SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 26, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq: TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices released the following News Alert:
According to a February 25, 2008 article in the Siskiyou Daily News(Yreka, CA), Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus has ruled that Siskiyou County Sheriff's Deputies Mack McDonald and Nate Mendes, "acted lawfully and the D.A.'s office will take no further action against them." Deputies McDonald and Mendes were involved in the July 2007 shooting of Shawn Prado in Hornbrook, CA.
In finding that the deputies' actions were within the law, Andrus said that the "most compelling evidence" in the report was the digital and audio footage.
According the Siskiyou Daily News, on July 9, 2007, while investigating a reported burglary attempt, the deputies encountered Prado on the street. The deputies claimed that Prado had a knife and would not drop it. They also said that Prado approached them in a threatening manner. Despite being hit by a TASER(r) electronic control device, the deputies said, Prado would not drop the knife or stop slashing it at the deputies.
In the published article, Andrus said that Deputy McDonald always used a digital voice recorder while on duty. That audio record, along with the TASER CAM(tm) footage, Andrus said, corroborated the deputies' accounts of what happened during the Prado incident. Specifically, the TASER CAM footage shows:
Prado armed with a knife slashing at the deputies with the knife; That the TASER X26 never malfunctioned. Only one dart impacted into Prado and the other dart might have struck Prado's cell phone or missed him entirely; Both deputies ordering Prado to drop his knife at least 16 separate times; even after one dart hit him and the deputies drew their side arms, Prado did not drop the knife; Despite some allegations made by witnesses, Prado standing on both feet, still slashing with his knife and approaching the deputies when they fired; and, that after the shooting, both McDonald and Mendes attempted to radio for emergency medical services. It is also recorded that the deputies attempted CPR on Prado.
The complete article is available at: http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/articles/2008/02/25/news/100news1.txt.
This information was compiled through publicly available media reports and distributed by TASER International, Inc. of Scottsdale Arizona.
TASER International disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy of the media reports and are the sole responsibility of the attributed media source.
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