Taser Guns Are Newest Weapons For Fayetteville Cops

Several Fayetteville police officers pretended to be armed suspects Wednesday. Within a second of being stunned by a taser gun, they dropped their weapons and fell to the ground.

"You couldn't fight it. There's no possibly way you could stand up. I felt it on my hip as soon as it hit me," says officer Richard Mulcahy.

The taser guns are the newest weapons for Fayetteville police officers. Two probes are shot out from a gun and overwhelm your nervous system, leaving just a small puncture mark behind.

"It's not a substitute for deadly force, but if you use it early enough, it may stop you from using deadly force on someone," says training officer Willie Cain.

With a stun gun or baton, you have to be close to use them on a suspect, but a benefit of the taser is you can shoot it from up to 21 feet away. Officers training with the new weapon say they are glad they will have a powerful alternative on the streets.

"I don't know anybody who could withstand it. It seized everything I had," says police officer William Sessoms.

The police department has purchased 150 taser guns at the cost of $400 apiece. They were all paid for with drug forfeiture money.

One of the test tasers that was purchased has already been used on the street. A man who was holding up a broken bottle to his neck and threatening to kill himself was stunned with a taser and taken into custody without further incident.