Are Tasers good tools for police — or deadly force?

"We review every situation where a Taser has been utilized," said Howard of Santaquin. "I've never seen abuse (with) it. What you're looking for is compliance and control. As soon as we have that control, the Taser is holstered and documented in all of our reports."

When Deseret News requested Taser numbers from Payson, it was the first time such a request had been made. Now officials said they're changing the way they keep their records.

"We need to have a totally separate form ... specifically for this," said Payson Police Lt. Bill Wright. "So actually your inquiry is going to be a good thing so we can get our hands immediately on that information. We grumbled a little bit, but the fact still remains that we're accountable for what we do, so it's important."

Medical controversy

"There has been very little good research done, and by good I mean conclusive, about the potential health effects of Tasers," said Jared Strote, an assistant professor at the University of Washington in the division of Emergency Medicine and an ER doctor who has studied Tasers extensively. "No one has proven that Tasers do in fact kill people and no one has proven that Tasers are completely safe and don't kill people. Honestly, it's still an unknown."

Some argue Tasers are not fatal, while others point out that hundreds of people have died after a confrontation in which a Taser was used.

"Since June 2001, more than 290 individuals in the United States have died after being struck by police Taser," according to a statement on the Amnesty International Web site. "Amnesty International is concerned that Tasers are being used as tools of routine force rather than as weapons of last resort. Rigorous, independent, impartial study of their use and effects is urgently needed."

However, statements like those concern Taser Inc., because the company says they're taken out of context.

"It's misleading and inflammatory," Taser spokesman Tuttle said. "The public thinks, 'Wow, another death caused by Taser.' But wait six weeks, six months ... find out what the medical examiner says and get cleared. We'd say that it was a very tragic event, but it had nothing to do with the Taser."

He said Amnesty quotes such high numbers of Taser-related deaths because they don't account for deaths that are medically cleared to have been caused by something other than a Taser — possibly excited delirium, drug overdoses or underlying health problems.

Deseret News records show two Utah deaths after Taser use since 1987: a Salt Lake City man in 2006 and a Springville man in 2004.

In the 2004 case, a medical examiner concluded the man died of "excited delirium due to acute ephedrine intoxication."