County says it can’t donate Tasers due to liability issues
The Gateway School District will not be receiving a donation of used Tasers from the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office.
The school district had been anticipating a donation of 18 Model X26 Tasers to be used by its school police force, but Allegheny County Council is planning to let the matter die in committee before it comes to a vote.
“The equipment is obsolete and there are liability issues,” county Councilman Nick Futules said in a phone interview. He said there are also pending lawsuits with that model of Taser, that it is outdated and unsafe and replacement parts are no longer available for it.
In October, the Gateway school board voted to accept the used Tasers. County Council had the matter on its agenda for a vote that month but never acted on it.
At a Nov. 21 meeting, the school board, which had knowledge of the pending lawsuits, passed a resolution stating the district would be willing to provide the county with hold harmless provisions in order to receive the equipment.
Mr. Futules said the county’s position is that, even if the school district signed a hold harmless agreement assuming all liability, that would not stop an individual from suing the county if the person is seriously injured by the Taser.
“They had to be out of their mind to even consider it. I don’t know what they were thinking,” Mr. Futules said of the school board.
“It’s not like we’re donating a van that has been inspected and is OK to drive,” he said. “When you’re talking about an outdated piece of equipment that could endanger the life of somebody, that’s not such a great idea.”
“We never got any formal notification” from the county saying it wasn’t going to donate the Tasers, school board member Mary Beth Cirucci saidat a Dec. 5 meeting.
Ms. Cirucci added that because of delays caused by the county, the district’s school police chief, Bryan Key, determined the Tasers could be a liability because too much time has passed and they were sitting too long without being used.
Ms. Cirucci said the board plans to solicit for Taser donations or will consider purchasing them. She said ideally the board would like for each of the district’s 13 police officers to carry a Taser.