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GUEST: Jason Ope?a Disterhoft, Domestic Human Rights Campaigner, Amnesty International USA

An officer outside a police department in Ohio used a stun gun yesterday to subdue a pregnant woman after forcing her to the ground. Authorities claim that the woman’s pregnant condition was not made known to the officer until after she was taken to jail and transferred to a hospital. The entire incident was caught on surveillance tape as the FBI and the police department are conducting a probe to determine whether excessive force was used. The videotaped tasing of the pregnant woman is just the latest high profile instance of the use of stun guns by police officers. The practice is coming under heavier scrutiny as a United Nations Committee declared last week that the use of taser weapons constitutes a form of torture. The announcement came in the recent wake of four taser related deaths in the United States and two in Canada. An Amnesty International Report released in 2006 noted more than 150 people in the United States died after tasers were used against them.

For more information, visit www.amnestyusa.org.