Kathi Hammock and her daughter claim that Taser International's device caused the death of her husband, Eric Hammock on April 3, 2005. Police officers shot Mr. Hammock with tasers multiple times after trying to arrest him for trespassing at a Fort Worth waste management facility. Mrs. Hammock says the multiple shocks caused her husband's death.

Taser International Inc. misled police departments across the country about the safety of its stun guns and left them with weapons that are too dangerous to use on the street, the suit alleges. The lawsuit also claims the Taser gun hasn't been adequately tested and was sold to police through faulty marketing information. Since Tasers were developed in 1999, there have been more than 100 reported deaths of suspects in confrontations with law enforcement officers, according to various studies.

"Taser weapons are marketed as non-lethal alternatives to firearms, but they can also kill people," says the attorney who filed the case. "We are concerned more people are going to needlessly die unless the design of these weapons is changed."

Taser devices project small metal darts into a person's skin, delivering 50,000 volts of electricity with each shot. Tasers have been blamed for a growing list of accidental deaths, prompting some police departments to reconsider the necessity of the devices and lawmakers to push for legislation restricting their use.

In early July 2005, the mayor of Birmingham, Ala., ordered police officers there to stop using tasers until more studies of the devices could be done. In Orlando, Fla., the Orange County Sheriff's Department this week changed department policy to restrict the use of tasers only for those who display "active resistance" to officers' commands.

The American Civil Liberties Union reports more than 130 deaths in the United States related to Tasers, while Amnesty International reports more than 120 deaths in the U.S. and Canada - both figures since June 2001.