Stun Grenade - Lethality of Stun Grenades

Lethality of Stun Grenades

Although stun grenades are usually designed to be non-lethal, several deaths have been attributed to their use. These include:

• In 1989, police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, conducted a drug raid at the home of an elderly couple, Lloyd Smalley and Lillian Weiss, after a bad tip from an informant. The flashbang grenades police used in the raid set the home on fire. Police were certain no one was inside, and so, at first, made no attempt at rescue. Smalley and Weiss died of smoke inhalation.

• In May 2003, a woman named Alberta Spruill died from a heart attack after a police team detonated a stun grenade at her residence in Harlem, New York. Her family eventually won a $1.6 million civil suit against the city.

• In February 2011, a North Carolina SWAT police officer was injured at his home when a stun grenade accidentally detonated while he was attempting to secure his equipment. He underwent emergency surgery, but later died of his injuries.