Police Tasers in Connecticut

Tasers are powerful electric shock weapons, and they can be lethal. For years, the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut (ACLU-CT) has called for Connecticut to ensure that police only use Tasers fairly, justly, and wisely. In 2014, the ACLU-CT helped to pass the first law in the nation requiring police to provide information about how and when they use Tasers. As a result of that law, in 2016, Connecticut released the first statewide report in the country regarding police Taser use. That report shows troubling racial disparities in how police used Tasers, and that an inordinate number of police Taser incidents involved people who were experiencing mental health crises or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. According to ACLU-CT research, at least 18 people have died after being tased by police in Connecticut. Of those 18 people, at least 12 were Black or Latino.