Man Dies After Police Zap Him With Taser

A 20-year-old man died yesterday after Maryland police shocked him with a Taser during a confrontation with a sheriff's deputy, according to police. Deputies responded to a call to find four people fighting. Police used a Taser on one of the men, who fell unconscious and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, police said.

The deputy who shocked the man has been placed on administrative leave. Last week, a 40-year-old man in Vancouver died after being Tasered in an airport. Amnesty International reports that 150 people have died after being shocked with stun guns since 2001. Taser officials say such deaths are often "attributable to other factors and not the low-energy electrical discharge" of the device. (More Taser stories.)