Citation

Kroll MW, Ross DL, Brave MA, Williams HE. Int. J. Legal Med. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00414-021-02648-2

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

PURPOSE: Risks of handheld electrical weapons include head impact trauma associated with uncontrolled falls, ocular probe penetration injuries, thermal injuries from the ignition of volatile fumes, and weapon confusion police-involved shooting. There is also an uncommon but critical risk of a shooting after a subject gained control of an officer's electrical weapons.

METHODS: The authors searched for police shooting incidents involving loss of control of TASER® weapons via open-source media reports, crowd-sourced internet sites, litigation filings, and a survey of Axon law-enforcement master instructors.

RESULTS: The authors report 131 incidents of subjects attempting to or gaining control of an officer's electrical weapon from 2004 to 2020, 53 of which resulting in a shooting. These incidents demonstrated a risk of 11.8 shootings per million electrical weapon discharges (95% confidence limits of 9.0 to 15.1 per million by Wilson score interval).

CONCLUSIONS: The use of electrical weapons presents a rare but real risk of injury and death from a shooting following a subject's attempts to gain control of the weapon.

Language: en

Keywords

Firearm; CEW; Electrical weapon; Gunshot injury; TASER; Weapon retention