you're going to have some effect on the ability to breathe. Let's leave the heart out of it; with all the muscular contraction for five seconds, yes, it does hamper breathing. But for over three minutes? That's just inappropriate use. That was shocking to me. Again, it was an American case.