By Jennifer Edwards
Enquirer staff writer

Local and state police administrators this week stood behind Tasers and the Scottsdale, Ariz., company that makes them despite a New York Times investigation questioning the safety and testing of the devices that administer an electric shock to temporarily immobilize suspects.

TASER MODELS

The Advanced Taser M26 has 0.162 amps and 1.76 Joules per pulse The Advanced Taser X26 has 0.004 amps and 0.36 Joules per pulse. Both use 50,000 volts and shoot up to 21 feet. Volts measure the ability of the electrical arc to jump in the air. The M26 costs $499.95, the X26 $799.95 Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., is in talks with The Sharper Image to sell the X26C Taser, a model similar to the one police use, but with a shorter range. The store released the company's first model, the Air Taser, in 1994, and sold it for about two years. Taser International officials say they discontinued that model to concentrate its production on the newer models. Taser devices have been sold to the public since 1994, but mainly through dealers and distributors of Taser International or over the Internet. Source: Taser International

Lauded as a revolutionary police tool, the weapons are coming under increased scrutiny across the nation as more police agencies use them. The Times story pointed to an earlier model, called the M26, as the one with questionable safety.

Taser International makes two kinds of the weapons: the M26, which is far more powerful than other stun guns; and the X26, which is newer, lighter and 60 percent smaller.

Company officials have rebutted media reports that their weapons have killed people in police custody, saying they aren't lethal and other factors caused most of the deaths in question.

On Wednesday, Taser International released a copy of a preliminary, independent autopsy report by one of the world's leading experts in forensic pathology on a man who recently died after being Tased while in a Monroe County, Ind., jail.

The case, Taser officials say, is the only time the weapon has been listed as a contributing death factor.

The report released Wednesday, however, concluded that the man died as a result of an enlarged heart and pharmacologic intoxication, not the Taser.

The report was paid for by the defense attorney of a Monroe County Sheriff's jailer who shocked Borden. The jailer has been charged with two counts of felony battery, according to the Monroe County Clerk of Court's Office.

Taser officials could not furnish figures this week showing how many police departments have the M26s but say the X26s outsell it four to one.

Tasers administer 50,000 volts that usually temporarily immobilizes a person's muscles so officers can gain control.

Cincinnati police are among 5,400 departments nationally using Tasers and among more than 800 departments that have put one on every officer's belt, according to Taser International.

But Cincinnati uses the newer X26. Since beginning to use Tasers earlier this year, officers have not had any problems, said Lt. Kurt Byrd, police spokesman. Officer injuries and use of force such as spraying of chemical irritants are down, he said.

And more than 800 of the police department's officers have voluntarily been Tased as part of their training without problems, he added.

Cincinnati police began using the weapons after the Nov. 30 death in police custody of Nathaniel Jones, 41, whose violent struggle with officers ended when his heart stopped. Jones had cocaine, PCP and methanol in his system.

"Its success rate for us has been great," Byrd said. "They have been used with almost no complaints whatsoever. I don't know that there have been complaints. Now people are giving up just because they see the Taser because it works and it's only for five seconds."

Other agencies that use Tasers such as the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol say they haven't seen any reasons to question safety.The New York Times recently reported that at least 50 people have died since 2001 after being shocked, but Taser International says those deaths resulted from drug overdoses or other factors and would have occurred anyway.

But there is growing concern in Ohio about public use of Tasers. Tuttle said the company is in talks with The Sharper Image about selling the X26 Taser, a model similar to the one police use.

Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Carl Parrott Jr. hasn't seen any problems in Cincinnati, but the weapons have only been used by the police department for about six months, he noted.

"While they may be an improvement, they are not a magic bullet that is going to completely eliminate fatalities in these circumstances," he said. "The confrontation itself can result in a fatality to someone just because of agitation."

E-mail jewards@enquirer.com.