The police have no legal obligation to protect persons or property.
Deshaney v. Winnebago County Dept of Social Services (U.S. Supreme Court)
Pinder v. Johnson (4th Circuit Court of Appeals)
.. a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular individual citizen...
-- Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. App.181)
(I tried to find a link to the full case citation for Warren, but haven't been able to locate one ... ditto for Balestreri v. Pacifica Police)
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Back to Tasers ...
I've seen a lot of people post tasering. I wasn't at work the night the guy got tasered in the lobby, though.
In the continuum of things that police may do to attempt to control someone's behavior, tasers seem to be about the best. It's more effective than pepper spray, which carries a warning that it's not effective on psychiatric patients, and it's more human than a full strength kick in the nuts.
I've said before that the key ingredient for fatalities seems to be cocaine use. Every cop that's carrying a taser has had it used on him/her, and if they were truly that lethal, there'd be cops dropping like flies all over the country.