A device designed to be used as a non-lethal weapon for law enforcement to help subdue fleeing, belligerent, or potentially dangerous people, has killed a South Dakota man in Nebraska.

KDLT News is reporting, 29-year-old Zachary N. Bearheels, of Murdo, South Dakota died Monday (June 5) after being shocked with a police Taser gun.

According to the KDLT report, authorities were called to Bucky's Convenience Store in Omaha around 12:30 AM on Monday when a man refused to leave the premises.

Omaha Police said Bearheels began acting erratically, and officers elected to use a Taser to help subdue him.

Medics were called to the scene a short time later and transported Bearheels to the Nebraska Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

A Taser weapon is a device that fires two small dart-like electrodes, which stay connected to the main unit by conductors. Electric current is then administered to the subject to disrupt voluntary control of muscles causing neuromuscular incapacitation.

The intent of a Taser is to incapacitate the subject by causing extreme pain and over-stimulation of sensory and motor nerves.

There have been instances where Taser weapons used by law enforcement have resulted in serious injury and even death in some cases.

Nebraska state law requires that a grand jury convene to look into the incident and investigate the action taken by the officers.

Source: KDLT TV


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