after sara posted about a conversation she had at work about tasing, i thought i’d share my own tasing story with you all. yes, i have been tased. bet you wouldn’t take me for that kind of girl, huh?

i didn’t really get in trouble. did i have you going though??

as you may know, i worked for 3 years as a cops reporter. i absolutely loved my job, and i would love to work again as a cops beat writer. it is the most exciting job i can imagine, and no day is ever the same. i had some unique experiences, such as covering the capture of a triple murder suspect after he wrecked his car and shot himself in the face. i’ve seen dead bodies. i’ve been at meth labs after they exploded. i’ve pretty much seen it all.

one thing i really liked to do was experience my stories whenever possible. in dalton, the police officers are required to be shot with a taser gun before they are allowed to carry one so they know how it feels and what the affects are. i wrote a story on the use of tasers and somehow got roped into being included in the tasing exercise. of course, i loved it. i worked hard to get on the inside at the pd, and i loved the benefits that came long with it, like access to cell phone numbers, calls at all hours with tips.

so, my photographer and i went to the taser training class. part of me was excited to prove that i was just as tough as the cops. the other part of me was scared to death and was hoping they’d all forget. they didn’t.

“come on cady. it’s your turn,” they yelled until i reluctantly walked to the front of the room and had the barbs taped to me, one on my chest and one on my leg so the shock would go through my whole body. i had a cop holding each arm so i wouldn’t fall and hit my head (i did it the same as everyone else. all the guys had someone holding their arms.).

it hurt, people. it stung. it knocked the wind out of me. and, you can’t move while the taser is going (which was about 10 seconds or so for us. i can’t really remember how long it was.). that’s the whole point of the taser — to imobilize the muscles and allow the officer to arrest a suspect. it was not something i would want to experience again. but, i took it like a man, unlike most of the cops who screamed like girls. i was pretty proud of that. 🙂 i felt bad for the officers with a lot of muscle mass, since the taser is made to hit the muscles. they had it really bad.

i have a video of the everyone getting tased somewhere. too bad it got lost when i moved. it would be fun to watch again. man, i miss those days!