Traumatic paralysis following conducted electrical weapon deployment

Conducted Electrical Weapons (CEWs) are widely used worldwide by law enforcement as an intermediate less-lethal force option. While CEW direct electrical effects are generally transient, and direct significant injuries are rare but sometimes severe, secondary effects from associated falls related to neuromuscular effects while rare, may also be severe.

To characterize the frequency, severity, and injury patterns of permanent paralysis associated with CEW deployments, with emphasis on fall-related and law-enforcement force related trauma.

We analyzed a curated case series of 17 incidents (2004-2024) in which individuals sustained paraplegia or tetraplegia associated with CEW use by law enforcement. We judged 13 of these falls to have been caused by the CEW while 4 may have been only temporally related. Demographics, circumstances, injury mechanisms, and neurological outcomes were summarized descriptively.

Of the 17 cases we found, 15 were in the USA and 2 were in the UK. Permanent tetraplegia occurred in 8 cases and paraplegia in 8 cases; there was a single recovery. The mean age was 37 years (range 17-65). All cases involved subjects actively resisting or attempting to flee law enforcement interaction. Elevated falls with head-first impacts, generating thoracic or cervical spine trauma, predominated as causes.

Subject paralysis following CEW deployment is a rare but severe complication of attempted electrical weapon control by neuromuscular effects.