Police test 'Spider-Man' device as alternative to Taser

A new non-lethal weapon by BolaWrap, that discharges an 8 foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject at a range of 10-25 feet, is deployed during training in Laguna Niguel, California, U.S., September 5, 2019. Picture taken September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With 49 people killed last year after being shocked by Tasers, police departments across the United States are trying out a "Spider-Man"-like device that fires a tether that entangles and restrains the suspect.

Called Bolawrap, the device fires an eight-foot (2.4 meters) bola-style tether at a suspect to entangle his legs and prevent him from getting away. It works at a range of 10-25 ft (3-7.6 meters). 

A new non-lethal weapon by BolaWrap, that discharges an 8 foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject at a range of 10-25 feet, is deployed during a demonstration of the device in Bell Police Department, California, U.S., September 5, 2019. Picture taken September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

"Whether it is a Taser, pepper spray, baton ... there's been this gap created by the courts requiring that a higher level of force be used at the appropriate time," said Tom Smith, president of Wrap Industries, which manufactures the Bolawrap device.

"This tool fits perfectly into that gap giving the officers another option to use before having to use that high level of force to end that conversation very early, very safely," he said.

Smith, who founded TASER International, now Axon Enterprises, made the Taser with his brother before leaving to join Wrap Technologies. He said he saw the success of the Taser as proof there was an appetite for more non-lethal tools in policing.

Bell police officers attend an information and demonstration session of a new non-lethal weapon by BolaWrap, that discharges an 8 foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject at a range of 10-25 feet, in Bell, California, U.S., September 5, 2019. Picture taken September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

The Bolawrap is a little bit larger than a cell phone and designed to fit easily onto a police belt. The synthetic fiber tether exits the device at about 640 feet (about 200 meters) per second "And that is... you won't see it," Smith said.

He said he has demonstrated the device to dozens of police departments in the United States, as well as in Australia and New Zealand.

Reuters has documented a total of at least 1,081 U.S. deaths following use of police Tasers, almost all since the weapons entered widespread use in the early 2000s, including 49 in 2018. In many of those cases, the Taser was combined with other force, such as hand strikes, pepper spray or restraint holds.

A look inside a BolaWrap demonstration cartridge of a new non-lethal weapon that discharges an 8 foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject at a range of 10-25 feet, in Bell, California, U.S., September 5, 2019. Picture taken September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

In the city of Bell, Calif., southeast of Los Angeles, Police Chief Carlos Islas said he tried out the device on himself.

"I personally went ahead and took the opportunity to get wrapped myself and the reason I did that - it is important for me to understand what an individual who is going to get wrapped is going to feel, and to me it's very negligible.

"I mean there was no pain," he said.

A Bell police officer looks at a barb used in a new BolaWrap non-lethal weapon, that discharges an 8 foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject at a range of 10-25 feet, during a demonstration in Bell Police Department, California, U.S., September 5, 2019. Picture taken September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

(The story corrects name of company in third paragraph)

(Reporting by Omar Younis; writing by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Training officers wear new non-lethal weapons by BolaWrap, that discharge an 8 foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject at a range of 10-25 feet, during a training session in Laguna Niguel, California, U.S., September 5, 2019. Picture taken September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

The city of Bell's chief of police Carlos Islas reacts after Wrap Technologies CEO Michael Rothans tests on him a new non-lethal weapon that discharges an 8 foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject, in Bell Police Department, California, U.S., September 5, 2019. Picture taken September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Bell police officers attend an information and demonstration session of a new non-lethal weapon by BolaWrap, that discharges an 8 foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject at a range of 10-25 feet, in Bell, California, U.S., September 5, 2019. Picture taken September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Trainer Michael Harding points a laser-guided new non-lethal weapon by BolaWrap, that discharges an 8 foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject at a range of 10-25 feet, during training in Laguna Niguel, California, U.S., September 5, 2019. Picture taken September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake