They're still not sure why 31 year-old Frederick Jerome Williams died in police custody. But it wasn't the five shocks to the chest from a Taser stun gun, the Gwinnett, Georgia County medical examiner's office has concluded.
Williams is one of five people in Georgia and 26 people nationally in the last nine months "to die after being shocked by Tasers," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes. That's as many as have died in the previous four and a half years.
"Those numbers got the attention of Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union, both of which questioned the safety and ethics of Taser use," the paper says.
"The gun's manufacturer, Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., says autopsy results have shown that no deaths have been directly caused by a Taser."
Recently, the company landed four major orderss from metropolitan police departments -- including those of San Jose and Knoxville -- totalling over $1 million.
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