DANBURY - It had to be the longest three seconds of Stephen Bull's life.

The probes from the Taser hit Bull near his left shoulder blade and in the small of the back, administering a pain that caused Bull's entire body to tense.

His left leg lifted off the ground uncontrollably and Bull sounded like he was speaking in tongues.

Luckily, Bull's last four words, "NO MORE! NO MORE!" came out relatively clear.

Yes, it was uncomfortable - to say the least - but if it gets more people to sign up next year for Leadership Danbury, a program of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce , then it was worth it, Bull said.

Leadership Danbury, the annual program that started in 1989, takes people from the business community and has them participate in workshops and tours of institutions throughout the city.

The group meets once a month from January through September.

They make all-day visits to places such as Henry Abbott Technical High School , Danbury Hospital and The News-Times, to name a few. Thursday morning Leadership Danbury visited the Danbury Police Department.

After listening to Chief Al Baker speak and then going on a tour of the aging building, the 20 or so participants settled in for a lecture from Sgt. Michael Georgoulis , a former Marine who served in Iraq, about the department's use of the Taser.

Georgoulis, an expert on the device and the use of force by police officers in general, talked about the history of the Taser device and how it is deployed.

The Taser leaves a person incapacitated for up to five seconds, giving officers a window of opportunity to slap handcuffs on an unruly person.

Prior to the arrival of the Taser in 2005, police officers often used clubs - billy clubs, night sticks, batons - to subdue people who were combative. It was a technique that hadn't changed much since the days of the caveman.

"If we encountered people we couldn't handle with a hard empty hand technique (punch, arm bar), we took a stick and we hit you with it," Georgoulis said.

Those "sticks," usually left people with broken arms, legs and knee caps, Georgoulis said.

"The only way I'm going to get compliance from you with a stick is to break something that is important to you, like a bone," Georgoulis said.

Using pepper spray on suspects isn't effective, Georgoulis said, because the spray often gets into the eyes of officers - and sometimes has no effect on the intended target.

Research shows that Tasers do not seriously injure people said Georgoulis, who has been Tased countless times himself and participated in studies that look at the device's impact on humans.

Furthermore, Georgoulis told Leadership Danbury participants of the extensive records kept each time a Taser is deployed.

Bull, who volunteered to be Tased, said the sensation was like receiving a small shock from an electrical outlet - but the feeling was throughout your entire body.

"I'm fine," he said, immediately after the Taser stopped.

A few minutes later Bull was still trying to loosen his calf muscles, which tightened uncontrollably during the demonstration.

"My calves feel like I just walked five miles on the beach," Bull said.
