Hunsaker Presents Taser Findings in Berlin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 8, 2010) — A University of Kentucky pathologist presented a report on the effects of conducted energy devices at a professional meeting in Berlin.

Dr. John C. Hunsaker III, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and associate chief medical examiner for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, was an invited speaker at the 89th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Legal Medicine held Sept. 22-25, 2010, at the Institute of Legal Medicine, Charité - Medical University in Berlin.

Appointed as co-chair of the steering group convened in 2006 by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Hunsaker has overseen an expert medical panel investigating the effects on humans of conducted energy devices (CED), used by law enforcement to subdue suspects (commonly called "tasers").

The panel reviewed the full range of current scientific research, reviewed a number of CED-associated deaths, and held substantive discussions with industry, academia, and community advocates. Hunsaker presented the findings and conclusions of the panel's final report.

Among the findings presented were the following:

·                     No conclusive evidence was found of high risk of serious injury or death, directly or indirectly, from short-term CED exposure in healthy subjects.

·                     Police need not refrain using CED for subdual if applied according to accepted national guidelines and use-of-force policy.

·                     All CED-associated deaths should undergo a complete medicolegal investigation by forensic experts and consultants independent of law enforcement.

·                     Human death directly due to electrophysiological effects of CED application is not conclusively demonstrable.

·                     Stress of CED use should be considered a stress of a magnitude comparable to other stressors in subdual.

·                     Extreme caution is indicated in using multiple or prolonged activation of CED in subdual.

An interim report, published in 2008, is available as a PDF download from the NIJ website at www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/222981.pdf.