Stun gun use by cops up in Hudson Valley

POUGHKEEPSIE -- The use of stun guns by police is soaring in the mid-Hudson Valley, with the number of incidents tripling from 2006 to 2010, according to a Poughkeepsie Journal computer analysis of 467 police reports from 19 departments.

The device shoots a painful electrical jolt through barbed darts -- attached to the gun by copper wires -- or when held directly to a person's skin. The first method incapacitates; the second is for so-called "pain-compliance."

The five-county study found many incidents involving violent, unwieldy suspects who bit and hit police and in three cases tried to make off with police cruisers.

But the analysis, using documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Law, also found scores of uses that suggest deviations from government guidelines.

Among them were:

Two dozen incidents in which suspects were shot with stun guns when they were running away -- and in two cases walking away -- from police, the vast majority after being suspected of crimes like shoplifting or disorderly conduct.

Another dozen or more involving unarmed people who failed to follow orders, such as a woman stunned twice after she "folded her arms and refused to be cuffed."

Sixty-five people who were shocked in the chest, half after a manufacturer's warning to avoid that area, and 50 shocked three or more times, which increases risk of injury or death.

Stun guns were also used far more often on blacks -- at a rate two to five times higher than the proportion of blacks in police agency jurisdictions.

Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Justice says stun guns "should be used only against subjects who are exhibiting active aggression" or resisting in a way that could cause injuries.

When used on a fleeing subject, officers should consider "the severity of the offense, [and] threat level to others," the 2011 guidelines state.

About 300 of 500 police forces in New York State use the device, with the number accelerating sharply in the past five years. Police said they provide training and carefully monitor use of the stun guns, which they said often bring a quick end to dangerous situations.