What Police Weren’t Told About Tasers

Summary

Podcast Summary: What Police Weren’t Told About Tasers

Podcast: Reveal (The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX)
Episode Date: August 16, 2025
Host: Al Letson
Reporting & Story: Nick Barradini, in partnership with Lava for Good’s Absolute Taser Inc.

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Overview:

This episode investigates the hidden dangers of Tasers, a device sold to police as a non-lethal weapon, and what law enforcement was not told about its risks—specifically, the risk of causing cardiac arrest. The story centers on the Masters family, whose teenage son suffered catastrophic injuries after being tased by a police officer, and tracks the evolution of Taser International (now Axon), the training and claims made to police, and the legal battles that followed. Through reporting, first-person accounts, and investigation into research and litigation, Reveal explores corporate responsibility, the reliability of police training, and the consequences for real families.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Invention and Rise of the Taser (01:07–04:23)

• Early Attempts: Greg Meyer (retired LAPD) recalls the search for non-lethal tools in the 1970s, including bizarre suggestions like bullwhips, before discovering early electric gun technology.

  “We actually had this guy in Australia say that we should use bullwhips on people because that's what they use. And it's like, what?” – Greg Meyer (02:24)

• Initial Technical Failures: The first generation of Tasers often failed to work on combative subjects and was “not ready for prime time” (03:20).
• Commercial Success: Rick Smith, a Harvard biology grad, founded Taser International, using showy sales tactics to demonstrate the Taser’s effect on even the “biggest, toughest” officers (03:41–03:59).
• Adoption: By 2001, thousands of agencies were buying Tasers. They were hailed as revolutionary and credited with reducing police shootings.

2. The Myth of Total Safety (04:23–06:33)

• Sold as Safe: Taser International built its business on the notion that its device was virtually harmless, positioning it as a game-changing compliance tool.
• Reality Check: As use skyrocketed, so did reports of serious injuries and fatalities, undermining the “non-lethal” claim.

3. Personal Story: The Masters Family and the Consequence of Taser Use (05:16–16:11, 24:46–28:01)

• Background: Matt Masters, a Kansas City PD officer, used and trusted the Taser, influenced by official training materials that asserted its safety.

• The Incident (09:39–14:43):

  • Bryce Masters, Matt’s teenage son, is pulled over and Tased by Officer Timothy Runnels during a traffic stop in Independence, Missouri.
  • He suffers cardiac arrest, does not breathe for 7–8 minutes, and displays signs of severe brain damage.
  • His parents learn from a neurologist that “the Taser caused this”—a possibility Matt had never considered based on his training.

• Emotional Impact:

  “I just remember feeling like, do I want him to live?” – Stacy Masters (15:13)

• Matt’s Disbelief & Research:

  • Matt clings to official Taser training, which insists such outcomes are impossible.
  • Over time, prompted by his family’s experience and his research, he finds overlooked studies confirming Tasers can induce cardiac arrest.

4. The Flawed Science and Hidden Research (19:01–24:29)

• Training Cited Faulty Evidence:
  • PowerPoints given to police called the Taser “weaker than a Christmas light bulb.”
  • Mike Leonisio, former Oakland PD officer/trainer, trusted Taser’s safety claims—until he saw the company’s animal testing.
• The Pig Studies (20:36–23:26):
  • At company tests, pigs shocked by Tasers sometimes suffered cardiac arrest (asystole).
  • Taser researchers admitted they’d “seen that before,” but such findings went unpublished or unreported within officer training.

  “That's not supposed to happen. I mean, cardiac effects…They told us for years that this doesn't have cardiac effects.” – Mike Leonisio (22:41–22:45)

  • These studies indicated that Taser shocks could capture and override a heart's rhythm, directly contradicting company claims to police.

5. The Video Evidence and Legal Fallout (28:01–32:04)

• Body Camera Footage (28:42–30:38):
  • Video showed Bryce tased for at least 20 seconds (four times the standard five-second cycle), then violently thrown face-down.
  • This was outside of department policy, but the excessive tasing and the resulting injury were not well understood among rank-and-file officers.
• Accountability Gap:
  • The officer, Timothy Runnels, ultimately went to federal prison—but not for tasing Bryce, rather for assaulting him after he was down.
  • The prosecution decided that the Taser use was “reasonable and within common police practice.”

  “The moment Matt says he was waiting for, when they would go over what happened to Bryce and bring up that there was a chance the Taser could cause cardiac arrest, that warning never came up.” – Narrator (31:54–32:04)

  • Matt Masters: “You’re sitting there going, hey, my kid got tased and went into cardiac arrest...come talk to this guy, right?” (32:04)

6. How Taser International Avoided Corporate Responsibility (33:12–44:02)

• Lawsuits and Discovery (34:00–38:23):
  • Attorney John Burton uncovered evidence that Taser International downplayed peak electrical current data, which made the device appear much more benign than it was.
  • Notable quote:

    “Using average current would be like trying to argue your way out of a speeding ticket using your average speed.” – Narrator (35:47)

  • Pig studies within the company documented cardiac capture, meaning the Taser could and did affect the heart.
  • In 2009, amidst mounting lawsuits, Taser International finally issued a bulletin suggesting police “avoid chest shots”—but denied any real risk, framing the advice as risk management against lawsuits, not a safety imperative (39:38–40:38).
• Continued Denial:

  “Are chest hits with the Taser dangerous? And the answer to that is definitively no.” – Rick Smith, CEO (33:12 and 39:44) “There is an acknowledgement that there’s a minute possibility that a shot to the chest could result in cardiac arrest… We cannot prove it’s zero.” – Rick Smith (40:58–41:17)

• Legal Pivots:
  • The 2009 warning shifted liability from the company to individual officers, who now were held responsible for any errors, regardless of their training.

7. The Final Reckoning and Master’s Lawsuit (42:07–47:05)

• Suing Taser/Axon:

  • Matt Masters’ family teamed up with John Burton to sue, but found that the company’s new disclaimers and warning documents limited legal liability.
  • Instead, they targeted Officer Runnels in court.
  • Former trainer Mike Leonisio testified about the compound harm of repeated tasing—each cycle a separate use of force—helping the jury see how excessive it was.

  “There’s still a lot of officers out there today who, because of department training, don't understand the capabilities of this weapon.” – Mike Leonisio (47:05)

• Outcome:

  • Runnels was held at fault again, Bryce received a $6.5 million settlement for his injuries, but Axon/Taser avoided responsibility in court.
  • The Masters family viewed the result as only a partial measure of justice.

  “Do you feel like they got away with it a little bit?” – Narrator
  “Oh, yeah. 100%.” – Matt Masters (48:33–48:36)
  “By design, they got away with everything.” – Stacy Masters (48:36)

8. Taser International Becomes Axon—Expansion and Remaining Concerns (48:46–end)

• Corporate Survival:
  • In 2017, Taser International rebranded as Axon Enterprise.
  • The company has expanded to body cams, drones, AI—and now sells to civilian markets, with an estimated worth over $60 billion.
• Enduring Risk and Caveat:
  • Officers still rarely receive complete training about cardiac risks.
  • Bryce Masters lives with long-term brain damage, memory problems, and emotional regulation issues due to being tased.
  • Axon and Rick Smith have avoided direct accountability and, despite decades of reporting and legal action, executives declined to be interviewed for the series.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the Taser’s pain:

  “It was the most excruciating pain… you just lock up. That shock goes through you… excruciating pain. But… there is no more pain. It’s weird.” – Matt Masters (05:35)

• Parental fear:

  “I didn't want to see him moving that way.” – Stacy Masters, on seeing her son’s brain-damage-induced posturing (14:25)

• On Taser propaganda:

  “They had convinced their customer base… that this device was absolutely safe and that anybody who says differently is just trying to take this great tool away from you.” – Greg Meyer, recapping company marketing (34:00–34:20)

• Denial in training:

  “When I first got trained… you know, fast forward to 2014. Ten years later. There was no change in what I was trained in.” – Matt Masters (27:38–27:54)

• Expert testimony:

  “Every five second Taser shot was its own individual use of force.” – Mike Leonisio’s key legal insight (47:05)

• On corporate evasion:

  “So now what they do is they put the onus on the officers.” – John Burton (45:18)

• Systemic frustration:

  “How do you live with yourself… No, you're really, you're not saving lives 100%.” – Matt Masters, on Axon/Taser’s leadership (48:03) “By design, they got away with everything.” – Stacy Masters (48:36)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Intro, Taser’s Origin & Early Adoption: 01:07–04:23
• Transformation into ‘Everyday Compliance’ Tool: 06:00–07:45
• Bryce Masters’ Traffic Stop and Injury: 09:39–15:13
• Doctors Reveal Taser Can Cause Cardiac Arrest: 15:49–16:11
• Animal Testing and Hidden Research: 20:36–23:26
• Bodycam Video of Bryce’s Tasing: 28:42–30:38
• Internal Company Denials and Legal Strategy: 33:12–44:02
• Expert Testimony and Lawsuit Resolution: 47:05–47:51
• Corporate Rebranding and Legacy: 48:46–end

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Summary in a Nutshell

"What Police Weren’t Told About Tasers" exposes the disconnect between Taser/Axon International’s marketing and the reality of its product’s risks, as experienced by officers, victims, and families. The company’s training materials promised safety while private research and legal discovery showed a risk of death—facts rarely communicated to law enforcement. Personal tragedy meets investigative reporting to uncover that, for years, police and the public were misled about the dangers of this weapon, with long-term consequences for individuals, families, and the justice system.

Transcript

[Lisa Schachter]

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[Al Letson]

From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Al Edson. The Taser, it's a weapon that goes hand in hand with modern policing. But of course, it didn't always exist. The first attempt to create one happened in the 1970s at a time when, when cops across the country were looking for an alternative to firing their guns.

[Greg Meyer]

The bosses decided, we gotta find a better way. And that's how I ended up with the Non Lethal weapons project. I had no idea that was gonna become my life's work.

[Al Letson]

Greg Meyer worked for the Los Angeles Police Department. He's retired now, but Greg was once in charge of finding a solution.

[Greg Meyer]

I actually wrote an article 40 years ago or so, the title of which was, tasers, Tear gas, Whips, Poles and chains. Your Non lethal weapons alternatives.

[Al Letson]

Greg said, the LAPD sent out a survey to the 50 biggest police departments in the U.S. what do you guys.

[Greg Meyer]

Use besides, you know, the baton and the handgun and the handcuffs to subdue people?

[Al Letson]

But cops everywhere were kind of in the same boat. Greg was so stuck, he even ran ads in the newspaper.

[Greg Meyer]

We actually had this guy in Australia say that we should use bullwhips on people because that's what they use. And it's like, what?

[Al Letson]

Then Greg found a news clip about a scientist working on a kind of electric gun. So Greg calls him and goes over to see the first version of the Taser.

[Greg Meyer]

I remember he asked, he said, greg, did you ever tune up on a car and did you ever touch the distributor cap and get a short circuit through your body. And I go, yeah, that happened. He says, but it didn't kill you, right? No, but it really startled you, right?

[Al Letson]

Soon, the LAPD had a few hundred Tasers. It was a great concept, but it had a major problem. It didn't always work.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

The Taser should have dropped him long.

[Rick Smith]

Enough for the officers to take control.

[Stacy Masters]

It didn't.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

From stun guns to Tasers, they can be effective, but have never been totally reliable against focused, combative attackers.

[Greg Meyer]

It just wasn't ready for prime time.

[Al Letson]

It would be about 20 years after the first version of the Taser before a new company would find success. This Taser was made by a young entrepreneur with a biology degree from Harvard and a dream to end police shootings. His name was Rick Smith, and he promised his Taser would work.

[Rick Smith]

Our sales pitch was really easy. We'd go around the police departments and we'd say, hey, who's your biggest, toughest guy? Bring him in. Okay, think you can beat this? Here's 100 bucks. We hit him with the Taser and boom, down they would go.

[Al Letson]

This time, the Taser was doing what it promised to do, and thousands of police departments, including the lapd, started buying them.

[Greg Meyer]

And nobody's getting beat up, nobody's getting hurt. So it was, like, revolutionary.

[Mike Leonisio]

Last year in Phoenix, gun shootings by police went down by half and fatal.

[Matt Masters]

Shootings dropped by a third.

[Mike Leonisio]

There's a 12 week backlog in demand.

[Al Letson]

Rick took his company public, Taser International, which today is called Axon. That was in May of 2001, and he raised about $8 million. Three years later, it was worth 1.9 billion. Taser International sold its product as a non lethal weapon for police and built its business on the trust of law enforcement agencies across the country. But as the Taser grew in popularity, so would the number of serious injuries and deaths. This week, we're partnering with the Lava for Good podcast, Absolute Taser Inc. And its host and reporter, Nick Barradini. Nick has spent the last 15 years investigating the company's claim that the Taser was truly safe. He starts with the story of one police officer who would find out there was a lot he didn't know the weapon was capable of.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

The Kansas City Police Department had tasers back in 2004. Matt Masters remembers getting trained with other cops to use one for the first time.

[Matt Masters]

They made all of our guys get Tased and they all crumpled up on the floor, you know, from the smallest guy to the biggest guy.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Then it was Matt's turn to get Tased for the first time.

[Matt Masters]

I mean, it's probably not appropriate to say I cried like a little girl, but, like, I cried like a little girl. Like, I was like screaming. It was the most excruciating pain. You don't breathe. I mean, maybe you breathe. It doesn't feel like you breathe. It feels like you just lock up. That shock goes through you and you're just like, to me, it's excruciating pain. But I will say that once it's over and done with, there is no more pain. It's weird.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Tasers were designed to be used against people who were violently resisting arrest, people who might eventually be shot if things got out of hand and cops couldn't get them under control.

[Matt Masters]

At the end of the day, if you have to put your hands on somebody, you got a scuffle with somebody, why risk that? You can just shoot them with a taser. So it became more of a compliance tool, an everyday compliance tool where, hey, put your hands behind your back. You okay? Watch this. You know, and it was, you know, a taser deployment, and that was how we were trained.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Matt became a cop in 1996 and worked his way up to the department's most elite unit, Snu tac, the street Narcotics unit tactical team.

[Matt Masters]

It was just like kicking indoors and like, you know, rifles and chasing bad guys and like, that was a level up.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Matt was the first man through the door on over 1000 high risk warrant arrests.

[Stacy Masters]

It became part of his identity. It became part of who he was instead of what he did.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

That's Stacy Masters, Matt's wife and the mother of their two sons, Colin and Bryce. She says back then, Matt was consumed with the job. Even family dinner revolved around Matt's work as a cop.

[Stacy Masters]

It came to a point where I would really resent that question at the dinner table. Hey, Matt, what's a good story? You know, because I didn't want him to be that in that moment. I wanted him to be, you know, a cousin or a son or a husband or I wanted us to shift and. Okay, well, you know, because immediately his body language would change and he would take on that Persona and he would just. You would just. You would just see him leave with him being right next to you.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Tactical cops have this phrase, living in the red. It means living without fear of consequences. Matt was living in the red. He spent years in snu tac, kicking down doors until the consequences caught up with him. During a car chase in 2007, Matt's partner was shot and paralyzed In a gunfight. It was a devastating wake up call. And soon after, Stacy gave him a choice. The tactical team or his family. He traded the drug squad for a desk job in hr.

[Matt Masters]

I mean, it was boring, you know, it wasn't fun.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

But boring also meant that he had time to be a dad. He finally started going to his son's football games, something he'd missed for years. When their oldest, Colin, got his license, Matt brought him car shopping. They found a used gray Pontiac Grand Prix and with leather trim, tinted windows, and a ground effects package straight from Fast and the Furious.

[Matt Masters]

It was funny because when we bought it, guy told me, he's like, be careful, man. He's like, the cops do not like this car. You know, And I was like, that's okay because I'm a cop. I ain't got to worry about it, right?

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Matt bought the car, and that's when he put a thin blue line sticker on the back windshield. A few years later, the master's younger son, Bryce, inherited it from his brother. Soon, Bryce was driving everywhere. And the car did start getting attention from cops. Not at Kansas City pd, where Matt worked, but a smaller neighboring department in the Missouri town where Bryce was about to be a senior in high school, Independence. Bryce was stopped a couple times and was caught with a small amount of marijuana. In one stop, Bryce told his parents that an officer tore the thin blue line sticker off the back windshield. Matt and Stacey didn't like that Bryce was smoking weed. But privately, they worried that the Independence cops were starting to get the wrong idea about their son.

[Matt Masters]

They didn't like the tinted windows. They didn't like the ground effects package on the car. They didn't like that this kid, you know, matched his shoes and his clothes up and kind of, you know, dressed a little too flashy for them.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Matt thought that he could straighten things out by talking to the guys he knew at Independence PD. But then Bryce was stopped again. In September 2014, the football season was just getting started, and in Kansas City, the Chiefs are the center of the universe. On Sundays, Matt and Stacy were watching the game when Matt's phone rang. It was Bryce's friend Curtis.

[Matt Masters]

And he's like, hey, Bryce is getting stopped out in my front yard. And he's like, I don't know what's going on, but the cop's trying to get him out of the car. And I was like, okay.

[Rick Smith]

Really?

[Matt Masters]

Initially, I didn't really. I didn't panic or anything. I didn't, like, think, oh, my God, you know, my kids Getting stopped. At the time, cops got free passes for me. Maybe Bryce did something wrong. Curtis called me back and he goes, you need to get here. And I was like, oh, my God. You know, like, what is going on?

[Stacy Masters]

The look on his face told me that somewhere somebody wasn't okay.

[Matt Masters]

I hung up the phone and I told Stacey. I'm like, there's something else. Something's not good. Something's not right. Something happened. We just need to get there.

[Stacy Masters]

It's a 10 minute, 11, 12 minute drive probably. And in that period of time of us getting in the car, Curtis is calling us and saying, where are you at? They just tasered him. And he's not moving and he's not breathing.

[Matt Masters]

And we're like, what?

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Matt weaved his way through traffic and they pulled up to the scene.

[Matt Masters]

By this time, there was a fire truck there and ambulance there. And of course, we walk up to the scene. Of course, you know, the cops are like, get back, you. And you're like, do not touch me. You know, I'm like, that's my kid.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

It was chaos. About a half dozen Independence officers marked off the street and rifled through Bryce's car. Neighbors were out in the yard.

[Matt Masters]

When they put him on the gurney, they had put it. They. They put a tube down his throat and were intubating him with a bag. And then I was over the top of him, looking into his eyes, and he was completely limp. And I remember looking over at him over the top of his head, looking over at his face. It looked into his eyes and there was. I'll never forget that. It was just a. Blake.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Bryce's mom. Stacy was in a panic. How the hell did this happen? That's when she spotted Timothy Runnels, one of the Independence officers who had stopped Bryce in his car earlier that summer.

[Stacy Masters]

And he's kind of leaned up against his patrol car, like, not a care in the world. I needed him to be like, wow. I. I really took this too far. I needed that from him. And instead I see this arrogant, proud of himself. And I wanted. I wanted. I don't know what I wanted to do.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Stacy tried to ride in the ambulance with Bryce, but she wasn't allowed to.

[Matt Masters]

We decided in that moment to just split up. She took the truck and followed the ambulance to the hospital. And I. I kind of stayed behind because I was more in the mode of like, if you're gonna cover some up, I'm going to sit here and watch you cover it up. Because I didn't trust that they were going to not spin it in a way that was beneficial to the police department.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

At the hospital. They wheel Bryce into the er.

[Stacy Masters]

I get right back there, and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Bryce was hooked up to a ventilator. His skin was pale and his lips were still blue. Bryce was convulsing, and his body had twisted itself into a kind of horrifying fetal position.

[Stacy Masters]

Like, his arms and his legs were, like, just doing unnatural things.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

His fingers and toes curled inward, and his arms were bent toward his chest.

[Stacy Masters]

I didn't want to see him do that.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

I didn't want him.

[Stacy Masters]

I didn't want to see him moving that way.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

A nurse explained that Bryce's position was a sign of severe brain damage. He needed an MRI immediately so they could know just how bad it was. They brought Stacy out to the waiting room.

[Matt Masters]

She called Matt and she said, you need to get here. That's when I kind of started learning how bad it was.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

The neurologist pulled them into a private room and explained that Bryce had had a cardiac arrest. Given the signs of brain damage he was already showing, they estimated his heart had been stopped between seven and eight minutes. That's how long his brain went without oxygen. Bryce was 17. His body was strong and healthy. So if anyone had a shot at a miraculous recovery, it would be Bryce.

[Stacy Masters]

They had already said, you know, that he may never come out of this vegetative state. This is what he has to look forward to. So, as awful as it sounds, I just remember feeling like, do I want him to live?

[Matt Masters]

I'll be honest. We thought he was on drugs. I mean, that's what. What else do you think?

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Matt and Stacy caught Bryce smoking weed, but they didn't suspect he was on any hard drugs. Still, nothing else made sense. Late that night, the surgeon, Dr. Stanley Augustin, came in to check on Bryce.

[Matt Masters]

That was the first thing that came out of our mouth was like, what happened? Is he high on drugs? Augustin just kind of. He kind of just matter of factly looked at me and was like, oh, no, he's not on drugs. It was a Taser. Taser caused this. Had no idea that that was even possible.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

The surgeon was so confident. In Dr. Augustine's world, this was obvious. But in Matt's world, the cop world, the opposite was true. Matt was just as sure the Taser couldn't cause a cardiac arrest as the surgeon was that it could. Now these two worlds were colliding, and Matt had to figure out which one was real.

[Al Letson]

Coming up, Nick gets a behind the scenes. Look at the studies on Taser safety.

[Mike Leonisio]

Why don't we know about this? Why aren't you reporting it? And I just never was able to get a satisfactory answer to those kinds of questions.

[Al Letson]

That's next on Reveal.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Hi, y'. All. My name is Nadia Hamdan and I'm a producer here at Reveal. Reveal is a nonprofit news organization and.

[Al Letson]

We depend on support from our listeners.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Donate [e-mail] donate and thanks.

[Al Letson]

From the center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. This is Reveal. I'm Al Letson. Rick Smith had gotten rich selling Tasers to police departments. His company, Taser International, which would become Axon in 2017, marketed the weapon as a non lethal device.

[Rick Smith]

Look, I've been hit with this thing seven times. Every senior employee at this company has been hit with a Taser. Many of our wives, many of our children have been hit with Tasers. So we believe this is the safest way to get a violent person under control.

[Al Letson]

But with the weapon's success came a wave of controversy for Taser's Rick Smith.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Sales and profits are skyrocketing, but so is another statistic Taser related deaths.

[Al Letson]

The official company line was that Tasers were safe and if someone happened to die while being tased, the cause of the death was something else, like drugs or a tragic coincidence.

[Rick Smith]

None of these cases has the person died while being hit with the Taser.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

You're saying that this was a coincidence? They would have died anyway.

[Rick Smith]

In every single case, these people would have died anyway.

[Al Letson]

Reporter Nick Barradini has been chasing this question for years. If the Taser is safe, then why were some people dying and getting badly hurt? In his podcast series, Absolute Taser Incorporated, he looks at how police officers are taught that the Taser cannot kill. He starts with someone who saw it all from the inside. A cop who trained other cops on Tasers.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

I've read every PowerPoint presentation Taser International used to train cops from 2000 to 2015. There wasn't anything I saw that made the Taser seem dangerous. One of the slides that jumps out to me is the one that says the Taser is weaker than a Christmas tree bulb. Mike Leonisio was a real believer. He trusted the weapon was safe and he was skeptical about the reports of Taser related deaths.

[Mike Leonisio]

You read the media reports and I mean, they made this weapon look like it was, you know, people were out there dying left and right. Every time an officer used it, it was basically lethal force.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Mike was a former paramedic turned cop. Working for the Oakland police department. And from 2001 to 2008, he trained other cops how to use tasers.

[Mike Leonisio]

I was seeing officers would come in and voice concerns about how, hey, did you see that news article? Somebody got killed by a taser. I said, no, impossible. Can't happen. We've got a compendium of research. It's 3ft tall, and it, no, it can't happen.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Mike was good at training cops. His confidence was contagious. And even though he was confident in his training and the potential of the taser, Mike told me he talked a lot about all these headlines that said people were dying. Taser international was constantly doing cutting edge research to back up its claims. One day as they were talking, Mike just asked, could he actually go see some of this testing for himself.

[Mike Leonisio]

I want to make sure this weapon's what they say it is. And, you know, I'll be the first person outside of the company who's ever been able to attend one of these things. I said, so you know, what does it hurt?

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Taser execs said, sure. Mike signed an NDA and flew down to Arizona to watch his first company funded test. It wasn't the scene you might expect. Taser international set up a lab near their headquarters at a veterinary clinic.

[Mike Leonisio]

We spent the whole day out there with pigs in the back of a sweltering hot metal truck in the Arizona heat.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

The test took place inside a big trailer parked in the parking lot. Mike told me how he watched as taser scientists took the pigs, sedated them, then laid them out on tables, Basically.

[Mike Leonisio]

Set up like you would go into surgery.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Pigs are often used in medical research because their bodies are similar to humans. Mike told me the pigs were sprawled out on tables in the back of the truck. Taser scientists hooked them up to ventilators to measure their oxygen levels. They stuck electrodes on their bodies to get a baseline measure of the pig's heartbeats on an EKG machine. Mike told me he looked around. He didn't tell anyone that because he had once been a paramedic. He knew how to read the beeping machines and numbers on screens.

[Mike Leonisio]

They had no idea of my background, and they had no idea that when I walked into that study, I knew exactly what I was looking at.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Mike describes how they shocked the pigs over and over for hours, Taking measurements, studying the effects and monitoring for safety.

[Mike Leonisio]

One session in particular, we shocked the pig. Well, it was actually a series of two shocks.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

He told me it had been a long day, and he noticed that after so Many shocks. This pig was in really bad shape.

[Mike Leonisio]

We didn't check a pulse. And immediately following that, we shocked it again, and this time we shocked it into asystole.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Asystole is basically a flatline. Mike says the pig's heart stopped. It died.

[Mike Leonisio]

Pig went straight into flatline. And then that was basically the end of the test. I mean, we were done.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

So you see this pig go into asystole. Were you surprised?

[Mike Leonisio]

Oh, absolutely. That's not supposed to happen. I mean, cardiac effects.

[Matt Masters]

They.

[Mike Leonisio]

They told us for years that this doesn't have cardiac effects.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

He told me he turned to the two Taser scientists in charge of the study. I said, that's not supposed to happen.

[Mike Leonisio]

And they just kind of chuckled and said, no, no, that happens. We've seen that before. I was like, what do you mean you've seen that before? He says, yeah, that happens.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

And I think, wow.

[Mike Leonisio]

I said, so when you publish the study associated with this event today, are you going to note that the pig was shocked into asystole? And, you know, the response was, well, we don't handle that end of it. That's not our job.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

From Mike's perspective, Taser scientists were acting like it was just another day at the office. Mike says he talked to everyone he could on Taser's research team.

[Mike Leonisio]

How are you addressing this? They initially said, well, cardiac capture is not a big deal. And that. That really got me.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

These studies showed that the Taser could interfere with a regular heartbeat cardiac capture. And Mike knew cops around the country who carried a Taser were largely trained to think the weapon couldn't do this.

[Mike Leonisio]

They believed what they had been told and what they had been taught. You know, we're not talking about a bunch of electrical engineers here. We're talking about a bunch of cops. We're talking about using a weapon that's not designed to do this, Being used by a person who's not trained in any kind of real medicine, maybe first aid, if we're lucky, out in an uncontrolled setting, and you're telling me that cardiac capture is no big deal? And that was a real turning point for me.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Mike says he began to ask questions, even to Rick Smith.

[Mike Leonisio]

Why don't we know about this? Why aren't you reporting it? And I just never was able to get a satisfactory answer to those kinds of questions.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Matt Masters, the Kansas City police officer whose son was tased by another cop, hadn't heard of the pig study. He believed the Taser was safe. So you can see why he was confused when the Doctors told Matt that it was the taser that stopped Bryce's heart. But Matt hardly had time to think about it. His son was lying in a hospital bed, unconscious. It would be three days before Bryce woke up.

[Matt Masters]

He didn't have a very good memory. Like, we would tell him the story. I mean, 20 minutes, 30 minutes later, why am I here? And be like, we just told you. Don't you remember? This is what happened. You got stopped by a cop and you got tased, and he's like, he's looking like, what?

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Bryce's face was swollen. Doctors suspected his jaw had been dislocated and popped back into place. Matt and Stacy were so wrapped up in Bryce's coma those first three days that they hadn't focused on the details of why he was in a coma. It turns out the FBI was interested, too. Within hours of the incident, agents started investigating whether the cop who pulled Bryce over and tasered him violated his civil rights. And soon after, Bryce woke up from his coma, they came to the hospital to see him.

[Stacy Masters]

But I'm thinking, you know, we're kind of in the middle of something right now. Maybe this can wait a couple days. But they wouldn't wait. They were like, we understand, but we still want to talk right now.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Over the course of several visits, the FBI agents took pictures of Bryce's messed up face, his broken teeth, and the two little red bumps that showed where he'd been tasered on his chest. The agents knew exactly where to look for Bryce's injuries. Bryce to the point that Matt and Stacy got the sense that the FBI knew something they didn't. And it was true. The agents told them they knew what happened that day. There was video of the entire incident, but the agents told Matt and Stacy they wouldn't be able to see it until the investigation was over. When the Masters finally left the hospital, Matt had the space to think about what had happened. And that conversation with the surgeon who told him tasers could cause cardiac arrest.

[Matt Masters]

At first, it was kind of like denial. Like, yeah, that's not like that can't happen, you know? And then I just started researching on my own, Googling taser stuff and looking at videos and looking up court cases and, like, things that had happened around the country.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

That's when Matt started to read studies he'd never heard about before, Ones that completely contradicted the studies he was familiar with from taser training. These studies clearly showed the taser's electric current could override someone's regular heartbeat. It could lead to A cardiac arrest. And it hit Matt. It wasn't some myth. It was science. And yet the only reason he was learning about the danger was because his own son got hurt.

[Matt Masters]

Nobody ever told us any of this. When I first got trained in, I want to say around 2004 ish. You know, fast forward to 2014. 10 years later. There was no change in what I was trained in.04 to 2014.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

If Matt didn't know a Taser could possibly cause a cardiac arrest, why would the guy who shot his son in the chest with a Taser know?

[Matt Masters]

And then I started kind of doubting myself and really thinking, well, maybe. Maybe he really didn't do anything wrong.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Matt wondered if this was all a tragic mistake. Maybe the cop who tased his son, Timothy Runnels, was just following his training. That is, until Matt was finally able to watch the video of what happened to his son. The video shows Runnels pulling Bryce over in front of his friend Curtis's house. Runnels goes to the passenger side of the car first. He demands that Bryce roll down the window, but it's broken. Runnels then crosses over to Bryce's side.

[Rick Smith]

Is this one open? Yeah. What are you doing? Get out. Out. Out.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Runles opens Bryce's door.

[Rick Smith]

Am I under arrest? I'm gonna pull you out if you don't get out.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

He opens the door and says, I'm gonna pull you out if you don't get out. He reaches into the car and starts to pull Bryce out by the collar of his shirt. But Bryce grabs the steering wheel and Runnels loses his grip.

[Rick Smith]

Pardon me a second. Get out. You really want to get Tased right here in the middle of your car? Get your out now.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Runles tries to pull Bryce out one more time.

[Rick Smith]

Give me your hand. You're under arrest. For what? For what you said.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Runnels steps back about 2ft and pulls out his Taser. He points it at Bryce.

[Rick Smith]

All right, fine. Just get out. Out. Out. Right now. Out of the car.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

You can hear the familiar rhythmic sound of the Taser. Bryce steps out of the driver door, his arms tense and stiff at his side as the Taser's electric current pulses through his body at 19 times a second.

[Rick Smith]

Taser deployment. On the ground. Out of the car. On the ground. On the ground. Told ya. Hands behind your back.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Bryce is not moving on the screen as Runnels handcuffs him. The click, click, click. Still ticking. Finally, after about 20 seconds, it stops. A taser cycle only lasts for five seconds. This was the moment when Matt first understood that Bryce had been tased more than once, that Runnels had held down on the trigger, Tasering Bryce for at least 20 seconds straight. In the video, Runnels yanks Bryce up by his arms. He drags him behind Bryce's car toward the curb, and he throws Bryce, handcuffed on his face. Almost one year to the day after Runnels tased Bryce, he pleaded guilty in federal court to violating Bryce's civil rights. It was for dropping Bryce on his face, not for tasing him. The prosecution agreed the Taser shot was reasonable and within common police practice. Runnels was sentenced to four years in prison. Matt told me about how a couple months later, he attended an annual in service training on Tasers. Kind of like an annual refresher course for the Kansas City PD that would go over any changes in case law or new information from the previous year. Matt thought Bryce's case would come up. During the session, he described how he sat in the back of the room and watched patiently as the instructor went over the same talking points he'd always heard. But the moment Matt says he was waiting for, when they would go over what happened to Bryce and bring up that there was a chance the Taser could cause cardiac arrest, that warning never came up. He told me. He raised his hand. He pointed out that the risks of cardiac arrest were very real. Hell, they were personal.

[Matt Masters]

You know, and you're sitting there going, hey, my kid got tased and went into cardiac arrest. Like, if you need somebody to talk to, come talk to this guy, right?

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Matt says the instructor told him in front of the entire class that he was simply teaching the slides that Taser International provided. Matt warned the other cops in the room they weren't getting the full story. That Taser training clarified a lot for Matt. That's where he changed his mind about who was to blame for what. Yes, Timothy Runnels was responsible for being cruel and brutal, and he was going to prison for it. But what happened to Bryce wasn't just on Runnels. Now Matt decided Taser International was responsible for misleading hundreds of thousands of cops all over the world, making them think they had a weapon that couldn't kill. Taser International was responsible for Bryce's brain damage, and he wanted to make them pay.

[Al Letson]

Coming up, Nick meets the team of lawyers ready to take the company to court. And the company doubles down.

[Rick Smith]

Are chest hits with the Taser dangerous? And the answer to that is definitively no.

[Al Letson]

You're listening to reveal from the center for Investigative Reporting in prx this is Reveal. I'm Al Ledson. When Matt Masters decided he was going to sue Taser International, he wanted to learn as much about the company as possible. So he collected articles and court documents from wrongful death suits. And there was one lawyer whose name kept coming up. John Burton. John had studied the company's every move.

[Greg Meyer]

They had convinced their customer base, which are law enforcement agencies, that this device was absolutely safe and that anybody who.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Says differently is just trying to take.

[Greg Meyer]

This great tool away from you and is probably some ACLU liberal pinko who.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Wants to take your car away or something or make it so you can't eat hamburgers.

[Al Letson]

John first took the company to court in 2005. Three years later, he'd win his first case. He worked with his partner, Peter Williamson.

[John Burton]

I mean, the amount of time we spent researching and studying, I can't even calculate the amount of hours we spent.

[Al Letson]

But their victory was based on an argument that was hard to prove in most other cases. So John and Peter went looking for a new strategy. They wanted to find proof that the Taser could kill and proof that Taser International knew about it and didn't warn anyone. Reporter Nick Barradini has the rest of the story.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

John and Peter started with the Taser's electric current. Was it strong enough to affect the heart? They dug through Taser International's research in the company's training material and zeroed in on how the Taser delivers an electric shock. Even though it seems like the shock delivered by a Taser is constant, the electricity actually comes in extremely short, fast waves. And at the peak of one of those waves, the electric current was high. Once John understood this, he noticed that Taser's lawyers and master instructors referred to the average current when they explained how safe the weapon was. I mean, this would be typical of.

[Greg Meyer]

Taser propaganda that maybe fooled me at first.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Using average current would be like trying to argue your way out of a speeding ticket using your average speed. Like after you got caught driving 85 in a 55, you told the cop, I was just stopped at two red lights, you should measure my average speed. John realized the peak current was much higher, much more dangerous than the average. This is how the company made the Taser look weaker than a Christmas tree bulb. That's when they go back to a study they had overlooked before, one of the pig studies.

[Greg Meyer]

These studies of these pigs show that there's cardiac capture.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

So I was really shocked that the.

[Greg Meyer]

Science actually supported that.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

This was the proof that the Taser's electric current was Strong enough to override a normal heartbeat and speed it up, sometimes causing death. But more importantly, the studies showed the company had known for for at least two years that the Taser could affect someone's heart. And they had not warned their customers. It was exactly what John and peter needed. In 2009, Taser International was staring down the barrel of over 40 separate lawsuits. Even the Canadian government was investigating them after someone died in the Vancouver airport after being Tased. Peter Williamson decided it was a good time to offer Taser a chance at legal surrender.

[John Burton]

We actually approached Mike Brave.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Mike Brave, one of Taser's lawyers.

[John Burton]

And we said to Mike Brave, I tell you what, we're gonna make you an offer. You resolved the few cases at that point that we had, and we'll sit down with you, and we'll rewrite your warnings for you. And if we do that, you're gonna insulate yourself from all future cases, and, you know, you'll settle the cases that we have with us and we'll be done, and we'll move on in our lives to other things. And he said, wow, that's really interesting. I don't know how long it was after that. Probably maybe a month or so after. And we got an email from Mike Brave. And the email just said it just contained three initials, N, F, W. That was their response. So at that point, we said, okay, game's on, you know, no way. And that decision ended up paying major dividends for us. I'll just leave it at that.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

What Peter means is that Taser kept fighting them. If the company kept refusing to warn cops, they were going to keep paying for it.

[John Burton]

And somebody got the clue. Hey, we gotta do something here or we're gonna keep getting sued.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

On September 30, 2009, Taser International issued a training bulletin that for the first time said, the risk to the heart from the Taser is not zero. It also said cops, when possible, should avoid shooting people in the chest. Maker of the Taser, is now telling police officers where to shoot. This new requirement is to stay away from the head, the neck, and the chest when an officer Tasers a suspect. Cops who read this bulletin, who had been under the impression that the Taser was completely safe, were confused. The company immediately started getting calls and emails from cops asking for more information. This was a huge change for officers. CEO Rick Smith scheduled a 2009 version of a Zoom, a conference call with hundreds of police departments around the country. Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Taser International Incorporated customer Update.

[Rick Smith]

I would now like to turn the.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Call over to Mr. Rick Smith, CEO of Taser International. Please proceed.

[Rick Smith]

Thank you very much. I want to start by addressing a couple of the questions we've been receiving over email. The first one is, are chest hits with the Taser dangerous? And the answer to that is definitively no.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Definitively no. Rick explained this addition to the training wasn't because the Taser was dangerous. Chest shots were just less effective than shots to the back or stomach.

[Rick Smith]

But the real sort of biggest reason here in my mind is risk management and avoiding the controversy.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

He was basically saying new training recommendations were just to keep the greedy lawyers and anti cop critics off all their backs. If you still needed to shoot someone in the chest with a Taser, the company would be by your side. Taser International wasn't backing down or abandoning officers.

[Rick Smith]

Will Taser help defend officers where there's chest shots involved? And the answer is unequivocally, yes. We pride ourselves that we stand up both for our technology and for officers here.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Cops were looking for the truth, but there wasn't any real dialogue about research results or science.

[Rick Smith]

So there is an acknowledgement that there's a minute possibility that a shot to the chest could result in cardiac arrest. I think the better way that I would answer that, not better, but from the company's perspective, is we cannot prove it's zero.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Why didn't Rick just tell them? It's rare, but it's a real risk. That's not what happened.

[Rick Smith]

Thanks to all of you at Taser for what you've done for law enforcement. Thank you. Hey, and I would say sorry for, you know, this situation. I don't enjoy it either, unfortunately. We live in a country where you spill hot coffee and you're looking, you can sue for $10 million. So appreciate your understanding and support.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

This call happened five years before Matt Master's son, Bryce was Tased and went into cardiac arrest. Until then, he still believed the Taser was safe. Matt wanted John Burton to bring Bryce's case against Taser International.

[Matt Masters]

I called John's office and got through to him and just kind of explained to him who I was.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

He raced through the details. He was convinced that Officer Runnels didn't understand how dangerous the Taser was when he shot Bryce and that Taser International was legally responsible for what had happened. John looked through everything Matt sent him and he knew it wouldn't be an easy case. Taser International could now point to all these new warnings that had been added to its thick training packet. A laundry list of fine print that insulated the company from liability. But if Matt wanted to try, they could sue both Taser International and Timothy Runnels. Together, they could argue that Taser International's warnings weren't enough to teach Runnels that the Taser was dangerous. In March 2018, they deposed Runnells to pin down what he knew about the cardiac risk when he Tased Bryce in the chest.

[John Burton]

What was your training and information on the potential for cardiac arrest as it related to chest shots that were close.

[Matt Masters]

To the heart muscle?

[Rick Smith]

Chest shots are still appropriate if it's the option, provided that was still okay.

[John Burton]

Under the City of Independence, correct?

[Rick Smith]

Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

More than two hours into the deposition, Taser International's lawyer takes her turn. And it's hard for me to hear the company defending or standing up for Officer Runnels in her line of questioning. They specifically say, avoid chest shots when possible, right?

[Rick Smith]

When possible, yes.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

And that was your understanding, just by reviewing this training bulletin that you received?

[Stacy Masters]

Correct.

[Rick Smith]

My understanding that any shot is acceptable. It's preferred to try to aim for lower center mass.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Show me where it says any shot is acceptable in this bulletin.

[Rick Smith]

It says when possible and also says preferred, which would indicate any area.

[Stacy Masters]

So it doesn't say it's acceptable, does it?

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

John Burton was infuriated by Taser's legal strategy. The company he'd battled for so long was using the warning he pushed them to write to try to win a case against him.

[Stacy Masters]

It specifically says that to reduce any.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Right. And it says minimize repeated, continuous or simultaneous exposures. That's what was in the warning that you reviewed and signed off on, Right? Right. I wish I could ask Runnels about this moment, but he declined to be interviewed. What he did to Bryce was terrible, but Runnells was in prison for that crime. Taser International, on the other hand, never admitted the Taser caused Bryce's cardiac arrest. But here was their lawyer throwing it back in his face, implying with her questions that he didn't heed the warnings. As Peter Williamson explained to me, writing the warning in 2009 deflected the liability of the Taser from the company that made them to the cops who used them. Here they were.

[John Burton]

The company was formed in order to, you know, do something favorable for law enforcement.

[Matt Masters]

Right.

[John Burton]

We're going to give you a device that won't kill people, and it ends up killing people. So now what they do is they put the onus on the officers.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

After the depositions, John Burton spoke with Matt.

[Matt Masters]

John knew that, like do we want to continue this route and go after both, or do we want to go after the easy money, which is Timothy Runnels and his insurance company?

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

They dropped Taser from the lawsuit.

[Matt Masters]

It was much easier to pin it all on Runnels and say he shouldn't have shot the kid and held the trigger down for 24 seconds. Which is all true.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Whether or not Runnells knew his Taser could be lethal didn't matter. He signed training documents that warned him, and he fired the Taser anyway. Two years earlier in the criminal case, officer Runnels wasn't even charged for tasing Bryce and causing his cardiac arrest, only for dropping him onto his face. Now, in the civil case, Bryce's lawyers had to prove that the Taser shot on its own was excessive force. Fortunately for the Masters, their attorney called an expert witness to the stand, a former cop himself, who'd seen firsthand how dangerous the Taser could be. Mike Leonisio, a now retired use of force expert from Oakland pd. Mike explained to the jury that every five second Taser shot was its own individual use of force. So even if you thought the first five seconds was reasonable, the next 15 seconds of taser shock was unnecessary. Runnels should only have Tasered Bryce for as long as he needed to get him into handcuffs.

[Mike Leonisio]

I don't think that he understood that that weapon was capable of affecting the human heart. And I think, unfortunately, there's still a lot of officers out there today who, because of the their department training, don't understand the capabilities of this weapon.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Runnells would be found guilty again, and Bryce Masters would be awarded $6.5 million. Stacey Masters, Bryce's mom, remembers what a relief it all was.

[Stacy Masters]

We had made it, and it wasn't all for nothing. And we didn't end up with, you know, nothing for Bryce's future. Nothing to make sure he was taken care of. And it was quite literally, you know, payday.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

They had imagined this moment for years. Rick Smith at the defense table and listening as the jury found his company guilty. But Rick wasn't there. Timothy Runnels was alone.

[Matt Masters]

It's hard for me, like, because I know Rick Smith is a father. I mean, there's crazy numbers out there that at least a thousand people have died from Tasers. You know, how do you live with yourself? Like, do you live with yourself that. Oh, I'm just, I'm saving lives. No, you're really, you're not saving lives 100%.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Do you feel like they got away with it a Little bit.

[Matt Masters]

Oh, yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter (Nick Barradini)]

Mm.

[Matt Masters]

100%.

[Stacy Masters]

By design, they got away with everything.

[Al Letson]

In 2017, Taser International was renamed to Axon Enterprise. The company still supplies Tasers to police departments all over the country. And it has also expanded into a new market. Surveillance technology. Think body cams, drones and artificial intelligence that can analyze the footage their cameras record. Today, Exxon is worth over $60 billion. And it doesn't just serve cops. Its customer base now includes civilian markets like hospitals, retail stores and even schools. In the 15 years Nick has reported on Rick Smith's company, Rick has never agreed to speak to Nick directly. The Masters family still lives in Kansas City, where Matt is still a cop. Bryce used some of the money from his lawsuit to buy a house close to his parents. He still has significant short term memory loss, trouble with executive brain function and emotional regulation. You can hear more about Axon Enterprise and how it became the most powerful company in policing on Nick's series, Absolute Taser Inc. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. The Absolute Taser Incorporated podcast is a production of Lava for Good in collaboration with Signal Company Number One. Their team includes executive producers Jason Flom, Jeff Kempler and Kevin Waters. Senior producer Kara Kornhaber, writer and producer Hannah Beale and producer Jackie Pauley. Story editing was done by Marianne McCune and fact checking by Danya Suleiman. Additional reporting by Matt Stroud. Engineering and sound design by Joe Plord with music composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Our lead producer for this week's show is Stephen Rascon. Jenny Kostas edited the show. Victoria Baranetsky is our general counsel. Our production manager is the great Zulema Cobb. Score and sound designed by the dynamic duo Jay Breezy, Mr. Jim Briggs and Fernando My Man Yo Arruda. And they had help from the amazing Julia Haney. Taki Telenides is our deputy executive producer and our executive producer is Bret Myers. Our theme music is by K. Lightning. Support for reveals provided by the Riva and David Logan foundation, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, the park foundation, the Smith Family foundation and the Hellman Foundation. Support for Reveal is also provided by you our listeners. Reveal is a co production of the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. I'm Al Letson and remember there is always more to the story.

[Matt Masters]

From prx.