Two small darts pierce your skin,
and you immediately lose
control of your body.
As 50,000 volts of electricity current
courses through you,
pain shoots up your back,
and your brain feels like
it's shaking against your skull.
If you could grab those two wires,
maybe you could remove
the darts from your body.
Or perhaps you'd make things worse.
A study in 2012
found over 500 deaths
due to Tasers used by law
enforcement officers in the U.S.
Many of these deaths were associated
with medical conditions
like heart disease.
Now, people are questioning the use
of Tasers.
Taser is an acronym
for the Tom A. Swift Electric Rifle.
Jack Cover invented it in the mid-1970s,
and he loved books
about the character Tom Swift,
another inventor of gadgets.
During the 1990s,
the Taser was suggested
as an alternative to firearms.
The general principles of escalation
for law enforcement officers
included verbal control,
hand control
and handcuffs.
Then, if needed,
officers could use mace,
batons and firearms.
The Taser was expected to fit
between batons and firearms.
After several lawsuits
and calls to control the use of Tasers,
special cameras are attached to Tasers.
What should you do if you find yourself
at the wrong end of this weapon?
Believe it or not,
your clothes can modify a Taser's effects.
Wearing clothes containing
carbon fiber tape
can help protect you
from the weapon's electric shock.
Because carbon fiber
conducts electricity so well,
it forces the current to pass through it
instead of into your body.
You could run away from
or toward your attacker.
This is because staying 11 m (35 ft) away
will keep you out of reach
of the Taser's electric wires.
Running in a zigzag pattern may help too.
If you run toward your attacker,
you will still be hit.
But the prongs will stick closer together.
You will still feel the shock,
but it may not incapacitate you.
And you may be able to break the wires.
If you get hit by a Taser,
you might be able to break the wire.
It will be hard, and intensely painful,
with 50,000 volts
running through your body.
But if you can,
move your arms in a sweeping motion
across the wires to break them.
If you get shot in the back,
try rolling around to break the wires.
Be careful
as the prongs will be in your back,
and rolling on them
may cause more damage to you.
After being tased,
you'll need to keep your wound clean.
The barbs in the Taser
are like tiny fish hooks.
And you could severely
damage your body,
especially if you got hit near your eyes.
After the electric current
passes through your body,
you may have muscle pain and burns.
You can treat these with heat,
ice,
and over-the-counter painkillers.
Willpower alone
can't overcome a Taser's effects.
Marines can't resist the voltage,
and they're trained for it.
Your best chance of surviving
is to avoid being hit
or protect yourself before getting hit.
Thankfully, few people die from Tasers.
But there are related risks.
For example,
having a heart condition
could decrease your survival chances.
While we don't endorse drug use,
it is interesting to note that
animal studies show cocaine
and methamphetamine
can affect Tasers' effectiveness.
In humans,
these drugs give a sense of invincibility.
But there are no human clinical studies
on this subject.
So how the drugs might affect
tased humans
is still just a hypothesis.
You sustained some serious wounds
from this attack.
But be thankful you weren't hurt
by a more powerful weapon,
like a gun.
Do you know how many people
die from bullet wounds every day?