Suit against Taser manufacturer begins

A St. Louis lawsuit against a stun gun manufacturer, in which a man claims he went into cardiac arrest after police shot him with a Taser, has begun. The plaintiff in the product liability case against Taser International says the company knew the hazards of shooting the device at a suspect's chest, but did not properly warn police of the dangers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday. St. Louis police used a Taser to subdue Colin Fahy, then age 17, during a 2007 domestic disturbance. Fahy went into cardiac arrest for 30 minutes, then spent weeks on life support and now suffers permanent brain damage, his lawyers said. Taser International now cautions law enforcement officers against aiming the device at the chest, noting such a shot could interfere with normal heart rhythm, but the warning of the risks did not come until 2009, plaintiff attorney William Dowd said. Company attorney John Jerry Glas emphasized in St. Louis Circuit Court there were no known risks in 2007, and said studies at the time showed it would require 15 times the normal Taser charge to disturb heart rhythm. A lawsuit Fahy filed against the police was settled out of court in 2010, the newspaper noted.