In the US District Court in Worcester, a state trooper is suing Taser International, the makers of the Taser stun gun, for $1 million. James Foley, a Grafton resident, says that when the weapon was used on him during a law enforcement seminar on Tasers, the electric currents that went through his body bent a surgical screw that was in his leg. Foley contends that because of exposure to the Taser, he experienced severe pain and suffering, loss of wages, and a diminished earning capacity.
According to Foley’s Massachusetts personal injury lawsuit:
At the Taser X-26 seminar in 2006, attendees were offered the opportunity to have the stun gun used on them so that they could understand how the weapon affects the human body. Foley says he told a Taser employee that he had surgical hardware in his left femur and the worker said use of the device on him would not impact the hardware or cause injury.
Foley’s personal injury lawsuit claims that the moment the Taser was used on him, he experienced pain in his left leg. At the hospital, he was told that the surgical screw that he’d had in his leg since 2004 was “seriously bent” and he now had a new fracture. His wife, who is also named as a plaintiff in Foley’s lawsuit, is claiming loss of consortium. Following the incident, Foley took time off work to recover from his injuries.
Tasers
Taser stun guns send 50,000 volts into their target for five seconds each time. The experience can be very painful for the person who is being Tasered and usually results in instant collapse.
Tasers are used by many law enforcement officers throughout the US to apprehend suspects. However, numerous personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against Taser International by the victims and the families of people who died after a Taser was used on them. Their products liability lawsuits have contended that Tasers are inherently too dangerous.
Over the years, a number of personal injury lawsuits have also been filed by police officers who say they sustained serious injuries when the device was used to shock them during training sessions.
One police chief says that after he volunteered to have a Taser used on him in 2004, he had two strokes, suffered heart damage, experienced hearing loss, and sustained neurological damage.
State trooper from Grafton suing over Taser injury, Worcester Telegram & Gazette News, February 9, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Taser International
Man dies after Taser jolt from S.J. police, February 12, 2009
Judge awards $1.4M to lawyers in Taser lawsuit, SignonSanDiego.com, February 5, 2009