When Is A Taser Worth $6 Million?

[lame54]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aYJitFRQLpZk&refer=us
Taser Loses 1st Product-Liability Suit; Jury Awards $6 Million
By Margaret Cronin Fisk

June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Taser International Inc., the largest stun-gun maker, lost a $6.2 million jury verdict over the death of a California man who died after police shot him multiple times with the weapon. The defeat is the first for Taser in a product- liability claim.

A San Jose, California, jury yesterday said Taser had failed to warn police in Salinas, California, that prolonged exposure to electric shock from the device could cause a risk of cardiac arrest. The jury awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $5.2 million in punitive damages to the estate of Robert Heston, 40, and his parents. The jury cleared the police officers of any liability.

Taser previously won two trials, one over claims by a police officer injured in a training accident and the other involving a death in custody. Taser has settled at least 10 cases involving injuries to police officers during training, company lawyer Doug Klint told Bloomberg News last year. Taser said it will appeal the verdict.

``Certainly, this was a tragedy for the Heston family as well as for the officers involved,'' Klint said in a statement today. ``We, however, do not feel that the verdict is supported by the facts.''

[High Plains]

1. Good. About time Taser is held accountable...

...for selling a deadly product and calling it "non-lethal."

[anonymous171]

2. WTF!? I thought everyone knew that shocking someone for a long period of time can kill them.

Oh well, glad to see that the family got some compensation.

[RedCappedBandit]

3. "The jury cleared the police officers of any liability."

Bull.Shit.

"prolonged exposure to electric shock from the device could cause a risk of cardiac arrest."

No. Really?