I was witness to one incident where a taser had no effect on the subject. A man--clearly out of his mind--walked into the emergency room with a pistol tucked into his waistband, announcing he was God, and was going to take revenge for 9/11. Security officers evacuated the waiting room while the police were coming.
When police arrived, they ordered the man to lie on the ground. he said nothing, and continued to stand--apparently in a catatonic state.
After some discussion, we determined that the taser was probably the best less-lethal option we had.
He was tasered three times. Each time, his head would jerk up a little bit, then he would go back to his previous posture, standing with his chin on his chest, almost appearing asleep. and that was with enough juice to put an elephant on his knees.
It was finally decided that he was probably not faking his catatonic fugue. two officers rushed and tackled him and disarmed him. eventually, he was transferred to a different hospital.
I was amazed. If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't have believed it. I'm pretty big, and when I was tasered in training, every muscle in my body went numb.
