Tasers are particularly at risk of sudden death as a result of being Tasered, according to cardiologist and electrophysiologist Dr. Zian Tseng.
Tseng is a researcher with the University of California and in 2005 published a study linking Taser use with sudden cardiac arrest. The 11-year-old boy Tasered by a Prince George RCMP officer on Thursday is the youngest person Tasered he is aware of, he said.
"I would say there is a definitely a risk, although a very low risk, of sudden cardiac arrest when exposed to a Taser," Tseng said. "The variable here is the distance between the [Taser] darts and the heart. In young children, that distance is very small. I think you should not be using Tasers on children for that reason."
In Prince George the boy was taken to hospital after being Tasered and found to have not been injured, according to West Vancouver police. The West Vancouver Police Department has been assigned to conduct an independent investigation into the Tasering.
Tasers incapacitate people by delivering an electric shock to the body which causes intense pain and forces the skeletal muscles to contract, he said. The shock is delivered through two darts connected to wires, which are shot from the Taser by compressed gas.
If the darts are too close to the heart, he said, the current can interfere with the heart muscle causing it to go into ventricular fibrillation - chaotic spasms which do not pump blood through the body.
Children and other small-framed people do not have as much muscle, bone and fat insulating their heart as full-size adults, Tseng said.
But as a precaution, no one should be Tasered in the chest, he said. No information has been released by police about where the Taser struck the boy's body.
In 2005, Tseng published an report examing the number of police-involed sudden deaths in 80 California cities. The study examined the number of sudden deaths in the five years before and five years after the introduction of Tasers.
"We do know that sudden death events happen. Prior to the introduction of Tasers, there was an average of one sudden death per 100,000 arrests," Tseng said. "The year after Tasers were introduced it increased to six per 100,000 arrests."
Over time the number of sudden deaths dropped down to 1.5 sudden deaths per 100,000 arrests, he said.
"Some of that excess risk can be mitigated by good policy. [But] it still had a 40 to 50 per cent increase in sudden deaths," he said.
Counterintuitively, the number of police shootings actually doubled the same year Tasers were introduced, Tseng added. Over time the number of police shootings dropped back to the level they were at before Tasers were introduced.
"The shootings came down as well. It came back down to baseline, but it never went below baseline."
Tasers safe, but not recommended, for use on children: manufacturer
Taser International vice president of communications Steve Tuttle said Tasers should be a last resort for dealing with minors.
"While there are considerable safety margins for use of Taser conducted energy devices (CEDs) for minors, we all certainly agree that children need to be protected to the greatest degree possible," Tuttle said in an e-mail. "However, situations can arise where law enforcement officers must subdue minors in order to prevent them from harming themselves or others. There are cases in which the totality of circumstances are such that a Taser device presents the safer response to resistance compared with the alternatives such as fists, kicks, baton strikes, bean bag guns, chemical agents or canine response."
Taser training materials provide warnings about the "known risks" of Taser use, but it is up to police agencies to set their own policies for Taser use, based on local law and community standards.
Tuttle cited a study by the U.S. Department of Justice which said use of Tasers on vulnerable populations, including children, "...should be avoided but may be necessary if the situation excludes other reasonable options."
Children 'medically high risk' to Taser: RCMP policy
The RCMP policy on Tasers designates Tasering children as a "medically high risk situation."
Elderly people, pregnant women, acutely agitated or delirious people and people with medical conditions which may be worsened by being Tasered are also designated high-risk.
RCMP policy, which was updated in April, 2010, states Tasers should only be deployed when the suspect is causing bodily harm or the officer has grounds to believe the suspect will imminently cause bodily harm.
Where tactically feasible, officers are to attempt to de-escalate the situation. Failing that, they are to warn the suspect they are about to be Tasered.
The only stipulation in RCMP policy regarding medically high-risk situations is that medical assistance should be called in advance -if possible - before Tasering the suspect. If not possible, medical assistance should be called as soon as possible.
The full policy is available online at www.rcmp-grc.ca.
