TASER® Blog

We’re all familiar with the media stories about alleged TASER ECD misuses, but what we rarely hear in the news are the positive stories where TASER ECDs were used to preserve life.  Our TASER(r) XREP(tm)and TASER(r) X12(tm) Less Lethal Shotgun was used yesterday by the Waukesha (WI) Police Department  to safely and quickly resolve a tense situation with a knife-wielding suicidal woman.  The great news?  EVERYONE made it out of this situation alive – the woman herself, the other person she threatened, and the officers called to the scene.

This is why TASER International makes less-lethal alternatives.  Had this situation escalated, police could have been forced to use more forceful options.  TASER XREP and X12 allowed them to subdue the agitated woman from a safe distance and take her into protective custody.  We at TASER International applaud the Waukesha Police Department’s successful intervention to protect life with TASER technology.

Here are more details of the situation from Waukesha Police Lt. Dennis J. Angle.

At 3:25 p.m. Waukesha Police Officers responded to a report of a suicidal woman with a knife in the 1900 block of Bonnie Lane.  She was not only threatening her own life, but life of another.  Upon arrival officers received information that the subject of the call was a 47-year-old woman with a history of mental illness.  She had fled just prior to police arrival and it was unknown if she was armed.

Officers searched the area and later located the woman in a highly agitated state.  Her level of agitation increased upon officer contact and she resisted officers’ attempts to take her into protective custody.

In order to safely take her into protective custody officers were forced to deploy an Electronic Control Device known as the X-REP.  The deployment was successful and no higher forms of force were needed.  Neither the woman nor any officers were injured.  She was later transported to a Mental Health Facility.