We Ain’t Nothing Till You Need Us!, WANTYNU, is the manufacture of what is widely considered to be the best EMS Oxygen wrenches available on the market today. As part of a continuing aggressive R&D push earlier this year the company announced how they were going into development of an EMS personal safety device. Rumor and speculation was that they would be developing some kind of TASER built into their popular oxygen wrench.

Today Joshua Knapp, president of WANTYNU, confirmed the rumors were true when he announced the canceling of the development process.

“I am sorry to say that our development of the TK3 Defender has been indefinitely suspended. As many of you suspected the rumors that we were putting a stun gun, or TASER, inside a TK3 wrench were true. But due to a number of small issues including a growing reluctance from R&D to test the prototypes, which has hindered the development process I decided to shelve the idea for now. Once various technologies are improved we at WANTYNU will look at an EMS self-defense O2 wrench again. But I don’t for see this for years to come.”

Insiders tell us at CallTheCops these so-called “small issues” in development were actually major issues.

The first issue was that due to the size of the unit it could only be used one time and then requires a recharge. This means a very limited effectiveness as a self-defense tool. As some police officer have found many drunk or high people require two or three TASER shocks to actually fully subdue the suspect.

The second issue, which is highly critical, the shock produced an unwanted and unexpected side effect. If the TK3 Defender delivered a shock through clothing, it would light the clothing on fire. While some might see this as added effectiveness in self-defense for EMS, most EMS directors see it as a legal nightmare. A paramedic lighting a patient on fire would not make for good press, even if the patient were trying to attack the paramedic.

Finally the trigger to initiate the shock is very easy to activate. When using the wrench to turn on the oxygen flow in testing, workers have accidently caused electrical discharge. The introduction of high voltage arching electricity around flowing oxygen has produced some concerning situations, also involving fire.

Our insider added that multiple interns working for WANTYNU suffered 2nd degree burns testing prototypes, but are recovering well. After setting his third college intern on fire a spokesmen for the company stated that Mr. Knapp decided the technology “might need some rethinking and retooling” and has temporally withdrawn it from the production pipeline”.

The whole team at WANTYNU wanted to reiterate they are committed to eventually creating an oxygen wrench for self-defense. CTC’s unnamed source in the R&D department hinted that a wrench switchblade knife might be in the works, but is not ready for an official announcement just yet.

Mr Knapp stated at the end of the interview “Wantynu’s commitment to provide the finest products to the EMS community have never been more focused and we will continue to work without sleep until we get it right.”