Tasers--less than lethal!

We report a case of potentially lethal injury associated with the use of Taser. A 42-year-old man was stopped by police for potential detention. He held a large carving knife over his epigasrium threatening to stab himself. With a view to achieving immobilisation, a Taser gun was used. On activation of the Taser, the subject suffered a 7-cm wide and 10-cm deep stab injury to the upper abdomen. In this case, activation of the Taser resulted in the contraction of skeletal muscles, flexors more intensely than extensors, resulting in the stab injury.