A shock to the system: Stun gun demo brings lesson to life for Indiana high schoolers

Published 12:05 pm Thursday, March 10, 2016

ALEXANDRIA, Ind. — Students at an Indiana high school recently got an up-close look at what 55,000 volts can do to someone’s body.

As part of a study of the central nervous system for his physiology class, Brian Adams, a teacher at Alexandria-Monroe High School, recently invited two officers from the Alexandria Police Department to demonstrate the use of a stun gun for the class in the school’s gymnasium.

Patrolman Brian Holtzleiter instructed Patrolman Tyler Irwin, kneeling on a mat, to lunge at another man with a rubber knife once the stun gun was activated.

The first time, Irwin was able to push through the five-second, 55,000-volt shock to follow the instructions. The second time, however, after a different type of connector was attached near his shoulder, he fell forward, temporarily paralyzed, onto the floor.

“It’s not so much painful as that your whole body locks up. Your muscles tense, and you can’t move,” Irwin said.

The demonstration is one of several Adams is using to bring the science principles learned in class to life for his students, who have been studying the central nervous system.

The electrical current delivered by a stun gun directly affects that system to bring a suspect to a standstill. Those five seconds of control, Holtzleiter said, allow a second officer to enter the scene and disarm the suspect.

“The current overloaded his brain so he could do nothing. Now that it’s over, he’s walking around and fine,” he said of Irwin. “Tasers, believe it or not, are safe – safer for us and safer for the suspects.”

The use of such devices allows officers to less force than is represented by the use of a firearm, Holtzleiter told the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin.

“I can touch him while I’m being exposed, and it’s not going to hurt me,” he said. “The injuries from Tasers don’t come from the exposure itself. They usually come from falling.”

Adams said the demonstrations by police officers and other professionals help introduce students to a variety of occupations that require a background knowledge of science.

“It’s just trying to show them science is relevant after you get out of high school,” he said.

Senior Macy Tatman, 18, is studying to become an emergency medical technician and hopes to study nursing at the University of Kentucky. That’s a field for which she will need to have a good understanding of scientific principles, she said.

“It was really neat to see how school science applies to different kinds of occupations,” she said.

Senior Ryan Paddock, 18, also hopes to apply the science he is learning in high school next year when he hopes to enter Ball State University to study medical science.

“It was nice to see real-world applications for the stuff we have been learning in class,” he said.

Bibbs writes for the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin.