Shock Tactics: A 911 call, a Taser shot and the toll of stun guns

Part 1: In the most detailed study ever of fatalities and litigation involving police use of stun guns, Reuters finds more than 150 autopsy reports citing Tasers as a cause or contributor to deaths across America. Behind the fatalities is a sobering reality: Many who die are among society’s vulnerable – unarmed, in psychological distress and seeking help.

ONTARIO, California – As her husband stalked around the back yard, upending chairs and screaming about demons, Nancy Schrock knew he was unraveling fast. She dialed the police.

“He needs to be in the hospital,” she told a 911 dispatcher. It was 10:24 p.m. on a Thursday in June 2012. “He’s really, really, really bad.”

Tom Schrock had struggled with depression and occasional drug problems throughout their 35-year marriage, and his manic episodes had grown more fierce since their oldest child died three years earlier of a heroin overdose. Police had visited the family’s ranch-style house east of Los Angeles more than a dozen times. Typically, Tom was taken to the hospital, medicated and sent home after 72 hours.

Not this time.

Three officers answered the call, categorized by the dispatcher as a disturbance involving an unarmed man with mental health issues. Nancy took them through the house to the back; Santiago Mota, a veteran cop, drew his Taser. As officers came out the back door, Tom strode toward them, arms at his side, hands closed. They ordered him to stop, but he kept coming, muttering, “Get out.”

Mota fired the Taser.

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