Absolute, Season 1: Taser Incorporated is at once a tale as old as time - a true believer learns the hard way that the costs of lofty ambition and hubris just might outweigh even the most optimistic upside - and a thoroughly modern story of technology overtaking the very people it is meant to serve. In this case: the ubiquitous electric gun carried by cops everywhere and inspiring comedic shenanigans in movies like The Hangover.

Host and documentarian Nick Berardini has been obsessed with this story for his entire adult life. With Absolute, Season 1: Taser Incorporated, he left no stone unturned.

Taser, Inc., now known as Axon, the 800-pound gorilla in the paramilitary police equipment industry, is led by its charismatic CEO and co-founder, Rick Smith. Fueled by a self-described religious dedication, Smith’s Star Trek obsession, and an ambitious vision of a world without gun violence, Rick leads Taser, Inc. to be the key tech supplier to virtually every police force in America. But as stories of alleged misuse, deaths, and serious injuries from Tasers begin to emerge, Taser, Inc. and Rick arrive at a crossroads between Rick’s vision and reality, with cops and the citizens they are sworn to serve and protect paying the price.

Absolute, Season 1: Taser Incorporated is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rick Smith wants to make violence obsolete via technology - he has a vision of this ideal world and he is working to build it, one taser at a time. Meanwhile, police departments have been searching for a non-lethal weapon they can rely on for years. At the LAPD, Greg Meyer is in charge of finding the right tool, but nothing works well until Rick Smith helps invent the Taser X26 – a weapon that can take down even the strongest, most motivated attacker.

Absolute, Season 1: Taser Incorporated is a production of Lava for Good™ in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shooting a 15 year old boy just makes Matt Masters want to be a better cop. So he joins Kansas City’s most elite Swat team unit, the first unit in the department to be trained on the taser. Matt has no idea that the taser will change his life.

Absolute, Season 1: Taser Incorporated is a production of Lava for Good™ in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bryce Masters is in a deep coma. Why? The doctor is sure he knows the reason, but Matt Masters doesn’t know what to believe. Years earlier in Oakland, Officer Mike Leonisio is also hearing news that is hard to believe. When he is invited to a behind the scenes pig testing at Taser international he learns something cops everywhere should know, but don’t.

Absolute, Season 1: Taser Incorporated is a production of Lava for Good™ in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt Masters investigates - what happened to his son? Who is to blame here? The answers lead him down a rabbit hole that will change everything.

Absolute, Season 1: Taser Incorporated is a production of Lava for Good™ in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A couple of lawyers seek to prove that CEO Rick Smith hid the truth from cops for years. And when lawsuits threaten to destroy the company, Rick has one way out – sell out the very customers who made him a fortune.

Absolute, Season 1: Taser Incorporated is a production of Lava for Good™ in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CEO Rick Smith started with a mission, but what if this mission was a lie? We go back to the beginning because now the blueprint of the past will impact everyone. Whatever Rick Smith learned back then is helping him build a bigger, bolder and broader future than anyone might imagine.

Absolute, Season 1: Taser Incorporated is a production of Lava for Good™ in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the woods outside Carmel, New York, a hunter finds the bones of a twelve-year-old girl. She had been missing. The people meant to protect her had looked the other way. Police set their sights on two teenage drug dealers, who are convicted of her murder and sent to prison.

But this is just the beginning of the story. Now, buried records, ignored warnings, and a justice system that may have gotten it dangerously wrong are forced into the open, while the real killer bides his time, counting the days until he can hunt again.

Award-winning investigative journalist and longtime Rolling Stone Magazine contributor Paul Solotaroff hosts the next entry in the acclaimed Bone Valley anthology: Bone Valley Season 5 | The Devil's Quarry starting June 10.

Listeners can binge the entire season by subscribing to Lava for Good+ on Apple Podcasts.

Bone Valley Season 5: The Devil’s Quarry is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Rolling Stone Films and Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.