Jesus, This Tasing Is Getting out of Hand

A pregnant woman was tasered by a policeman because she was "unco-operative":

The woman went to the police department on Nov. 18 to ask officers to take custody of her one-year-old son, said Michael Etter, Trotwood’s public safety director.

The woman told the officer she was “tired of playing games” with the baby’s father, Etter said.

The woman refused to answer questions, became frustrated and tried to leave with the child, Etter said. The officer feared allowing her to leave could jeopardize the child and he decided to detain her to get more information.

He said the officer grabbed the woman, got the child away from her and forced her to the ground. When she resisted being handcuffed and tried to get away, the officer used the stun gun on her, Etter said.

It seems that the range of acceptable use for these things is expanding:

"You can use it before you would have to use the revolver," asserts Rick Smith, CEO of TASER International. "If you have someone who has a knife, who is threatening other people but isn't quite at the level where you'd use lethal force, you'd pre-empt with the TASER, get them safely under control before it escalates."

Ensuring "cooperation," of course, is not the same as subduing a threat. And the perception that tasers as "nonlethal" weapons (actually, there have been many deaths) seems to lead to their expanded use, as some sort of consequence-free shortcut to ensure obedience. (Remember, if you will, the heckler who was tasered, repeatedly, at a John Kerry speech.)

Keeping apace with the mainstreaming of torture, I guess.

UPDATE: In a similar vein.