8/7/13
It is a Taser dart out of a patients wrist. Generically called a conducted electrical weapon. The darts are about 1″ long and 1/8″ diameter. The dime is for perspective. Near the tip is a barb that insures the dart will not be easily pulled out rendering the device ineffective. Wires connect to the barrel end. 2 darts are fired to complete the electrical circuit. Unless you are being Tased by more than one unit.
Many times I’ve had to remove fish hooks from patients. There is a string technique that requires no anesthesia and is painless.
Not so for Taser darts. They impale the skin up to the depth of the needle and as the victim flops around under 70,000 volts of juice, it gets really embedded in there. I have to grasp the barrel, designers have thoughtfully left this make-due handle, and yank. The barb rips skin out with vengeance.
Some how, sending 30-70,000 volts of electricity through tiny little steel darts into a 63 year old grandmother, no matter how badly she is acting, just doesn’t seem right.
Your grumpy Uncle/Brother Dave.