bond_james_bond said:
Generally, the law in North America is ...
Come on! You American appropriated yourself the name "American", even if Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Columbia and others are all in America, in reality making all of us, including you citizens of the USA, Americans it the proper sense of the term, like British, Germans, French and others are Europeans. You've done it, we're stuck with it but now please!
"Generally, the law in North America is..." HEY! We are here up north! You know? Canada? And we have our own laws...
Nowhere in Canada do you have to sign a ticket and you still have to pay if you're found guilty. The cop have the name, plate number, driver's license number, on a license with picture. That's plenty to identify the accused driver and ensure he can be found later. Signing the ticket is useless and only raise the confrontational level without any valid reason.
In this situation, the cop was stuck in a "damn if you do, damn if you don't" situation. Using physical force or the Tazer. The use of physical force would have caused the woman to struggle, causing physical damages, possibly broken bones (osteoporosis is likely present in a 72yo woman) and augmenting her stress level even more, possibly triggering a heart attack. The use of the Tazer have, by itself, a risk of heart attack but minimize the struggle so, it minimized the "collateral damages" to the lady. In this situation, it also controlled where the "neutralization" occurred, preventing both the cop and the lady from getting hit by passing cars. This would have been way more difficult, if not impossible to prevent if the "neutralization" had been physical.
At 50,000 volts, why is a Tazer rarely kills people? Anybody hitting a 50,000V power line would fry in a split second but this same 50,000V is basically harmless, even if extremely unpleasant, when it comes from a Tazer. How come?
In a Tazer, what makes you feel the effect is the voltage but it doesn't kill because what kills is amperage. Taser delivers voltage but almost no amperage.
If we take water as an analogy, voltage is the pressure, amperage is the volume (quantity) of water. A 200psi water jet will push it's way in various materials but, if it's only a few ounces per minutes, no matter the pressure, the damages will be minimal and slow. It's the same with a Tazer: high voltage (pressure) but extremely low amperage (volume)
In a Tazer, an electronic circuit is used to
convert the batteries' small direct current voltage/relatively low amperage (few amps) into a high voltage, ridiculously low amperage current (0.00something amperes) so, there's plenty of pressure ensuring it will reach your nervous system but barely enough current to temporarily paralyze it. That current is pulsed on-off to increase the efficiency of the electronic circuit and augment the paralyzing effect.
Various things affect the body's reactivity to electricity, making some peoples very resistant while others are extremely sensitive. Some peoples, can take a 110V AC line in their hands without feeling much discomfort but, if they would do the same on a hot humid summer day, or when they have a strong fever, it could kill them. That's one of the "gotcha" of the Tazer, the target rarely gets a full medical before and no meteorological studies are usually done before using it.
As far as the public opinion, the effect of both tactics would have been the same. The only way to avoid scrutiny and accusations of "barbarism" would have been to let her win and obviously, that couldn't be an option.
