Man Shocked with Taser Gun at The Players Club Golf
He supposedly was a fan of golf who came to see the second round of the Players at the Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida at TPC Sawgrass. Instead Travis Parmelee, 36, received a shock from a Taser gun and spent Saturday afternoon, May 8 in jail. Parmalee was charged with disorderly conduct and intoxication, and resisting arrest without violence. Deputies said he became belligerent, refused to leave the scene and was heckling golfers near the 11th hole when the PGA called deputies. When he resisted being taken into custody, deputies admit they “dry stunned” Parmalee one time. News4Jax reported that he did not require medical attention. The Taser gun delivers an electrical current to get someone under control by disrupting the voluntary control of muscles. The maker of the gun, Taser International, calls it neuromuscular incapacitation.
Tasers have been controversial. Named for “Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle” a Taser gun can deliver a jolt up to 50,000 volts which in some cases has resulted in death and serious injury. Amnesty International finds that between 2001 and 2008, 334 Americans died after receiving Taser shocks. Because of the shocks, the guns were found to have contributed to or caused at least 50 of those deaths. Often the person is shocked repeatedly to get them under control. In June 2008, Taser International lost a civil suit and was ordered to pay more than $6 million in the death of a 40-year-old man who was zapped three times. The jury found that the company had failed to warn law enforcement that repeated shocks could result in a heart attack. Dry tasing, also called a drive stun, results in localized pain in the area touched by the Taser when it is held against the person without firing the projectiles or probes. The United Nations, American Civil Liberties Union, and Amnesty International have condemned the use of tasers by law enforcement because of the possibility of death and injury. Amnesty International believes the use of stun guns amounts to a form of legally justified torture.
