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i will admit i don't have any stats, but i am very skeptical of your assertion a few innocent people are tased for every guilty one, and that thousands of innocent people have died (or will die) from taser use. every cop gets tased in training.
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That's if every suspect were tased. The way things are now, most taser use is probably justified. There have been ~250 taser-related deaths in the US, about 70 of which appear likely to have been a direct result of the taser's effects.
Wiki article. The health effects of the taser haven't been studied extensively.
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well, no one's arguing with you here, obviously. if you tase a person who is limp or otherwise not physically capable of being threatening, yeah, sure, you should be fired.
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But the officers who do this
aren't fired. That's the problem. And their fellow officers typically stand up for them.
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if taser use is potentially lethal force, then any force is potentially lethal force. you are probably more likely to die from being tackled on pavement than from being tased. (no source)
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I'd say tackling someone on pavement is potentially lethal, yeah. Isn't that assault? I don't think people should be tackled without provocation, either. Wrestling is fuzzier, but that should be avoided too if a person's medical condition is unknown.
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now i'm not saying it's ok to tase someone just because they looked at you funny or gave you some lip
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That's how I interpreted your post.
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but if they ignore your instruction and reach for an unidentified object, or do anything else that could be interpreted as a legitimate precursor to violence, yes, by all means, tase them. in fact, i would say you'd be an idiot not to.
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Ignoring a cop's instructions and going for an unidentified object, I'd say that represents 100% justification.
"Could be interpreted as a legitimate precursor to violence" sounds awfully vague to me.