Tasers save lives

Stuff reports:

Police say they saved a man’s life by Tasering him before he could injure himself further during a drama in Stratford.

Senior Sergeant Darrin Haenga said police negotiated with the 36-year-old man for two hours on Tuesday night before going in after learning the man was seriously injured.

Mr Haenga said that at 7pm the man initially confronted police with a machete, but had a selection of other weapons.

“He had a number of weapons strategically placed around the house, and a number of knives in different rooms,” he said.

Detective Guy Jackson, of Hawera, said normal police procedure would have been to use firearms, but it was decided Tasering the man gave him a better chance at surviving.

“Tasering this guy saved his life,” he said.

He said the man was incoherent, screaming, and threatening.

“There was knives and blood everywhere; the scene was horrendous,” said Mr Jackson, who ended up covered in the blood himself.

It is worth recalling that the Greens both opposed tasers being available to the Police and spent years campaigning against them. I presume they stand by their position that either the man involved in this incident should have been shot, or alternatively that Police should have taken on a machete wielding man with batons.