Article Media
Join us for the San Francisco theatrical premiere of Killing Them Safely, an explosive 2015 Tribeca Film Festival documentary selection on the controversy over police use and misuse of Tasers.
Following the screening, stay for an important discussion featuring filmmaker, Nick Berardini and San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi about the film and its implications for the upcoming decision of the San Francisco Police Commission to possibly start outfitting SFPD officers with Tasers. The Commission's next discussion of the Taser proposal is expected to be on June 1.
Killing Them Safely
Hundreds of deaths. Zero oversight. In the early 2000s, brothers Tom and Rick Smith revolutionized policing by marketing the Taser to law enforcement agencies. This supposedly safe alternative to handguns was supposed to curb the use of deadly force—so why have over 500 people died from Taser-related injuries since? At a time when questions about police methods are at the forefront of the national dialogue, Killing Them Safely brings together startling archival footage and eye-opening interviews with experts on both sides of the debate to shed much-needed light on an urgent issue.
Location:
Roxie Theater
3117 16th Street
San Francisco, CA
With the intensified focus on use of force in police departments, the unsettling documentary Killing Them Safely couldn't be timlier... There's a mighty convincing case to be made from Killing Them Safely that the Taser was a product rushed to the market before its risks had been fully examined, leaving the company's defensive posturing in the wake of mounting controversy sounding an awful lot like that of the tobacco industry way back when.
— Los Angeles Times
This event is co-sponsored by ACLU of Northern California, San Francisco Public Defender’s Racial Justice Committee, Coalition on Homelessness, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, National Lawyers Guild SF Bay Area Chapter, 48 Hills. Directed by Nick Berardini. 2015. USA. 100 min.
