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The Municipal Guard used the Taser gun for the first time in Pamplona
  • It happened in the Buztintxuri neighborhood, first thing on Monday. The man was under an obligation to enter a psychiatric facility and threatened to attack a doctor.
Julen Ugartemendia Carcedo 2024ko ekainaren 05a
Iruñeko Udaltzaingoak taser pistolaren tresna du 2022ko abendutik. Argazkia: navarra.es

A municipal agent first used the taser gun on Monday in the Pamplona neighborhood of Buztintxuri, according to Noticias de Navarra. The Municipal Guard has stated that it threatened to attack a doctor who came to his home with the order of detention of a man shot in a psychiatric facility. The doctors requested the collaboration of the Municipal Guard due to the situation of the man. After immobilizing the man, he was treated at the psychiatric center where they had to be admitted.

The one used by the Municipal Police of Pamplona is the Taser T7 pistol and “the officers follow a specific protocol that regulates the use of the weapon”, according to Noticias de Navarra. It is a short-range weapon capable of immobilizing people through electric shocks. Axon, a company that makes Taser pistols, says it's a non-deadly weapon, but there's some background to the contrary.

 

Taser gun also kills

Taser guns have been the subject of debate in recent years. BBC Mundo produced a report on these weapons in 2013. According to Tasers International, these tools “help humiliate people who consider officers suspicious.” The report explained how 500 people in the United States died from these weapons between 2001 and 2012. In 2018, the French police killed a 30-year-old man with the Taser gun.

Arriving in Euskal Herria, this year the Taser is associated with the case of a 36-year-old man killed by the Ertzaintza in Astigarraga. The Basque Government Department of Security said that the police officers who acted against the victim did not use the taser gun. However, the family of the deceased filed a complaint in Instruction 5 of San Sebastian. In the courthouse, because the body had “wear and tear” and because they saw “brands compatible with the taser gun”, according to News from Gipuzkoa.