50,000-volt shock that 'hurts like hell'

MANCHESTER - The Taser stun gun was put to the test when Britain's second most senior policeman agreed to be a guinea pig.

Michael Todd, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, volunteered to be a "victim" to show how its 50,000 volts could be used to tackle crime.

Bombing suspect Yasin Hassan Omar was hit with such a charge from a Taser gun during his arrest.

For the test, two officers stood by to catch Todd after the Taser's two metal barbs were fired into his back from a distance of 3m.

As the charge was delivered through fine wires connecting the darts to the yellow plastic gun, Todd screamed in agony for five seconds.

His face contorted in a grimace, his back arched and his body convulsed for two to three seconds.

But within 20 seconds of being hit, Todd, 45, was able to speak.

Forty-five seconds after impact, he described the experience as the most painful of his life.

"It hurt like hell," he told the Mail on Sunday. "I felt the full surge of the shock from my fingertips to my toes. I wanted to fall forward but was absolutely unable to move. It was incredibly painful."

- INDEPENDENT