As local police get ready to start carrying Taser-brand stun guns, reports are surfacing across the nation challenging the manufacturer’s claims that its guns haven’t caused any deaths.

A report last week in the Arizona Republic newspaper cited five cases in which medical examiners found the stun guns either contributed to or couldn’t be ruled out as a cause in suspects’ deaths.

The manufacturer, which touts its guns as nonlethal, is disputing the medical findings, saying examiners in some cases listed all possible causes of death.

Lawrence police said they were aware of the questions being raised but were eyeing the news reports skeptically.

They point out that any type of force, if taken to excess, can kill someone. They still view Tasers, which temporarily disable suspects with an electric shock, as potentially life-saving tools because they’re an alternative to shooting someone with a handgun.

“How many officers or suspects would have died without the Tasers? That would be my question,” said Dan Ward, a spokesman for the Lawrence Police Department, which does not yet own any of the guns. “I wouldn’t think we should throw out the baby with the bathwater … People are a lot less likely to survive a gunshot wound than they are a Taser.”

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has nine Taser-brand guns but has yet to begin using them. Officers still are writing a policy for use of the guns and planning to train deputies on their use.

Sheriff Rick Trapp said he planned to be zapped with one of the guns before they went into use.

Deputies would be taught to use the guns only if a suspect presents an immediate physical threat to himself, or someone else, Trapp said.

Under fire, K.C. limits police use of Tasers (7-24-04) Doctors say Taser guns do not cause death (6-14-04) Police seek funds for stun guns (5-20-04) Federal grant funds nonlethal weapon (4-24-04) Sheriff’s office deploys Tasers (1-5-04) Toplikar: Consumers should be cautious about personal safety devices (10-27-03) Lawrence Police Department Taser International, Inc.

Some critics have raised concerns the weapons could be used gratuitously to get people to comply with police orders. Trapp said each of his office’s guns was equipped with a tamper-proof log that shows how often it’s used. He said the department would have a “stringent reporting policy.”

Police Chief Ron Olin told the City Commission earlier this year his department was interested in buying some of the guns. But Ward said the issue was on hold because there was no funding available for the guns.

In one example cited by the Arizona newspaper, a medical examiner found a man who died in an Indiana jail after being shot by a Taser was killed by an enlarged heart, drug intoxication and electrical shocks. The manufacturer, Taser International Inc., responded by saying a different expert independently reviewed the case and disagreed.

“The fact is that Taser devices have never been named as the primary cause of death in any in-custody death, and any links as a contributing factor are subjective and unsupported by clear evidence,” company officials wrote Thursday in a letter to police.