This incident made it into the news over here too.
Our cops are only just getting tazers. But in the zeal to proote the use of tazers by our NSW police force, the Police Minister arranged for a public demonstration of a tazer being used. One of his staff (who must have drawn the short straw and perhaps wished he'd stayed home that day) was the "volunteer" to be tazered. The media were there filming the whole thing, it was a classic PR piece, trying to show how getting tazered was so much more preferable to getting shot and really, very humane. The demonstration was held in the hallowed halls of our NSW Parliament House (like having it on Capitol Hill in Washington). The Police Minister had been getting a lot of flak in parliamwnt about it and had brazenly gone ahead with the demonstration in te face of a lot of criticism and disapproval.
And it backfired badly on him. The staffer stood bravely but fell twitching uncontrollably, screaming. All of this being caught by the (not terribly supportive and happy for conflict) media. The public, who had been tentatively coming round to the idea of tazers, were horrified. What the ...?
Then the fun started, in parliament next day. We have a law in NSW - Parliament House is a no-weapons zone. It is VERY strict. Even visiting dignitaries are forbidden any weapons within the walls, unless permission has been given because of obvious and urgent personal security reasons.
And the tazer is a weapon, and the Police Minister himself broke the law by having a tazer fired within the walls of Parliament House!
I could be a little wrong on the weapons thing and our security - they may be the only ones permitted to have weapons, but the tazer was fired without security's knowledge or permission, it caused a HUGE ruckus.
Mind you - it didn't stop them issuing tazers to our cops. And despite the horror of the demonstration - I do think it is a good thing, it could mean fewer mentally ill people shot dead through the need to immobilise/disarm them.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sparkles-scully-zaps-parliament/2006/09/28/1159337263834.html
Marg