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Clinical Forensic Medicine pp 233–275Cite as

TASER ® Conducted Electrical Weapons

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Abstract

John H. “Jack” Cover was the original inventor of TASER CEW technology. Mr. Cover was the Chief Scientist at North American Aerospace when it was the prime contractor for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Apollo Moon Landing program. Jack was a dedicated physicist who in the 1960s read about President Lyndon Johnson’s Crime Commission report that urged the development of nonlethal weapons development to combat airplane hijacking, riots, and civil unrest. Jack’s quest to develop his first CEW began in 1966 when he developed ECD working models and named them after his favorite childhood character: Tom A. Swift and his Electric Rifle (TASER). TASER CEWs are now used by over 15,000 Law Enforcement agencies worldwide that possess over 550,000 U. As of 1 June 2011, the devices have been used approximately 1.32 million times in the field and 1.25 million times in officer training. These numbers do not include the large numbers of times a CEW was used to resolve a violent encounter simply by its brandishing or by “painting” the suspect with the laser pointer sight.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Jeffrey Ho, MD for providing the probe and drive-stun wound images. Thanks to Dr. Ho, Don Dawes, MD, Michael Brave, JD, and Max Nerheim, MSEE for their helpful review of the chapter drafts.

AIR TASER, M26, and X26 are trademarks of TASER International, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ USA. TASER® and ADVANCED TASER® are registered trademarks of TASER International, Inc.

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  1. Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Mark W. Kroll

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    Margaret M. Stark

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Kroll, M.W. (2011). TASER ® Conducted Electrical Weapons. In: Stark, M. (eds) Clinical Forensic Medicine. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-258-8_8

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