Jury Awards Six Million Over Taser Death
Posted: Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
A jury has awarded compensation of over six million dollars after a man died following multiple shots from a stun gun. The lawsuit was filed against the largest stun gun maker, Taser International Inc. This is the first product liability case that the firm has lost.
The California man died after he was shot multiple times with the weapon by police. The San Jose jury found that Taser had failed to warn police that multiple shots could increase the risk of a cardiac arrest. The $6.2 million payout was awarded to the estate of forty year old Robert Heston and to his parents.
A lawyer working for Taser stated: “Certainly, this was a tragedy for the Heston family as well as for the officers involved. We, however, do not feel that the verdict is supported by the facts.” Taser plans to appeal the verdict.
According to reports Heston’s father called the police in 2005 to say that his son was acting strangely and may be on drugs. Officers then shot him multiple times with the stun gun until he stopped moving. It seemed that he went into cardiac arrest and died as a result.
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