WASHINGTON -- April 1 -- News Advisory:

Amnesty International will release FRIDAY, APRIL 1, new figures documenting that there have been 103 TASER-related deaths in the United States and Canada between June 2001 and March 2005. The information comes as Taser International, Inc., (TASR) has tried to divert attention from this staggering figure by focusing on a fictitious number of lives allegedly saved by TASERs. AIUSA admits that lives have undoubtedly been saved by TASERs, but after reviewing the cases on the company's website, the organization will demonstrate that Taser International, Inc.'s claims are statistically impossible. The new information shows that TASER-related deaths have occurred in 25 states and Canada, and the number of deaths has increased by 94 percent since June 2001. In the first three months of 2005, there have already been twice as many TASER-related deaths (13) as there were during the same period in 2004 (six).

AIUSA also examined the Taser International's assertion that 685 lives have been saved by TASERs.-(aa) The organization's analysis found that their numbers are statistically impossible, and an inspection of the "specific reports" posted on Taser International's website-(bb) gives the impression that the company is distorting information supplied to them by police officers in order to buttress their main talking point-"Saving lives everyday." For example, if 685 lives had been saved during a six-year period, justifiable homicides by police, a statistic maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics-(cc), would have dropped every year by one-third, but they haven't. Taser International has taken this exaggeration one step further stating, "a reasonable and conservative estimate is that over 6,000 lives have been saved with TASER energy weapons."-(dd) AIUSA has found these manufactured numbers are impossible to either replicate and/or verify.

WHAT:

• Release of updated TASER-related death figures.
  
• Release of analysis disputing misleading claims about the number of lives saved.
  

Friday, April 1, 12:01 AM EST

(aa) -- (Taser International's definition of a "saved life" is an incident, "wherein the use of the TASER non-lethal weapon saved a subject's life, either by preventing a likely escalation to lethal force or by preventing the subject from committing suicide."

http://www.taser.com/documents/Tasers_saving_lives_compilation-full.pdf

(bb) -- Ibid

(cc) -- http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/justify.htm

(dd) -- http://www.taser.com/documents/Tasers_saving_lives_compilation-full.pdf

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