A modified bullet made by a company in Poway could save officers and citizens in dangerous situations.
Alternative Ballistics is lethal force option for police officers, without the deadly result.
The device is designed to stop you but not to kill you.
"Obviously you rather be hit with this than a bullet," says Alternative Ballistics CEO Chris Ellis.
The "Alternative" can be placed onto an officers gun. Once the weapon is fired the bullet embeds into a circular, alloy projectile.
"Which will then make contact with the person knocking them down without doing the internal damage that a bullet will do," says Ellis.
Ellis says he comes from a family of law enforcement and created this device to give officers more tools when they may be forced to use their weapons.
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"That's what we designed this product for to give them another option and save as many lives as we possibly can," says Ellis.
During a press conference about officer involved shootings, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman stressed the importance of having less lethal options more readily available.
But will the San Diego Police Department start adopting the new technology?
The department released as statement saying: "While we do have subject matter experts constantly testing and evaluating different products and technology as it becomes available, we don't endorse or discredit vendors that are trying to market their product."
"We need this product, we've been waiting many years for something like this," says Ellis. "There's a big gap between bullets and less lethal devices. We want to help bridge that gap with something that kind of falls in between."
