In Reply To #73
It's not strong enough to do anything major to the heart. The worst it would do on a healthy normal heart is make it skip a beat.
And, as was mentioned before, there is no way of knowing whether the individual being tased is under the influence of outside factors which may change the 'normal' condition, even if some can be assumed via observation. Such factors include drugs, alcohol, pre-existing heart disease, high-stress, psychotic episode, epilepsy, etc.).
This is no DEATH RAY Electric-chair voltage. I think Stryker's UMK3 Fatality is way overexaggerated. You can be tased and live normally.
So yes, it does affect the heart, but it's not going to stop the heart unless it's either A. overused (held charge), or B. somehow super-pumped up charged (more voltage/amperage)... that is, on a normal person. I don't know which of these are possible scenarios though, since I've never even seen a Taser, only read about 'em.
EDIT
I did a little research on this incident. It turns out, the Taser's usage in this incident was not a long-range conventional Taser usage, but rather a close-range usage of the Taser in the "Drive Stun" setting.
The Drive Stun setting does not affect the central nervous system. Its usage is not to incapacitate the target (stun) either.
The Drive Stun setting inflicts significant localized pain around the area in which it is touching the target. Think of this as an alternative to the Baton, only without it leaving the nasty bruises.
Its purpose is pain-compliance, and is often used to bring a troublesome person into custody.
If it was used on an area such as the person's arm or buttocks (hee), it just smarts like the Dickens, basically to send a message.
So there ya go, no heart argument anymore.