When ‘nonlethal’ Tasers turn deadly: NY police records raise questions
When ‘nonlethal’ Tasers turn deadly: NY police records raise questions
Tasers and other nonlethal devices are involved in nearly half of police force incidents in NY. See what misconduct records revealed about cases.
A joint investigation between the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Central Current and USA TODAY Network-New York.
New York police are using Tasers and other non-lethal devices at higher rates amid ongoing political debates over efforts to curb police brutality and excessive force, records and data show.
The spike in Taser use in law enforcement — which leaped about 42% in New York City alone over four years — also unfolded as police statewide faced limited discipline for misconduct cases involving force, according to an exclusive analysis of police records by the USA TODAY Network, Central Current and Syracuse University.
At the same time, state lawmakers in Albany have proposed legislation seeking to more clearly define how police use-of-force gets investigated and, if warranted, deemed justified. Lawmakers asserted their goal was to ensure the lowest level of force possible was used in law enforcement.
Why Tasers are central to NY police misconduct, force debate
Designed to incapacitate suspects, the Taser and other non-lethal devices were introduced to provide the middle ground between spoken orders and deadly force, but the bar can quickly rise closer to the latter, records show.
The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services found that 48% of “use of force” cases across New York involved the use of impact weapons and electronic control weapons (including Tasers), making it the most common type of force.
Police officers’ use of Tasers was also often deemed justified by internal police investigations of misconduct cases, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest when police investigate their own, our newly reported findings revealed.
Police use-of-force incidents overall in New York leaped nearly 30% from 2017 to 2022, while injuries tied to police force in New York City alone spiked about 70% over four years in a similar span, according to the most recent state and city records and Mapping Police Violence data. Police used force more than 83,000 times during that timeframe.
Two different tales of police Taser use in New York
In a 2018 case in Oneida, New York, police use of a Taser took center stage, misconduct records show.
Police pursued John Havener for erratic acts performed in his car while under the influence of narcotics. Havener did not comply with requests from law enforcement, nor was he neutralized by several initial rounds of drive-stun and dart-probe tasers.
After the use of pepper spray also failed to subdue Havener, he eventually became unresponsive and died.
An investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office found that the use of force in this case was justified.
Despite multiple rounds of taser use, the medical examiner ruled Havener’s death accidental due to methamphetamine use, raising questions about the efficiency and risks of Tasers in such scenarios.
While the local department’s policy states that “officers shall immediately evaluate the need for medical attention or treatment” after deploying a Taser, the Havener case underscored the challenges of distinguishing between force-related injuries and other medical states.
But a 2019 police incident involving a Taser in Canastota, New York, tells a different story.
Tasers were used here with suspect J.H. Waterman in a case for which he would be charged with second-degree assault; specifically, police used the device after he refused to comply with orders.
Unlike the previous case, where Tasers were unsuccessful, they were much more efficient and quickly ended any further escalation without resulting in any reported injuries, records show. The actions were also deemed justified by the department.
Still, some of the crucial questions now being asked about these two cases illustrated the urgent need to continue to improve police transparency, oversight and accountability.
That ongoing push, in many ways, remains central to New York ensuring that key political and societal debate takes place as soon as possible to keep police and the public safe.
About this project
This story is part of Good Cop Bad Cop, an investigative project from the USA Today Network, Central Current and Syracuse University. Over 30 reporting students from the Newhouse School dug into decades of New York police misconduct records to uncover policy and safety missteps among officers from Buffalo to Westchester County, and explain why these infractions matter to the public.