Police forces in British say they'll be taking a close look at a lawsuit that found Taser International failed to warn police about the dangers of the stun gun device.
Taser International was found liable in a $6 million judgement in a California case where John Weston Jnr. died in 2005 after being repeatedly shocked with Tasers.
A federal jury of five women and two men found that Taser allegedly knew -- or should have known -- that prolonged exposure to one of its stun guns poses a substantial risk of cardiac arrest.
That decision is reverberating across North American because Tasers have been described as "non-lethal.''
Burton's case centred on Acidosis, a condition where the blood changes radically after being shocked, potentially leading to heart failure.
The jury also found the manufacturer failed to warn about problems with multiple stuns.
"Excessive use of this device can kill people. Now police agencies are not free to disregard that possibility," said John Burton, the lawyer acting for the Weston family
When a CTV reporter called a number of police forces in B.C. to get their reaction, all said they will be looking closely at the case.
"We're no longer feeling like the lone voice in the wilderness,'' said Walter Kosteckyj, the lawyer acting for the family of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died at Vancouver airport last October after being stunned by a police taser.
"Our police should be warning the officers they're training that these things have lethal effects in certain circumstances," said Kosteckyj.
CTV tried contact the B.C. Solicitor General to see if the province will be warning police departments. John Van Dongen was unavailable for comment. But his office says they will wait until after Taser International appeals the California decision.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger.
