Hence the term...

...LESS Lethal

"The police are supposed to protect us," Perez's sister, Angelica Perez, 30, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "How can we trust somebody who is hurting us and causing death?"

Two things, Angelica. First - the police are not supposed to protect you, they right reports and testify in court. See here. Second, the duty of the police is not to earn your trust. In fact, a healthy distrust of authority is often times much more effective than blind faith. Add to that the fact that your brother was resisting arrest and under the influence of some type of psychotropic substance, was restrained only after being hit with a taser, and then resisted again when released into a cell. He was then tasered again (3rd or 4th time) which is when he died. They could have beaten him about the head with nightsticks to subdue him, but then we'd all be hearing about the hispanic Rodney King and it would be a bigger mess.

Those tasers hurt like all get out. Somehow, the beautiful girls at the booth and my friends managed to convince me to get shocked at the 2003 SHOT show, and man, I will never do that again. They gave me a split second jolt, with the needles attached to the toes of my shoes, and I was on the ground instantly. Jolt, buckle, crash..."owwww!"

Anybody that can stand up and fight again after getting hit is either a) been trained to handle it, like a cop, or b) on something. And there currently is no alternate technology available to officers that is non-lethal. Rubber buckshot, beanbags, CS, capsaicin bullets, tasers - they can all cause death in certain circumstances. Which is why it's generally advisable not to resist arrest. In most circumstances.